Issa Tchiroma Bakary speaking on Sunday.
By Njodzeka Kernyuy
Cameroon’s former minister and presidential candidate, Issa Tchiroma Bakary, who claimed victory in the October 12 presidential election, has issued a 48-hour ultimatum to the government to release persons unlawfully detained.
In a video appearance on Sunday, November 9, the president of the Cameroon National Salvation Front party stated that the government has arrested thousands and that others have been killed.
In a solemn pledge, he maintained his legitimacy as president-elect and urged all Cameroonians to protect their votes.
“I take the floor as president-elect of Cameroon. I want to issue a wake-up call to the world in general, and in particular to the nation which has forgotten the very essence of democracy and human rights protection,” he said. “For the first time in the history of our nation, all Cameroonians have their backs to the wall, confronted with a life-threatening menace coming from this unlawful, dictatorial, state-based gangsterism against the people.”
He said people have been arrested without “due legal procedures, jailing hundreds and thousands of Cameroonians.”
Tchiroma accused the government of ethnic and political cleansing. “This situation is unbearable and unacceptable. In my capacity as president-elect of this nation, I want to bring to your attention that all Cameroonians know it, and the world in general knows it, that President Paul Biya has never been elected by the Cameroonian people,” he stated.
He defended his point by saying that during the swearing-in, Paul Biya placed his hand only on the Bible, which to him is a sacrilege.
Tchiroma also urged the Biya regime to stop fighting the people and killing their sons and daughters. To him, Cameroonians will never accept that.
“In my capacity, I give you 48 hours to release those who have been arrested unlawfully,” he stated. “Failure to do so will leave Cameroonians to find themselves in a position of legitimate defence, free to undertake whatever is necessary to recover their freedom.”
This is the first time Tchiroma has spoken publicly after rumours of his arrest in Nigeria.
He has continued to claim victory. Meanwhile, Paul Biya, who was declared the winner by the Constitutional Council, has been sworn in.
Paul Biya, 92, has begun another term that will expire in 2032. The swearing-in last Thursday also commemorated Paul Biya’s 43rd anniversary at the helm of the nation’s affairs.