Cameroon Football: Shame on Eto’o for appointing an anti Anglophone journalist to run his campaign ⁰

Earlier this week, Samuel Eto’o, the controversial Cameroonian football legend with strong ties to the corrupt regime in Yaoundé declared that Ernest Obama will be responsible for the media coverage of his campaign to become president of the Cameroon Football Federation (FECAFOOT).

Ernest Obama, former Director of Vision 4 Network and current general manager of BNews TV have a track record of being an anti Anglophone journalist and had called several times via Vision 4 for the complete destruction of Southern Cameroons.

The absurdity of this Samuel Eto’o appointment of Ernest Obama has shocked many Southern Cameroonians worldwide, but is perhaps most insulting to the English speaking Cameroonians who have supported Eto’o throughout his brilliant career as a footballer many of whom now have firsthand experience of the atrocities of the Biya Francophone radical Beti Ewondo regime in its five year-old war in Southern Cameroons.

The vast majority of Southern Cameroonians know all too well that the regime in Yaoundé not only has a deep-rooted hatred for English speaking Cameroonians, but has advanced an on-going genocidal campaign against Southern Cameroonians and with the support of French speaking journalists such as Ernest Obama promoted the military campaign that has claimed the lives of some 10,000 Cameroonians with army soldiers accounting for close to 35% of the deaths.  Shame on Samuel Eto’o and other Cameroon football heroes for turning a blind eye to the Biya regime’s deep-rooted anti Anglophone policies in order to advance their own financial interest.

The list of Ernest Obama’s  anti Anglophone actions  on Vision 4 TV are too voluminous, but perhaps his call for the total and complete annihilation of all Anglophones  gave Southern Cameroonians the signal that they were no longer welcome to live freely in the so-called one and indivisible Cameroon.

And indeed, Mr. Ernest Obama’s declarations caused a massive wave of Southern Cameroonians to flee their homeland to Nigeria and either leave their assets behind or sell them at bargain prices. The Biya Francophone regime in Yaoundé has still not stopped the killings of innocent English speaking Cameroonians. Cameroon government army soldiers deployed to Southern Cameroons continue to arrest and torture thousands of Anglophones and confiscating millions of FCFA in Southern Cameroons businesses and assets.

Moreover, Southern Cameroons minority population has fled the country during these five year-old-war to the point where most of Southern Cameroons settlements are now ghost towns and villages.

Apart from Ernest Obama, Eto’o has been mentored for years by Bell Joseph-Antoine, another legendary Cameroonian footballer with well-documented anti Anglophone sentiments which also raise urgent questions about Samuel Eto’o’s intention. During a friendly football encounter with Egypt, Bell demonstrated absolute disrespect for the late Tataw Eta Stephen who was the captain by rushing to the referee with a flag he had in his pocket and performing the kickoff ritual with the Egyptian captain. When Stephen Tataw finished with the group photo business and went to the referee, he was told Bell Joseph had already conducted the process. In USA 94, Bell again continued with his anti Anglophone policy and rallied all the players from his Bassa Francophone extraction to have a vote on who to captain the team.  

“Yaoundé should not be giving positions to people with anti Anglophone sentiments, end of story,” a senior official of the Biya regime who spoke to Cameroon Concord News at the time of writing this report said.

 “Under the leadership of the Biya regime, Yaoundé has repeatedly demonstrated a willingness to work with anti Anglophone cabinet ministers and political figures, and they appear willing to do so until the bitter end of the Biya presidency” a Southern Cameroonian living in Yaoundé told Camcordnews.

Eto’o reportedly met Mr. Samuel Mvondo Ayolo, Director of the Civil Cabinet at the Presidency of the Republic, another anti Anglophone CPDM baron.   So far, nothing has filtered out of the exchanges between the two French Cameroun personalities.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai