Cameroon separatist abducted

LAGOS: Reports yesterday said Southern Cameroon’s separatist President, Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe, had been abducted in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.

The report stated that the information was given by the Secretary of Communications and IT, Federal Republic of Ambazonia, Chris Anu.

Anu said Tabe was abducted by “gunmen from la Republic du Cameroun at 7.30pm in a hotel in Abuja Nigeria on January 5 (Friday)”.

The separatist leader was abducted along with Dr Nfor Ngala Nfor, chairperson of the Southern Cameroons National Council; Dr Fidelis Nde Che; Dr Henry Kimeng; Professor Awasum; Dr Cornelius Kwanga; Tassang Wilfred; Barrister Eyambe Elias; Dr Ojong Okongho; and Barrister Nalowa Bih, he said.

Tabe and his team were in a “high command meeting in Abuja at the time the Cameroon gunmen showed up at the hotel. “The meeting started at around 5pm, Nigerian time. At around 7.30pm, the gunmen came into the hotel and abducted all of them including the president”.

Anu said the meeting was to discuss Southern Cameroon’s Refugee crisis in Nigeria and to galvanise relief support for housing, medical and feeding. The statement enjoined all Southern Cameroonians to remain calm as it pursues investigations into the abduction.

It said: “We call on Nigerian authorities to address this issue immediately and ensure that the Cameroon government does not do any harm to them. We also call on the Nigerian authorities to investigate this threat against its sovereignty by La Republique du Cameroon.

“We call on the Nigerian government to guarantee the security of the more than 20 000 Southern Cameroonian refugees in various camps in Nigeria.”

Tabe heads the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, after Anglophone Southern Cameroon declared independence from Cameroon, the francophone part, last year. The declaration of independence has not been recognised by the UN or any country. – Independent Foreign Service