Though social media platforms have been inundated with pictures and videos of the Prime Minister’s visit to Bamenda in the North West region, with claims that his convoy was severely attacked on the way to the region, it is necessary to state the fact as it were on the ground.
PM given hero's welcome in Bda
Chief Dr Joseph Dion Ngute’s convoy was never attacked. Separatist fighters in their usual attempts to score points from their apologists on the social media, fired shots from kilometers in bushes with attempts to scare the population that turned out to receive the PM.The shots, it should be clearly stated were fired at the time the mammoth crowd was listening to the PM at Matazen, the gateway into the region. The few shots from the distant far bushes caused commotion that didn’t last ten minutes.
But for the adequate reply from armed-to-the-teeth soldiers who fired ceaseless shots to the direction where the separatist shots were fired, nothing would have been noticed of an attack. The situation was only magnified with people with ill-intentioned who captured the panic from the crowd and circulated widely on social media.
The scenario in the North West, it should be said, isn’t the first. Separatist fighters are noted for attempting to create disruptions during visits of officials so as to get social media praises from their sponsors.
In 2020, during the Mount Cameroon Race in Buea in the South West region, same few shots were fired at the convoy that was escorting the equipment and personnel of the state-owned broadcaster, the CRTV to the region, around the Mile 14 area.
PM Dion Ngute gets hero’s welcome
After the stop over at Matazen to commune with the population, the PM was received by an enthusiastic and huge crowd at the entrance to the town amidst separatist-imposed lockdown. The streets of Bemenda Up Station was full with inhabitants of the city drawn from all background. The mammoth crowd of cheering residents sang songs of peace to receive the man they so love and consider a father.
In his humble, affable and down-to-earth style, the PM made impromptu stops during which he communed with the jubilant crowds at Mile One Up Station, Customs Junction Up Station Bamenda, Finance Junction and Entrance into Ayaba Hotel. At each stop, Chief Dr Joseph Dion Ngute stepped out of his car to greet inhabitants the jubilant crowd, among them school children and other members of the public who lined up the streets to receive and wish him well.
When he stopped at the Customs Junction at Up Station for instance, Dion Ngute walked on foot write down to the entrance to the North West Governor’s Office. As the convoy left for the hotel, another huge crowd caused the Prime Minister to descend from his car again at Finance Junction.
At each of the stops, the PM unarguably charmed the population with his addresses delivered in Pidgin English and appealed to the population to align with government in its continuous quest to restore peace in restive the region. He called on the entire population to join the quest for peace.
“Because of these, there is no need to remain fighting in the bushes. There is no need to be burying our loved ones in the bushes. There is no need to bury our sisters and brothers of the military corps who are here to protect us. There is no need for us to make life extremely difficult for ourselves and our people. Everybody wants peace and I came here to say all of us have to work for peace. We have to start doing this by explaining to those who are still carrying guns in the bushes,” Dion Ngute said while reminding the population of strides made to resolve the genuine concerns raised by lawyers and teachers.
He added: “We were here two years ago on the instructions of President Paul Biya in the buildup to the staging of the Major National Dialogue, MND, to address the concerns of our brothers and sisters in the North West and South West regions. Two years after, the Head of State has sent me to come and tell the people that the things they complained about and the things he promised to do have been done. The problems that lawyers raised; the problems that teachers and politicians raised; all those problems have been diagnosed one after the other and solutions have been sought”.
“It is time to let those who are making life difficult for us and for themselves to know that it is time to open a new chapter. Let us come back together as one people. Let us enjoy this Bamenda like we used to do in those days and like I see some of us already enjoying today. I thank you all for this show of solidarity. I came here with a delegation of your brothers and sisters who have only one agenda, which is to make the North West what it used to be,” the Head of Government told Bamenda residents.
Dion will during the stay in the North West region grant audiences to all the elite and receive all the segments of the population from all seven divisions so as to listen get the reality of the crisis in their area and get proposals on how normalcy could return.
By Cameroon Express
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