Ahidjo was an antihero - Henriette Ekwe

An activist since her early youth of the Union of the Peoples of Cameroon, presents the first president as the executioner of the activists of the Union of the Populations of Cameroon (UPC) in the 60s.

On Sunday, November 30, 2014, we celebrated the 25th anniversary of the death of the first president of the Republic of Cameroon, Ahmadou Ahidjo, who is buried at a Muslim cemetery in Yoff in Dakar, Senegal.

This anniversary has ushered in a week marked by intense controversy surrounding the repatriation of the remains of the former President of the Republic and the organization of the official funeral in his honor by a debate revived after an interview with his widow, Germaine on Radio France Internationale (RFI).

This will struggle to elicit sympathy from Henriette Ekwe, an activist of the Union of the Populations of Cameroon (UPC) who says she was victim of the "dictatorship" regime of the former Head of State of Cameroon since her early youth.

"This controversy may remind the president's wife that in his time, there was no debating of this kind of subject. He left many bodies abroad without honour including Felix Moumie, Kingue Abel and others. Then he made sure that those who were here were not given a burial worthy of the name ... So we have an obligation to remind his wife of history and the fierce repression that her husband President exercised, youths tortured with electricity, sending them to dungeons in the four corners of the country, Mantoum, Yoko and Tchollire," she argued in an interview with the daily La Nouvelle Expression, publication No. 3862 of Friday, November 28 2014.

The historian who argues for a national reconciliation believes that "we cannot rehabilitate Ahidjo alone," recalling the repression suffered by activists of the Union of the Populations of Cameroon (UPC) under the first President of the Republic.

"We must not forget that in 1964 we paid to Bandenkop napalm in the headquarters, SIGAP Martin, the commander of the National Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Union of Populations of Cameroon (UPC). There were massacres at Congo area (in Douala, ed) in April 1960. There was Bamileke country, many mass graves after independence, "says the former Director of Publication of the newspaper" Bebela ".

Henriette Ekwe thinks that it is the Head of State who can boost reconciliation. "I believe that if the Head of State can come out on top, if there is a reconciliation, it is necessary that the perpetrators are found with the victims," said the fighter. However, Henriette Ekwe has not only bad memories of President Ahidjo.

According to her, "one can remember President Ahidjo as he built all the major schools of Cameroon, with a campus worthy of the name. One that was very early conscious education and gave scholarships to students so that they go as far as possible..."