Cameroon Diaspora warns: Biya shouldn’t run for re-election

Cameroonians in the diaspora under the banner of the Collective Democratic Organisations and Patriotic Cameroonians in the Diaspora known by its French acronym as CODE, has warned that President Biya represents danger for Cameroon’s future.

CODE says for this reason, Biya should not run for the 2018 presidential election.

The organisation posted this reaction to recent calls for Biya’s candidacy in the upcoming elections on its official website, lecode.canalblog.com.

According to CODE, these calls are from greedy power-mongers, who want Biya to stay in power so that they can continue stealing from the state, and naïve youth who don’t have a clue of what is happening.

“This is the perfect illustration of diversionary tactics which are customary to power-hungry mongers in Cameroon with the approach of elections orchestrated by their guru, Paul Biya. It is also by many Cameroonians who were not yet born when Paul Biya came to power in 1982.

“Like many of their elders, they follow with great passion and interest the fate that will now be reserved for gravediggers of democracy in their country,” says CODE. CODE predicts doom to those who are constantly sending motions of support to Biya to run for another term of office.

“All these admirers of the policy of Paul Biya, who engage in sending motions of support, will be the first to take to their heels when their mentor is no longer in business. The recent history of Burkina Faso with the victory of the street, because of the fleeing of Blaise Compaoré and massive exile of his supporters, says it all.

“It is necessary to denounce firmly, opportunistic agitators who call for the candidacy of Paul Biya for the 2018 Presidential election. Biya knows that his policy is disastrous for Cameroon, and he will retire in one of the overcrowded prisons of Cameroon,” CODE argued, promising to continue fighting for Cameroonians as it cannot sit and watch them go through hard times from power-mongers.

“CODE is, and remains committed to democratic values that underlie and support the base of a dignified nation, but it cannot continue to accept cheating, mockery and humiliation for power conservation in Cameroon,” the organisation states.

It also calls on Cameroonians not to give up their fight for freedom and to do so in a legitimate way. CODE reiterates its call to the Cameroonian people to continue to resist, by all legitimate means, to the dictatorship of Paul Biya.

“Paul Biya must understand that Cameroonians forget, but they do not forgive. When the injustices and crimes remain unpunished for years, they will remember and be ruthless vis-à-vis those who today believe themselves adored… Biya’s departure remains the necessary condition for the recovery of Cameroon. We cannot and we must continue to accept that it violates our sovereignty or that one strips us with impunity, our honour and our dignity as citizens of Cameroon.

“Keep in mind that the greatest victories are not easy. That is why we must strongly denounce attempts to making a “monarchy” of power in Cameroon.”

CODE says that in addition to having been fraudulently imposed in power, Biya has finally convinced Cameroonians that he is a danger to the country and its future.

CODE concludes with a call to the President: “If Paul Biya likes Cameroon, let him leave.” Biya was Prime Minister for seven years from 1975 and then became President following the resignation of Ahmadou Ahidjo in 1982.

In 2008, he revised the 1996 Constitution to remove Presidential term limits, allowing him to contest and win the 2011 election. Biya is now serving the fourth year in his seven-year term. Asked earlier this year if he would run in 2018, Biya, who is now 84, said: “It is not he who wants, but he who can lead Cameroon.”