There are media reports that the Nigerian Islamic Sect, Boko Haram that is wreaking havoc in the Far North Region is just the proverbial little bird dancing in the middle of the road while the real drummers are Northern elite who are bidding to overthrow the Biya regime.
In an analytical piece published recently, the French popular website, “Mediapart,” says the upsurge of Boko Haram in the Far North is actually a rebellion that is gathering to sweep off the Biya regime. The report is written by one journalist, Fanny Pigeaud, who was one time the French News Agency correspondent in Cameroon.
While quoting many sources, including security officials, the journalist holds that some Northern elite, including ex-members and barons of the ruling CPDM party have hired Boko Haram to unseat President Paul Biya and the New Deal regime that has been in power for 32 years. The article posits that even though the Cameroon Government has been quick at every instance to accuse Boko Haram of the atrocities in the Far North, the real enemies bankrolling the bloody onslaught are in “the house”.
The article indicates that the armed men who kidnapped the French Priest, Rev. Father George Vandenbeusch in October 2013, left behind sophisticated Israeli-made guns. Such guns, the website indicates, are used only by elements of the Rapid Intervention Battalion, BIR, and the Presidential Guard. To Mediapart, such a situation is a pointer to claims that some army officials are in conspiracy with Boko Haram.
To buttress its claims, the French website said even when more forces were deployed in the Far North, the hoodlums still struck with relative ease. They kidnapped 10 Chinese in Waza and took away 10 Toyota pick-up vans and went Scot-free.
The article recalls that President Biya later sent 2,000 soldiers to reinforce security in the violence-stricken region. But, that some of them were killed in a Boko Haram attack in Bagaran. Two days later, it narrates, the armed men attacked Kolofata, killing 15 military people and civilians, including an Imam, before taking away the wife of the Vice Prime Minister in charge of Relations with the National Assembly, Ahmadou Ali.
The article recalls that after the Bagaran attack, the armed men encircled the bodies of the Cameroonian soldiers they killed with 100 guns, perhaps to send a message that guns are not their problem. The website quoted Cameroonian security sources as saying that what is happening in the Far North is a rebellion that has been dressed in the garment of Boko Haram.
Going by the sources, Boko Haram, in complicity with some unpatriotic Cameroonians, have been recruiting young people in Cameroon and training them in some Nigerian villages close to the borders. Such training camps are said to have been identified in Palka, Jogura and Bushra.
The website states that the Bushra camp has 35 Came roonians. They are the ones keeping the 10 Chinese that were kidnapped in Waza. According to the article, many Cameroonian officials described the chaotic situation in the Far North as a rebellion in hiding. But, when they come out in the open, they say it is the handiwork of Boko Haram terrorists.
The writer of the article recalls that, in June, the speaker of the National Assembly, Hon. Cavaye Yegue Djibril, declared during one of the plenary sessions that Boko Haram has many accomplices in Cameroon.
“As we know, many of them are among us, others in the shadows, but in total hypocrisy, pretending to be helping the authorities. But their real objective is to put the country in flames” the website quoted Cavaye as having said. After Cavaye purportedly made such a declaration, Mediapart, said that it requested to have an interview with him in vain.
The article quoted other sources as saying that Northern elite have actually amassed a lot of funds, through corruption, adding that they are viable enough to overthrow the regime led by the 81-year old Paul Biya. The article observes that because of the high level of poverty and unemployment in the Northern part of Cameroon, it is very easy to recruit young men for such a rebellion.
It holds that 40 percent of the population of the area lives on less than 1 dollar a day. The medium observes such a situation is developing against an army “that has the mirror image of a country that is tribalistic, incompetent and corrupt.” It claims that the management of the anti-Boko Haram onslaught has been replete with mismanagement of public funds to the extent that soldiers lack basic necessities in the field.
In tandem with claims of the website, some barons of the regime have accused the former Minister of Territorial Administration, Marafa Hamidou Yaya, of being one of the main brains behind the rebellion. It is because of this that security operatives arrested one of his legal advisers, Abdoulaye Harrisou, recently.
He is being accused of coordinating rebellious activities. The chair of the Patriotic Movement for the Salvation of Cameroon, Aboubakar Sidiki, was arrested on August 9, on the similar charges. Security officials are quoted as saying 25 other top officials suspected to have links with the rebellion are likely to be caged soon.
Meanwhile, churches have multiplied prayer sessions, calling on God to ensure the reign of peace in Cameroon. Many Cameroonians, whom The Post spoke with, said they want peace at all cost and not war, and are consequently backing every Government effort in the fight against the dastardly Boko Haram terrorists.
They also hold that it would be a matter of time before the courageous and patriotic Cameroonian forces put the insane sect members to shame.
