Just back from Buea Central Prison, Mola Njoh Litumbe, accompanied by Hon. Ayah Paul Abine, mami Mbiwan, a Barrister, a man of God and a host of local SCNC leaders, went there for a visit of solidarity to a detained SCNC leader, Oben Maxwell.
From the horse’s mouth, Oben Maxwell went to Buea on January 29,2014, on a purely social-trip.
As he planned to be in Buea for four days, he took along copies of Ernesto Che Guevara’s book on urban guerilla that he had downloaded from the internet so as to read while in Buea.
At the end of the safari, Oben decided to call someone he had never met, but who had been chatting with him on the phone.
After chatting with the person, Oben was on his way from Mautu village when his host stopped over to introduce him to some youths at some off-licenced premises. Taking advantage of the situation, Oben educated the Youths on the ideas of SCNC.
He took for a joke when the publican (the woman running the premises) she would have him, and the entire group arrested. Oben travelled back to the motor-park, secured his seat on a bus bound for Yaounde and was on the bus waiting for departure. Two policemen in civilian clothes came up to him and asked Oben to alight from the bus for a chat.
After listening to him out as to his presence in Buea, the two policemen left Oben momentarily only to return with reinforcement and led him away claiming that the Southwest Governor wanted to meet him. The police instead took Oben to the police station and locked him up incommunicado after searching his bag.
Days later, he was taken to the Procureur General and then to the Buea Central Prison. All this time, Oben has not been told what his offence was. He was later taken from then central prison to unknown place weeks after.
He ended up finding himself before some army officer said to be of a military tribunal in Yaounde.
The officer asked him two questions, one of them being whether Oben had ever operated a gun. When Oben answered the question in the negative, the officer wondered aloud why they should be troubling Oben. The officer digressed from the topic to dwell on football in Cameroon. Curiously, Oben ended up I Kondengui Prison later in the day.
Some 26 days late, he was taken to the Buea Central Prison, then to the military tribunal in Buea.
Some officer alleged that Oben had been preaching secession, civil war and armed insurrection and planning to disrupt Biya’s visit to Buea. Without allowing Oben to say whatever in his defense, the officer ruled that Oben will be in prison for a year, renewable.
It should be noted that all along, Oben was without a counsel. His family and SCNC now briefed counsel who lodged an appeal against the order of the Buea Military Tribunal.
The court of Appeal has since ordered the Military Tribunal to forward the Court records of the proceedings, all in vain.
Rather, the tribunal in manner most preposterous has now started hearing a case against Oben…while the case before the Buea Court of Appeal is stalled, the one before the Military tribunal should make available its records of proceedings to the tribunal in Buea.
In the meantime, the military is busy twisting Oben’s arm to find out whether Paul Ayah and Fru Ndi are funding SCNC.
They are particular Ayah in that Oben recorded “Ayah’s Boy” against one of his contacts as he did not know the name of the PAP secretary whom he contacted in order to have access to Ayah…
During the visit, SCNC had lengthy exchanges with Maxwell Oben and resolved on the spot to take his case to the national and international human rights bodies.
In all, there were over a dozen SCNC members at the prison but only half were allowed to visit Oben. They were all stunned by Oben’s bustling health and particularly his high spiritedness.
Before the delegation parted ways with Oben, Mola Njoh Litumbe assured Oben that what he is going through is nothing more than receiving the last kicks of a dying horse.
The oppressors know they cannot make out a case as our cause is just, sparkling and clear.
The worry is just that the oppressors are out for the purpose of intimidation and Litumbe, and Ayah have never minced words that there never has been any reunification and so nothing can be more facetious and farcical thank talking about secession when there never has been a whole…
God is in control!!
