Four days after the presidential election on October 12, Asong (not his real name for security reasons) sips his beer in a local bar in Buea.
Though he is physically in Buea, his mind is in Lebialem, his hometown. As an internally displaced person in Buea due to the Anglophone armed conflict, now in its ninth year, he had hoped the presidential election would remedy the crisis and allow him to return to the home and businesses he left behind.
“I was hoping we would have a new leader who would come and solve the crisis. My own wish is for me to go back to that place. I am here suffocating with house rent; meanwhile, I have a house in the village,” he said.
Before the election, he was excited by the competitive field of candidates, many of whom promised to resolve the crisis if elected.
But now, he tries to console himself with beer because his wish may not come true. This is due to the widespread allegations of fraud circulating online. Although the constitutional council has not officially proclaimed a winner, Asong believes the reported rigging at polling stations—captured in videos—is aimed at continuing the incumbent’s reign.
“We are already tired,” he says. “When will all the misery come to an end? I used to work with plantains, and there were no roads to transport them. Now, the crisis is here, and I am here.”
Asong holds these views but cannot express them publicly. “If you talk, they will come for you. When I look at what has happened to others for speaking out, I prefer to appear in public as if I am not condemning anything,” he stated.
He is not alone. This reporter met another man who was displaced from Bamenda in the Northwest region to Buea.
Like Asong, this man had hoped to return to Bamenda after the election if a new leader was elected.
As he speaks, he looks depressed. He lost a child because of the crisis, and a friend helped bring him to Buea. Now, he says he smokes to keep himself together.
“Now, I have given up on who the leader should be. I would have voted, but I am registered in Bamenda and I am here in Buea,” he says. “The fraud I am seeing online is scary.”
To many, the election was going to be the game-changer in solving the Anglophone Crisis. Now, the incumbent’s position appears unshaken. According to reports, allegations of vote fraud are linked to the ruling party, which aims to maintain the rule of 92-year-old Paul Biya. He has been ruling since 1982 and is the world’s second-longest serving ruler and the oldest in terms of age.
If he wins this election, he will be 99 by the time his mandate expires in 2032, and he will have ruled for half a century.
By Njodzeka Kernyuy