Who was Lord Justice Ayah Paul Abine? ⁰

Known for his outspoken nature, Lord Justice Ayah Paul Abine, a renowned Supreme Court Judge and human rights activist died on Christmas day at the age of 74. The news was confirmed by his family in Buea the chief city in the South West region.

Ayah Paul was a strong critic of the Cameroon’s powerful Francophone dominated political establishment. Ayah complained of pains around his chest and was rushed to the Buea Regional Hospital where he breathed his last.

Born in 1950 in Ngali, Akwaya Subdivision in Manyu, Lord Justice Ayah was among the few English speaking Cameroonians who served at the Supreme Court. His life was dedicated towards his career and he went on to defend the rights of millions of Cameroonians, children and other minorities.

Lord Justice Ayah started his career after he graduated from the National School of Administration and Magistracy (ENAM) in Yaoundé in 1976.  He was Vice-President of the Court of Appeal in Buea in the South-West region, before becoming a member of the National Assembly in 2002. In August 2007, he was elected Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Assembly.

Lord Justice Paul Abine left the ruling CPDM crime syndicate and founded the People’s Action Party (PAP). He was arrested on 21 January 2017 for advocating a return to federalism which was against the rule of Cameroon’s longest-serving dictator Paul Biya. He was tried before the military court in Yaoundé and was released from prison by presidential decree on 30 August 2017 after spending more than 8 months in detention at the Kondengui Maximum Security Prison.

Ayah Paul Abine became a champion for democracy, human rights and remains the only Cameroonian Supreme Court judge ever detained by the blood thirty regime in Yaoundé.

In 2023 he told this reporter that his life was in danger from the country’s top spy agency General Directorate of External Research, Cameroon’s intelligence agency.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai