Ambazoniagate:  Profiles of the NERA 10 ⁰

1. SISIKU JULIUS AYUKTABE

Vice President, American University of Nigeria; Information Technology Expert

Sisiku Julius AyukTabe was born on the 2^nd May 1965 (55 years) in Ewelle village, Eyumojock in Manyu. He is the son of Ayuk Elias and Ojong Paulina (both deceased). He is married with 4 children.

He is the pioneer Chief Information Officer (CIO) and successively Assistant Vice President in-charge of Digital Services and Marketing & Recruitment at the American University of Nigeria (AUN), Yola, Adamawa State, Nigeria. He worked extensively with SONEL (Electricity Distribution Company) in Cameroun where he improved energy efficiency in the Adamaoua Region by 16%, as Regional Delegate. Earlier in his career as the company’s Computer Analyst/programmer, he deployed a Customer-Management application for the company. As an IT expert he voluntarily designed, developed and deployed an application, for the Cameroon GCE Board, for the automation of operations of the General and Commercial Examinations at both the Ordinary and Advanced levels. He also worked with Cisco Systems as the Academy Manager for the 23 countries of West &Central Africa, until he joined the American University of Nigeria. Sisiku Ayuk Tabe is a Motivational Speaker and has spoken at many conferences across the globe. He and his wife Lilian Ayuk Tabe founded the AyukTabeAgborBakia (ATAB) Foundation that empowers the poor in his community in Eyumojock, Manyu County in the Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia). They have developed a 60-hectare farm known as ATAB Farms along the Eyumojock – Ekok road employing 28 workers. On the 29^th of September 2017, the workers were driven out of the farm by Cameroun troops. The farm has since been abandoned because those troops still ensure that no one goes anywhere close to it.

Sisiku Julius AyukTabe is also a member of the Adamawa Peacemakers Initiative (API) that supports IDPs in Northern Nigeria. His brainchild Cisco networking Academy at the Budumbura refugee camp in Ghana won the International Academy Awards “Against all Odds”in Europe. He was the Chairman of the Governing Council of the Southern Cameroons Consortium United Front (SCACUF) and was later entrusted with the heavy responsibilities of President of the exiled Interim Government of the Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia. He and 11 other leaders of the Southern Cameroons (Ambazonian) were kidnapped in NERA Hotel, Abuja, Nigeria, on the 5^th January 2018 by a combined Nigeria/Cameroun military squad. On the 25^th January 2018 he and with nine of those leaders were forcibly repatriated under armed military terror to Yaoundé, Cameroun. They were held at SED for 11 months, six of those months incommunicado and later at the Kondengui Maximum Security Prison, Yaoundé, where they are still languishing. On the 10th January 2019, they were arraigned before the Yaoundé Military Tribunal on trumped up charges of so-called secession, terrorism, treason, non-possession of the Cameroun identity card, etc. On the night of the 19^th breaking 20th August 2019, Sisiku alongside his nine compatriots were put through the motion of a ‘trial’and nonsensically sentenced to life imprisonment and a fined of $525 million each.

2. Mr NFOR NGALA NFOR

Political scientist and author

Mr Nfor Ngala Nfor was born on December 31, 1952 (68 years) in Kup, Nkambe in Donga Mantung County in what was then the UN Trust Territory of the British Southern Cameroons. He was born into the family of His Royal Highness Ta Nfor Ngala Tarndap (late) and Ma Winto Mbebu.He obtained a Master’s Degree in Political Science from Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Nigeria in 1980. He was employed in the Registry of the University and rose to the rank of Senior Assistant Registrar. In 1986 he resigned and returned to Cameroon. He worked in the Ministry of Territorial Administration until 1992. In 1998 he served as Secretary at the UN Habitat Afrique Conference hosted by A.B.U Zaria.The late Prof Shuetfegua was the Conference Chairman and General Mohammed Buhari (rtd) was Patron.

He was at the launching of the opposition party,the Social Democratic Front (SDF), in Bamenda, Cameroons, on May 26, 1990. He served the party in various capacities including being Chairman of the Constitutional and Political Affairs Committee up to 1999. Thereafter he has dedicated his entire life and service to the pursuit of the restoration of his country, the Southern Cameroons from annexation by the foreign state of French Cameroun. His engagements in this regard have been within the Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC) of which he was the National Vice Chairman from 2000 to 2014 and then Chairman from 2014 to date. He was the SCNC Representative in the Unrepresented Peoples’ Organisation (UNPO)and served two mandates on the Presidency of the Organisation.

He is author of many educative pamphlets and books on the Southern Cameroons, prominent among which are‘In Chains for my Country’,‘Died not Dead’,‘The two Cameroons: Southern Cameroons for Southern Cameroonians’, and ‘The Southern Cameroons: The Truth of the Matter’. In his service to liberate the Southern Cameroons from annexation and subjugation, he has been arbitrarily arrested, tortured, detained and tried on several occasions. Following the banning of the SCNC in January 2017 alongside the Consortium, he fled to Nigeria where he sought and obtained UNHCR protection as a refugee. He and 11 others were abducted in Abuja Nigeria in January 5, 2018 and 10 of them repatriated to Yaoundé in French Cameroon. After eleven months of solitary confinement at SED, he was transferred to Kondengui Prison. He was arraigned before the Cameroun’s Military Tribunal on 10 January 2019, on charges of ‘terrorism’, ‘secession’, ‘treason’, etc. After a summary pretended ‘trial’ on 20 August 2019, he alongside his nine compatriots were given the pre-determined sentence of life imprisonment and a fine of $525 million. Mr Nfor Ngala Nfor is married and has children.

3. Professor CHEH AUGUSTINE AWASUM

Professor of Surgery, Consultant Surgeon, and Fellow of the Nigerian College of Veterinary Surgeons

Professor Cheh Augustine Awasum was born on 4th May 1968 (52 years) in Bamenda, Mezam County in the Southern Cameroons, into the family of Camillus NdanjiAwasum (late) and Anastasia Ngwe Awasum. In addition to holding a PhD in Surgery on defective kidney ureteral reconstruction by Monti mathematical model (ileoureterplasty), he also holds a Masters in Surgery and, additionally, a Master’s degree in: International Affairs, Diplomacy, Criminal Justice, Law Enforcement, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Education (Curriculum Foundation and Psychology). He holds a Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine (DVM). He has taught and graduated over a thousand Doctorates of Veterinary Medicine (DVM), taught and supervised several Masters and PH.Ds in Surgery. He has conducted extensive research in surgery and imaging. Some innovations included the composition of 4 crystallord solutions used in washing harvested organs intended for transplant.

Professor Awasum is a scholar, researcher, and Professor of Surgery in the Department of Veterinary Surgery and Diagnostic Imaging at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria, Nigeria. He is Head of Surgery Unit of the Department at the Veterinary Teaching Hospital of the University. He is the Postgraduate Coordinator of the Department and Member of the University Senate. He is a Fellow of the Nigerian College of Surgeons. In professional practice he rose through the ranks from registrar, Consultant, Senior Consultant to Principal Consultant Surgeon in 2012. He is visiting scholar and chief external examiner to several universities national and international. He is also an instructor in the College of Veterinary Surgeons, Nigeria. He is a member of several departmental, faculty, university and national Research Committees including the World Bank-sponsored research on neglected tropical diseases. He is also member of ABU Animal Use and Care – Ethics, ABU Kidney Transplant Group, HIV/AIDS awareness, Clinical Library Implementation, University Freshmen Orientation, ABU and Veterinary Council of Nigeria Examination Monitoring, African Liaison to the USA based African (Nduaka) Education Initiative (AEI) and Principal Consultant Surgeon to Nigerian Police Security Dogs and, ABU Guard Dogs, Justice.

He has contributed over 110 articles in peer-reviewed journals, conferences proceedings and seminars at both national and international levels. He has co-authored several chapters in books/manuals in surgery. For his achievements in kidney transplants, he received commendations from President Buhari the then Executive Chairman of the Nigerian Petroleum Trust Funds (PTF); General Yakubu Gowon,former Head of State of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Also, he was cited in 2002 in WHO-IS-WHO in Veterinary Surgery from across the continents. He is making research breakthroughs in the areas to elucidate animals as the forgotten victims of Boko Haram insurgency. He is a recipient of several awards from Civil Societies, NGOs, and Governments. He is also a community servant especially in the aspects of environmental health, public health, and Philanthropy, Justice, Development and Peace Commission Nigeria, and St Vincent De Paul Society.

 As an activist right from the age of 17, he has been involved in party politics and the struggle for the emancipation of the Southern Cameroons. He has been President and leader of several socio-political and human rights advocacy groups, student unions and civil societies. Alongside 11 others, he was abducted and detained at the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) in Nigeria, 10 of who were forcibly repatriated to French Cameroun and held in solitary confinement at the infamous gendarme torture known as‘SED’ and on November 22nd, 2018 moved to the equally notorious Kondengui maximum security prison, Yaoundé. On January 10th, he was arraigned before Cameroun’s military tribunal and on 20 August 2021 he, together with the other NERA abductees, were put through the motion of a ‘trial’ and given the pre-determined absurd sentence of life imprisonmentand a fine of$525 million.

Professor Augustine Awasum is a registered asylum seeker with UNHCR in Nigeria. He is married, father of two, and head of the Ndanji Awasum family, a notable of the Nda Community of the Mbatu Kingdom of Mezam County.

4. Dr CORNELIUS NJIKIMBI KWANGA

Economist, banker, and University Senior Lecturer

Dr Cornelius Njikimbi Kwanga is from Bum in Boyo County, of Southern Cameroons/ Ambazonia. He was born on March 22, 1970 (50 years) the 3rd of 10 children of Kwanga Samuel Nkan and Kwanga Priscilla Mbong.

Dr Kwanga is a Researcher and Senior Lecturer of the Department of Economics, Umaru Musa Yar’adua University (UMYU) Katsina. He joined UMYU from Yobe State University (YSU), Damaturu, Yobe State Nigeria. In YSU, he was one-time Acting Head of Department of Economics and later on appointed Coordinator of Research and Innovation (R&I) Unit of the University. He has taught various courses in Economics at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Before engaging in full time lecturing, he was one of the pioneer staff of United Bank for Africa (UBA) Cameroon and served the bank in various capacities. He served Polyclinic Bonanjo as the Human Resources Officer for three years. He is the Founder and Promoter of Global Association for Sustainable Development (GASD), a rural based CSO that fights rural poverty.

Cornelius is an effective coordinator and organizer. He is also an advocate for the restoration of the independence of the former UN Trust Territory of British Southern Cameroons. Apart from being a legal resident in Nigeria, he is also UNHCR registered asylum seeker in Nigeria. On January 5, 2018 Cornelius and 11 others were abducted at gun point from NERA Hotel, Alex Ekwueme Way, Abuja, Nigeria for no crime committed and subsequently 10 of them were forcibly repatriated to French Cameroun on January 25, 2018. On August 20 2019, Cornelius and his nine compatriots were given a pre-determined sentence of imprisonment for life and fined $525 million. Currently, Cornelius and 9 of his compatriots are detained in the Kondenguimaximum security prison in Yaoundé. Dr Kwangais married with 3 children.

5. Dr EGBE OGORK

Civil Engineer, Associate Professor of Structural Engineering

Dr Egbe Ogork was born on March 3, 1964 (56 years) to the family of Pa Samuel Ntui Ogork and Mrs Lucy Ntoh Ogork (both deceased) at Ewelle village, Eyumojock LGA, in Manyu County of the Southern Cameroons.

Dr. Egbe Ogork Ntui is Associate Professor of Structural Engineering in the Department of Civil Engineering, Bayero University Kano Nigeria. He has trained and graduated many students at the undergraduate and post-graduate levels. He was the Departmental Postgraduate Coordinator for three years before his abduction on January 5, 2018. He has also held other positions in the department and in the Faculty of Engineering. He is a member of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (MNSE) and also a member of Materials Society of Nigeria (MMSN). He is the President and Patron of many Associations including, the Southern Cameroons Community in Nigeria Kano Chapter. He is also an adviser for Justice and Peace Committee of St. Peter Catholic Church Janguza military Barracks Kano, Nigeria. He is an Advocate for the Self- determination of the Southern Cameroons. Following a pretended trial in the night in French Cameroun’s military tribunal, on August 20 2019, Dr Ogork and his nine compatriots were given the ‘sentence’, pre-determined, oflife imprisonment and fined $525 million.Dr Ogork is married to Chinyere Ogork and they have one child.

6. Dr FIDELIS NDEH-CHE

Electrical/Electronic Engineer, Entrepreneur, Assistant Professor

Dr Ndeh-Che earned his Doctorate Degree in Electrical/Electronic Engineering from the City University, London in 1996 when he was 25 years old. In the same year he joined an IT consulting firm in California and worked there for 5 years during which time he was engaged in over 30 projects across the US, Asia and Africa in various capacities as Principal Consultant, Project Manager and Project Director. In 1999, he founded Quanteq Technology Services Ltd and grew it to a leading ICT Consulting and Systems Integration firm in Nigeria with over 150 employees and annual revenue in excess of $3m. In 2012, he joined the American University of Nigeria (AUN) where he served in various capacities, including as Assistant Professor, Program Chair, Chief of Staff to the President, Executive Director Institutional Research and Effectiveness, Executive Manager Projects and Proposals, and Vice Chair Institutional Review Board. At AUN, he taught Undergraduate, Graduate, MBA and PhD courses in computer science, software engineering, information systems and ICT for Development.

Dr.Ndeh-Che was a member of the Adamawa Peace initiative (API) supporting over 270,000 IDPs,displaced by the Boko Haram conflict between 2012 and 2016 through feeding, agriculture, sports, psychological interactions and other intervention programs. He also introduced community intervention programs that impacted the lives of over 15,000beneficiaries in vulnerable and underserved communities in Yola and Jimeta Adamawa state, Nigeria, including JAMB Tutoring, and Adult Literacy. For over 8 years between 2009 and 2018, Dr Ndeh-Che was a member of Board of the Directors of PRAWA, a leading NGO in Nigeria involved in justice sector reform, speeding up access to justice, reducing recidivism and training police and security agencies on Human Rights and torture prevention and redress.

Dr Ndeh-Che is also Chairman of the Board of Directors of Afrinvest West Africa, a leading financial services firm providing independent financial advisory, wealth management, brokerage and investment banking. He is a registered asylum seeker in Nigeria, with the UNHCR. He was abducted at the Nera Hotel, Alex Ekwueme Way, Abuja, held incommunicado for three weeks at the Nigerian Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) and for over six months at French Cameroun’s infamous torture facility known as SED. Following a pretended ‘trial’ conducted summarily under cover of darkness on August 20 2019, he and his nine compatriots were given a predetermined lifesentence and fined $525 million.  Dr Ndeh-Che is 49 years old.

7. Mr TASSANG WILFRED FOMBANG

High School teacher and leading trade unionists in the education sector

Tassang was born on February 2, 1970 (50 years) in Bamenda in the Southern Cameroons to TASSANG Isaiah and Alice AKWI. He is a college teacher and former Executive Secretary General of the Cameroon Teachers’ Trade Union (CATTU). He was also the Programmes Director of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium (CACSC), aka the Consortium at the time the degeneration of the strikes declared by Common Law Lawyers and Teachers’ Trade Unions. He was the lead negotiator and spokesperson for Anglophone Universities, Secondary and Basic Education, Parents and teachers’ unions (public and private) within the framework of the Education Ad-hoc Committee set up to proffer solutions to problems plaguing the English system of education as raised by the teachers’ unions.

Tassang miraculously survived two assassination attempts on January 13 and 17, 2017. He escaped to Nigeria in February 2017 from where he firmly endorsed the movement for the restoration of the statehood of Southern Cameroons. He was unanimously elected Secretary General of the Southern Cameroons Consortium United Front (SCACUF), and later, Vice Chair of the Southern Cameroons Governing Council. Secretary for Education in the Interim Government, Deacon Tassang was abducted from the NERA Hotel gardens in Abuja Nigeria, on January 5, 2018 and handed over to the Yaoundé junta on January 25, 2018 alongside nine others. He has been charged before Yaoundé’s Military Tribunal for alleged terrorism, secession etc. Following an abusive court hearing that violated all their rights to a fair trial, on August 20 2019, Tassang and his nine compatriots were illegally sentenced to life imprisonment and fined $525 million. Tassang is a registered refugee in Nigeria. He is married with kids.

8. Barrister SHUFAI BLAISE SEVIDZEM BERINYUY

Barrister-at-law, a traditional ruler, human rights activists, and legal adviser to human rights NGOs

His Royal Highness (HRH) Barrister Shufai Blaise Sevidzem BERINYUY is the Traditional Ruler of Mbuh (Baforchu) village and Tobin-Nso Bui County in the Southern Cameroons. He was born on April 25, 1967 (53 years) at Kumbo-Nso to Sebastian LAWONG BERINYUY (deceased) and Benedicta SHIYGHAN BERINYUY.

He is Barrister-at-law,member of the Cameroon Bar Association, and a frontline human rights lawyer. He has been legal adviser to many human rights organisations, including the Justice and Peace Commission of the Catholic Dioceses of Buea and Kumbo, the Human Rights Defense Group (HRDG), Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture (ACAT), and the Cameroon Association for Rights of the Child (CARC). He is the founder President of Advocates for Human Rights and Environmental Conservation (ADHREC) and Founder of BOD Chair of Berinyuy Women Development Cooperative Society (BERWODEVCOOPS).

Shufai Blaise is a World Basketball Federation (FIBA) Level 2 Basketball Coach and former long serving Vice President of the Buea-based Regional League of Basketballand President of Volcanic Warriors Basketball Club, Buea. In the struggle for the Restoration of Southern Cameroons Statehood,Shufai Blaise has been a household name since 1992 especially in the area of law. Shufai Blaise is a registered refugee in Nigeria. He was abducted along with 11 of his fellow compatriots at NERA Hotel, Alex Ekwueme Way, Abuja on January 5th2018. He was forcibly repatriated to French Cameroun on the 25thJanuary and held incommunicado for seven months before being transferred to the Kondengui maximum security prison in Yaoundé. He was court marshalled before French Cameroun’s Military Tribunal, charged with terrorism, secession, non-possession of French Cameroun Identity Card, treason etc. Following an abusive court hearing that violated all their rights to a fair trial, on August 20 2019, Barrister Shufai Blaise and his nine compatriots were illegally sentenced to life imprisonment and fined $525 million. Barrister ShufaiBalise is a Catholic. He is married to WiybaaNyuydine Jacqueline Banfogha and they have 4 children.

9. Barrister EYAMBE ELIAS EBAI

Barrister-at-law and human rights advocate

Barrister Eyambe Elias Ebai is a Barrister-at-law and member of the Cameroon Bar Association since 1996 with keen interest in human rights advocacy. He was born on June 19, 1969 (51 years) in Manyemen to Nzonguty Joseph (Deceased) and of Nzonguty Ann Babi.

He was the President of the Meme Lawyers Association (MELA), and the Vice Secretary of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium (Consortium). Persecuted by the government of French Cameroun for his political opinion in support of self-determination for the people of the Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia), he took refuge in Nigeria in 2017 where he sought and was granted Refugee status by UNHCR in Nigeria. He was the Ambassador to the African Union (AU) of Southern Cameroons Governing Council (SCACUF). He was also appointed Ambassador to the AU and Africa by the exiled Interim Government Southern Cameroons.

He was abducted from NERA Hotel Abuja alongside 11 others on January 5, 2018. Following an abusive court hearing that violated all their rights to a fair trial, on August 20, 2019, he and his nine compatriots were illegally sentenced to life imprisonment and fined $525 million. He is presently languishing in jail in the Kondengui maximum security prison in Yaoundé. He is married with 5 children.

10. Dr HENRY TATA KIMENG

Civil Engineer, Associate Professor, and philanthropist

Dr Henry Tata Kimeng is an Associate Professor of Civil Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Nigeria.

He was born on the 12th of July 1967 (53 years) at Alabukam Mankon to Mrs Agnes GijeKimeng (late) and late Ta Fai Ngakonfor (nee Kimeng Jonas Ndi) who was a sub chief in Mbaa, Nwangri village in Donga/Mantung County inthe Southern Cameroons. He is married to Dr Florence AzieMbuh who holds a PhD in Microbiology from Ahmadu Bello University Zaria and Doctor of Medicine (MD) from Windsor University School of Medicine St. Kitts. They are blessed with a 19-year-old son Brian T. Kimeng a final year student in the Department of Architecture ABU, Zaria.

Dr.Kimeng is a scholar and teacher. He has published several papers in local and international journals and conference proceedings. He has also won several prizes and awards for his research work. In 2011, Holcim International Switzerland awarded him and his research team a prize for their research work on recycled agricultural waste for producing particle boards. In 2012, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria recognised him as one of its outstanding researchers in the past 50 years during the Golden Jubilee celebration of the University.As a Consultant Engineer, he has consulted for several organisations and designed and built large buildings, cities and roads all over Nigeria. He has also consulted for National Space Research and Development Agency Abuja Nigeria, Abucons Zaria, and Gamji Nigeria Ltd, among other firms.

As a philanthropist, Dr Kimeng has provided scholarships, financial assistance and help to many students from the Southern Cameroons, Nigeria, Chad, Niger, Liberia and other countries. He also led the campaign in 2017 to create awareness for the Southern Cameroonians who were plundered, robbed and chased from their homeland into exile in neighbouring Nigeria by the brutal French Cameroun regime. He provided financial assistance, accommodation, and food to those he visited in the refugee camps. In 2017 he was nominated the Coordinator of Southern Cameroons Refugees in Nigeria. Together with the Health and Social Services team, he carried out the assignment diligently and faithfully.

He was abducted together with 11 other compatriots from the Southern Cameroonian on January 5th 2018 by a group of armed men at Nera Hotel Abuja Nigeria and detained in a bunker at Defence Information Agency (D.I.A) Abuja. Dr Kimeng and nine others were later forcibly repatriatedFrench Cameroun by night in a military cargo plane and held incommunicado for 6 months without access to sunlight. Following an abusive so-called trial in the night on August 20 2019 in French Cameroun’s Military Tribunal, a ‘trial’ that violated all their rights to a fair trial, Dr Kimeng and his nine compatriots were illegally sentenced to life imprisonment and fined $525 million.

Written by  Professor Carlson Anyangwe