‘Pirates’ kidnap Police Commissioner, demand ransom

Little has been heard about the whereabouts of Joseph Enobi Ngwese, Frontier Police Post Commissioner for Bakassi who was kidnapped in the peninsular area on Thursday, February 12, by suspected pirates.

The Cameroon Journal has gathered that while on a routine patrol at sea on that fateful morning, the Commissioner and his team were informed of the presence of a strange boat at sea.

In an attempt to find out about the strange boat, they followed the direction where it was heading to, but were confronted with a speed boat with pirates on board.

In exchanges of gunfire that ensued between the pirates and the Commissioner’s team, Police Inspector, Ernest Bayugah was shot dead at sea around the Barracks in the Bakassi area by the said pirates.

“The captain of the boat that was carrying the commissioner and the police inspector struggled to make a U-turn but the bullets from the pirates apparently did not permit him…The commissioner was with a life-jacket and so fell into the waters,” a source who opted for anonymity confided to The Cameroon Journal.

The source added that they initially thought that Commissioner Enobi Ngwese was dead, but later found him floating on the waters unconscious – probably after drowning and was taken captive by the pirates to their base.

“On Sunday (February 15), we confirmed that he was not dead after all. This is after news came that he was in the hands of pirates,” our source said.

It is alleged that the pirates are demanding the release of their men held in Cameroonian custody and also asking for the payment of a ransom to the tune of FCFA 50 million.

It’s unclear where the pirates are, and whether they are Cameroonians or of Nigerian nationalities. But our sources hinted that they are asking for the ransom money to be paid in Naira, suggesting that they could be Nigerians.

Dependable sources in Buea confirmed to The Cameroon Journal that the government is already making plans to free the police commissioner.

We gathered that a meeting was held to that effect at the South West Governor’s Office with top security and administrative officials of the region.

The family of Commissioner Enobi Ngwese is said to have been represented at the meeting by three family members, though our source could not readily tell who these three were.

Enobi Ngwese who is in his early fifties is said to be a veteran of the police force for more than two decades. He has been head of the said Frontier Police Post in the Bakassi area for over two years.

In the meantime, Police Inspector, Ernest Bayugah, who died of wound shots from the incident, was buried in his native Bali Nyonga over the weekend.