Monthly Archives: October 2021

11, October 2021

Of Barrister Emmanuel Agbor Ashu, attacks on the Interim Government and the Ambazonian people ⁰

Rejoinders to well researched write-ups provide helpful feedback on how the reading public appreciates an article from any credible publication. A rejoinder also offers an opportunity for any person who is the subject of a detailed investigative report to defend themselves or present contrary facts if they deem any part of a publication inaccurate or biased. Under the title “Unmasking Barrister Emmanuel Agbor Ashu”, Cameroon Concord News Group made public a report on 25 September 2021 on all its media outlets.

The article was frank, candid and also provided a thoughtful key to understanding the dubious role currently being played by Barrister Agbor Ashu deep within the Southern Cameroons struggle and our readership has heaped praises for its meticulousness. However and by some strange happenstance, Barrister Emmanuel Ashu has taken issue with the report. But instead of presenting a rational rejoinder countering the arguments raised for the better understanding of the public, the French Cameroun based man of law has resorted to Facebook and TV studios in French Cameroun to present alternative truths and launched vicious and malicious attacks on the credibility of the Cameroon Concord News Group and its cream of well trained media experts.

Recently, Barrister Emmanuel Ashu said somewhat ridiculously, that the Cameroon Concord News Group‘s story on his exploits and treachery was akin to blackmail. This begs the question; does the barrister understand what blackmail is? His self-declared importance in a third-division enclave like Douala has given him the false impression that rational Southern Cameroonians in the diaspora would waste valuable time, money and energy on blackmailing a ruffian and unreliable loose cannon like him.

Barrister Emmanuel Ashu has spent the last few days reciting his overhyped and outdated pitiful so-called achievements to readers on Facebook and other social media platforms rather than address abundant and humiliating facts unpacked in our report.

The barrister has a reputation for making a mess out of every situation. And he has lived up to that standing again with flying colours. Demonstrating both his desperation and unfortunate inclination towards lies telling, over the last week, the barrister wrote amongst many incoherent statements that, “is it journalism to bundle a heap of lies and defamatory assertions spiced with hatred about a person you know nothing about?… I am a legal icon with a proven track record backed by 38 years of very legal practice….I am the best criminal lawyer in Cameroon…Politically, founding father of the SDF…etc.”.

Our flat write up stated that “Barrister Emmanuel Ashu requested that the Interim Government of Ambazonia(The IG) pay him CFA 2.5 billion, buy him a new car, and furnish an office in Douala for him; as compensation to lead a potential legal defense for the NERA10.” Barrister Ashu has still not challenged the correctness of this report. Instead, he has presented a lousy and farfetched excuse that he asked for CFA 2 billion from Sako and the IG to defend the NERA10 in Yaoundé. He revealed, somewhat misleadingly, that his primitive and cheap design for the NERA 10 was putting together a team of 10 lawyers to work for two years. How did he know that the lawsuit against the accused would last two years? We of this publication are calling on Barrister Agbonde to set the records straight by publishing his communications on this matter with the Ambazonia Interim Government.

The report inter alia stated that in the early days of the SDF, the barrister took Chairman John Fru Ndi to his village in Manyu for a visit. The SDF Chairman “did not spend an hour in Ewelle village because Barrister Ashu had nowhere to host the visiting SDF delegation.” The man of law has neither refuted this claim nor presented documents as evidence that he owns a dwelling in his village. As a man of law, Barrister Ashu is aware that one persuades a judge or an audience with hard evidence, not hot air on a TV studio or Facebook posts.

Cameroon Concord News Group’s reporter in Douala indicated that in 2015, she met Barrister Emmanuel Ashu in “unpardonably tattered shoes, a pair of trousers with countless patches in them, a dreadful body odour, and he looked desperately hungry”. Again, Maitre Ashu as he loves being referred to in French Cameroun has not refuted this claim. Last week, the ‘Senior Barrister’ was spotted wearing a coat of many colours on a French Cameroun TV appearing like Petit Pays where he put up a less-than-spirited defense of his record and integrity. To be accurate, Maitre Ashu on that stage simply needed a band like the Sans Visa to give him the full status of a pro Biya comedian.

It is common knowledge that under Paul Biya’s CPDM crime syndicate, standards and patriotism are in very short supply. But the fact that Barrister Emmanuel Ashu now claims to be the best criminal lawyer in Cameroun is a considerable worry that cannot be dismissed as sheer flippancy. His record tells a completely different story and like our Douala City correspondent rightly puts it, “during his more than 30 years career, he has either been caught committing the same errors or falling into spectacular new ones.” This now explains why he is always around television and radio houses pontificating on political matters that bring him nothing in return.

Our report was unambiguous that Barrister Emmanuel Ashu belongs to an unenviable club of Manyu citizens in their sixties who have not contributed an iota of development to their villages. A close acquaintance of the barrister has confided in our Douala Bureau Chief over the last few days that the barrister is a symbol of ridicule within his clan due to his financial inadequacy and unreliable tendencies.

The barrister has also not rebutted our report that he “owns” a scam of a political party in French Cameroun while claiming to walk shoulder-to-shoulder with Ambazonians. The barrister has now confirmed that he stands for a Confederation in the Cameroons, which is wholly inconsistent with the vision of the people of Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia. The $50,000 question is: why has it taken the man of law five years to make this position public?

Late Barrister Ben Muna, Barrister Halle Nico, Barrister Akere Muna, and many other Southern Cameroonian geniuses have distinguished themselves as legal giants on the national and global stage but never arrogated the title of Senior Barrister to themselves. For Barrister Emmanuel Ashu, a riff-raff and legal embarrassment to paint himself as such, betrays some ignorance and a lack of understanding of the Anglo-Saxon academic and professional traditions.

Agbonde Emmanuel Ashu has failed to present to both Cameroon Intelligence Report and Cameroon Concord News a rejoinder that persuades the public and our readers, in his own words, that this publication had purposely or inadvertently published material that is inaccurate about his person.

Ever since our publication, the barrister has been lurching from one emotional crisis to another, and he is patently not in control of his mind. It is rather intriguing how the man of law has the time and energy to process puerile adventures on Facebook and TV studios but has not the discipline and composure to produce an intelligible response to our investigative report on his duplicity and games. In failing to collect himself and present a coherent and factual statement countering what was written about him, Barrister Emmanuel Ashu has lived up to his reputation of being a man who lacks composure, integrity and is emotionally too erratic. He should either sit up or shut up!

By Isong Asu in London and Dr Patrick Ayuk in Johannesburg

10, October 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Sporadic gunfire rocks Mamfe ⁰

Troops loyal to the Biya Francophone regime in Yaounde and Ambazonia Restoration Forces exchanged gunfire on Sunday in the Manyu Divisional capital Mamfe, a spokesman for the Francophone Divisional Officer said.

The situation remained confused later Sunday with sporadic gunfire heard and Ambazonia Restoration Forces blocking all major roads from the Mamfe Cathedral Roundabout to the junction around the late George Leke Fonge’s residence toward government primary school Egbekaw.

Several army soldiers deployed to Mamfe rushed back into their barracks justifying claims that President Biya’s legal authority is in doubt in Southern Cameroons.

Later Sunday, gunfire was also heard in the Satom area although the source was unclear. A source at the SDO’s office contacted by Cameroon Concord News said he was deeply saddened by the tragedy that has disrupted security in Mamfe.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files

10, October 2021

Countdown to the 2021 SOBA UK ANNUAL RESIDENTIAL CONVENTION – What to expect ⁰

It is indeed Countdown to the 2021 SOBA UK ANNUAL RESIDENTIAL CONVENTION billed to commence this Friday October 15, 2021 at The Hilton at St George’s Park, Burton Upon Trent.

The SOBA UK Annual Residential Convention is also an international event that regularly attracts high flying academics and business leaders in the UK and even beyond.

The Sasse Old Boys 2021 show will take place in St George’s Park, the Home of the England National football teams and the President of SOBA UK Hon. Egbe Franklin is reportedly keeping his pick for Master of Ceremony like a nuclear secret.

The event is billed to be one of the biggest ever with lots of activities on ground.

SOBA UK Annual Residential Convention is always filled with unforgettable moments. Guests who have confirmed their participation are already very excited about it! So it’s all fingers crossed.

By Isong Asu

10, October 2021

Boxing: ‘Best of era’ Fury hailed after Wilder classic ⁰

Tyson Fury believes he is the greatest heavyweight of his era after producing a scintillating display to beat Deontay Wilder in a boxing classic on Saturday.

The 33-year-old undefeated Englishman recovered from two knockdowns against the hard-hitting Wilder before knocking out the American in the 11th round to retain his WBC crown.

“I know I’m the greatest heavyweight of my era, without doubt. Number one,” Fury said following an epic battle at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

“I’ve fought the most devastating puncher in the history of our sport, not once, not twice, but three times.”

At a towering 6ft 9in tall and weighing in at 277lbs, Fury is unarguably one of the biggest heavyweight champions of all time.

Icons of the heavyweight division like Muhammad Ali or Joe Frazier would be giving away massive advantages in height and weight in any theoretical match-up with the reigning champion.

Fury was initially reluctant on Saturday to rank his chances against past greats.

“I don’t like competing with fighters from the past because it’s fantasy, not reality,” he said. “I can only beat the best of my day. And I’ve done that. I’m the best fighter in my era.

However, he later could not resist comparing himself favorably to the greatest heavyweights to have graced the division.

“There’s been so many of them, so many great champions,” he said.

“Without sounding too clever, I place myself at the top of the pile. I believe I can beat any man in history, any man.”

– ‘Magnificent’ –

Saturday’s thriller meanwhile left many at ringside struggling to think of a better heavyweight contest in boxing history.

“Listen, I’ve been in this business 57 years promoting fights and I truly have to say I have never seen a heavyweight fight as magnificent as this,” said Fury’s US promoter Bob Arum, who promoted 27 of Muhammad Ali’s fights including the 1975 classic “Thrilla in Manila” against Joe Frazier.

Frank Warren, Fury’s veteran English promoter, said Saturday’s bout was “boxing history.”

'Warriors': Tyson Fury landing a punch against Deontay Wilder — ‘Warriors’: Tyson Fury landing a punch against Deontay Wilder Robyn Beck AFP

“It’s the best live heavyweight fight I’ve seen,” Warren said. “It was just amazing. Two warriors and just so absorbing. Tyson is the standout heavyweight of his generation.

“I have seen him box better. But the heart and the bravery he showed tonight were just amazing. Boxing should be proud of what he did tonight.”

Fury, who now plans to take a break from the sport before contemplating a potential unification fight with WBA, IBF and WBO champion Oleksandr Usyk, or British rival Anthony Joshua, insisted he had never felt in danger against Wilder.

“He caught me twice. But I was never like thinking ‘Uh oh, this is over.’ I thought ‘Okay, good shot — but I will get you back in a minute, and I did’,” he said.

“He shook me and he put me down, but that’s boxing. And that’s life as well — no matter how many times you get put down, it’s all about getting back up.”

Source: AFP

10, October 2021

Colombian nun freed four years after being kidnapped by Mali jihadists ⁰

A Franciscan nun from Colombia kidnapped by jihadists in Mali more than four years ago has been freed, Mali’s presidency said.

Sister Gloria Cecilia Narvaez was taken hostage on February 7, 2017 in southern Mali near the border with Burkina Faso where she had been working as a missionary.

A statement on the presidential Twitter account paid tribute to her “courage and bravery” along with photos of the nun taken after her release Saturday.

“I thank the Malian authorities, the president, all the Malian authorities, for all the efforts you’ve made to liberate me, may God bless you, may God bless Mali,” Sister Gloria said in images broadcast on state television showing her with Mali’s interim president Colonel Assimi Goita and the archbishop of Bamako Jean Zerbo.

“I am very happy, I stayed healthy for five years, thank God,” the nun said, smiling and wearing a yellow robe.

Her liberation had been the fruit of “four years and eight months of the combined effort of several intelligence services”, the presidency said.

In the official statement, Goita assured that “efforts are under way” to secure the release of all those still being held in Mali.

Archbishop Zerbo said Sister Gloria was “doing well”.

“We prayed a lot for her release. I thank the Malian authorities and other good people who made this release possible,” the archbishop said.

Sister Gloria, 59, was kidnapped near Koutiala, 400 kilometres (250 miles) east of Bamako. She had worked as a missionary for six years in the parish of Karangasso with three other nuns.

According to one of her colleagues, Sister Carmen Isabel Valencia, she offered herself in place of two younger nuns the kidnappers were preparing to take.

“She is a woman of a very particular human quality, down to earth … moved by the love of the poor,” Sister Carmen said.

In Colombia, her brother Edgar Narvaez said he was very emotional after receiving news of her release.

“She is in good health, thank God. They sent me pictures and she looks well,” he told AFP.

In a letter sent last July by the Red Cross to her brother, Sister Gloria said she was held by “a group of GSIM”, the Al-Qaeda-linked Group to Support Islam and Muslims, the largest jihadist alliance in the Sahel.

A source close to the negotiations to release her told AFP she had not been ill-treated during her captivity and during that time she had learned the Koran.

“The negotiations lasted months, years,” said the source, without giving further details.

Bound for Rome

An official at Bamako airport, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP the nun had arrived in the Malian capital on Saturday evening from where she was due to fly to Rome. Her departure from Bamako was confirmed by the city’s archdiocese.

In Colombia, Vice-President Marta Lucia Ramirez — who is also foreign minister — said she was “very happy” at Sister Gloria’s release, which she attributed to the work of the government and also stressed the “humanitarian efforts of the French government to contribute to this success”.

National police director Jorge Luis Vargas also welcomed her release.

“Today is very good news for Colombia, but also for the national police for all the efforts made over the years to secure the safe release of our compatriot,” he said.

Vargas said meetings had been held with several European and African ambassadors to try to secure the nun’s release.

“With Interpol, and with other international organisations, we have always sought to bring those responsible to justice.”

There were irregular reports about the nun over the years, including at the beginning of 2021, when two Europeans who managed to escape captivity reported that she was well.

Then in March, her brother received proof that she was still alive, passed on from the Red Cross.

It was a letter written in capital letters “because she always used capital letters”, containing the names of their parents and ending with her signature, he told AFP earlier this year.

Mali has been struggling to contain a jihadist insurgency that first emerged in the north of the country in 2012, and which has since spread to neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.

Kidnappings, once rare, have become more common in recent years as a security crisis has deepened in Mali, particularly in the centre of the former French colony.

French journalist Olivier Dubois was abducted on April 8 in northern Mali by jihadists affiliated with Al-Qaeda.

Dubois, who worked with several French news outlets, said in a hostage video that GSIM had abducted him.

(AFP)

10, October 2021

French Cameroun: Two Boko Haram militants, one civilian killed in Far North region ⁰

At least two militants of the terror group Boko Haram and a civilian have been killed in raids in Cameroon’s Far North region, according to local and security sources.

Government forces ambushed and killed two militants of the group on Saturday in Mozogo, a locality of the region, a military official who opted for anonymity told Xinhua.

The militants had earlier raided the locality Friday night killing a civilian and destroying property, according to witnesses.

The raids came barely three days after the militants attacked Assighassia village of the region killing seven civilians.

Local media reported that the militants launched the attacks after troops targeted their strategic positions in a coordinated offensive killing several terrorists.

Source: Xinhuanet

10, October 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Nurses Seek Extra Care for the Terminally Ill ⁰

Nurses in Cameroon are marking this year’s World Hospice and Palliative Care Day (October 9) with visits to terminally ill patients in the country’s restive North-West and South-West regions. The regions’ ongoing separatist conflict has left hundreds of patients unable to receive regular in-home hospice care. Cameroon’s nurses are calling for that to change.

Mundih Noelar Njohjam a doctor treating patients with terminal diseases at Cameroon Baptist Conventions Health Services in Bamenda, capital of the English-speaking North-West region, says the separatist crisis is depriving many patients of palliative care.

“The high level of insecurity caused by the ongoing crisis has negatively affected access to palliative care for many patients, especially those living with cancers. Patients with terminal diseases are unable to get to health facilities where they can receive adequate palliative care. Consequently, they have to settle for suboptimal palliative care,” Njohjam said.

The Cameroon Association of Terminally Ill Patients reports that more than 900 patients are denied access to palliative care in the English-speaking western regions.

The association says hundreds of patients in need of help to relieve them of pain and suffering are dying in towns and villages. They say several hundred caregivers have fled hospitals in Cameroon’s troubled English-speaking regions since the separatist crisis escalated in 2017.

Hundreds of patients who have the means relocate to safer French-speaking towns to receive medical care for their terminal illnesses. The patients say they prefer to relocate to Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde, and Douala, a coastal city where many of their family members have rushed to for safety.

Among others, the nurses visited the Yaounde residence of Christophe Esselebo, a 67-year-old retired teacher who has been living with HIV and liver disease for three years. He says he faces a great deal of stigma from family members and friends.

He says to prevent developing a mental health crisis, he avoids feelings of emotional attachments with family members who have abandoned him because of his condition. He says he avoids mental trauma during his remaining days by being positive about life and making friends on social media with people who think positively.

Esselebo says he regularly follows up treatment recommended by his doctor.

The visit to homes of people living with terminal diseases this year was organized by the Cameroon Association of Terminally Ill Patients and Santo Domingo Cameroon, a center that cares for people with terminal diseases.

Fulbert Kenfack Jiofack, coordinator of Santo Domingo Cameroon, says poverty pushes 70% of sick Cameroonians to seek assistance from African traditional healers. He says because of either illiteracy or lack of financial means, families abandon their members diagnosed with terminal diseases at home until they die.

Jiofack said fighters in the English-speaking western regions and government troops should avoid inflicting more pain on patients who are already suffering from diseases that cannot be cured. He said medical staff members should be allowed to give health care to people in need.

The nurses ask civilians to stop prejudging the terminally ill in Cameroon.

Cameron’s health ministry says the greatest prejudice is shown toward those suffering from infectious terminal diseases such as HIV.

The health ministry says stigma is driven by the thought that those receiving palliative care will die soon and that terminal illnesses are divine punishment for wrongdoing. Some families prohibit palliative caregivers from visiting their sick patients at home, the government reports.

Nurses said the role of palliative caregivers is to ease patients’ physical pain with medicines and provide psychological, emotional and spiritual counseling to people who have life-threatening and terminal illnesses.

Source: VOA

9, October 2021

Hamilton fastest in Istanbul F1 qualifying but Bottas takes pole ⁰

Lewis Hamilton dominated qualifying Saturday for the Turkish Grand Prix but his Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas will start the race from pole position.

Hamilton, the championship leader, set a new lap record three times in qualifying but because his team incurred a 10-place grid penalty by changing his engine ahead of the race he will start 11th.

His closest rival for the title, Dutchman Max Verstappen of Red Bull, will start alongside Bottas, a Finn, on the front row.

Hamilton improved his time in each of the three qualifying phases. After breaking the 16-year-old track record in practice on Friday he broke it again in each of the three qualifying sessions.

He finished the session with a time of 1min 22.868sec, 0.130sec ahead of Bottas with Verstappen 0.328 back.

Frenchmen Charles Leclerc in a Ferrari, and Pierre Gasly in an Alpha Tauri will start on the second row.

Veteran Spaniard Fernando Alonso and Mexican Sergio Perez of Red Bull occupy the next two places.

Source: AFP

9, October 2021

Poor nations still waiting for G7 COVID-19 vaccine donations ⁰

Since the pandemic hit in March 201, rich countries have been promising to take poorer nations under their wing. Countries like the US, the UK and Canada started buying up vaccines, promising to donate hundreds of millions of doses. They have not delivered on those promises though. Dozens of countries say COVAX, the organization in charge of the equitable distribution of vaccines, won’t even respond to calls or emails from top diplomats.

By the end of 2021, rich countries will have a stockpile of one billion spare COVID-19 doses. Here in Britain, with most adults double jabbed, more than a million people have now been offered a booster shot. But will 3 doses be enough protection here, when 98% of people in low-income countries remain unvaccinated.

All along the WHO has warned that the pandemic is not over anywhere, until it is over everywhere. Now it says the world stands on the precipice of failure, and that hoarding is not only immoral, but stupid.

Even many European countries lost hope in COVAX months ago; taking matters into their own hands. Countries like Russia and China were quick to fill orders from countries like Hungary and Slovakia that couldn’t wait for the European Union to deliver. But countries that can’t afford to pay are still waiting for handouts.

Source: Presstv

9, October 2021

US to hold first in-person talks with Taliban since Afghan withdrawal ⁰

The United States and the Taliban will hold their first in-person talks since the US withdrawal from Afghanistan starting Saturday, the State Department said.

The US delegation will meet Saturday and Sunday in the Qatari capital Doha with senior Taliban representatives, a State Department spokesperson said.

The United States has remained in contact with the Taliban since the longtime foes seized Kabul in August as US troops pulled out but the meeting will be the first that is face to face.

“We will press the Taliban to respect the rights of all Afghans, including women and girls, and to form an inclusive government with broad support,” the spokesperson said Friday.

“As Afghanistan faces the prospect of a severe economic contraction and possible humanitarian crisis, we will also press the Taliban to allow humanitarian agencies free access to areas of need,” he said.

The State Department stressed that the meeting did not indicate that the United States was recognizing Taliban rule in Afghanistan.

“We remain clear that any legitimacy must be earned through the Taliban’s own actions,” the spokesperson said.

Letting US citizens leave

The US team will also press President Joe Biden’s key priority of letting US citizens and Afghan allies during the 20-year military operation leave the country.

The United States says that the Taliban have largely cooperated on letting out US citizens. Around 100 remain, predominantly US citizens with roots in Afghanistan who are undecided on whether to leave, according to US officials.

But the United States acknowledges that it was not able to get out most Afghan allies who wanted to leave during a hasty airlift that pulled tens of thousands of people out of Kabul before the withdrawal.

The spokesperson did not specify who would represent the two sides. Senior US officials including Central Command chief General Frank McKenzie met with the Taliban in Kabul in August as US troops took over the airport for the airlift.

(AFP)