By Mua Patrick Mughe in Yaounde
Uneasy calm currently
reigns in Wum, chief town of Menchum division following the brutal killing of one
Amih
Lionel Ngong, a bike rider, by a soldier.
The macabre incident took place in the early hours of Sunday January 24.
Information gathered reveal that it was at about 2:00 am breaking Sunday that the
incident occurred.
According to eye witness
accounts, the soldier whose name The
Guardian Post simply got as Alpha had
engaged into an altercation with his girlfriend around a popular drinking spot
after a boozing spree. The soldier is
said to have suspected the girlfriend for having an affair. Reports say as they
engaged in the verbal exchange, a crowd of onlookers soon gathered around the
scene to calm matters. A source who purports to have witnessed the incident
from A-Z told this reporter, that Amih Lionel, after recognising the soldier as
somebody he knows, decided to intervene and broker peace. It is reported that
the soldier stabbed the deceased bike rider on the neck with a poisoned dagger.
Lionel reportedly died on the spot before he could be rushed to the hospital
for medical attention.
Following the Sunday
morning mayhem, irate and furious bike riders in Wum reportedly stormed the
military camp situated in Waindo village. In anger, the commercial bike riders
are said to have burnt down the warehouse at the military camp which contained
equipment and other military hardware. Two military trucks were also set ablaze
in the process. In retaliation, and apparently to push back the protesting
bikers, the soldiers on guard are said to have engaged in a shoot out with the
armless protesters. At least 7 bike riders were severely wounded following the
bloody confrontation. Those injured were rushed to the Wum general hospital for
medical attention. The irate bikers had paraded the town of Wum with the
lifeless body of the deceased bike rider before taking it to the Wum mortuary.
From the military camp,
the Bike riders, who numbered over 400, then continued their demonstration
along the streets of Wum. They later mounted road blocks around the post office
roundabout and the main entrance into Wum around the court yard neighborhood.
Movement in and out of Wum was interrupted for a better half of the day.
Christians were prevented from going to church as movement was made impossible.
As the demonstration
continued, a military aircraft was seen hovering in Wum for several hours. As
the helicopter landed, there was total fear and panic amongst the population. North
West Governor, Adolf Lele L’Afrique and Menchum divisional authorities led by
the SDO, Bita Benoit Emvoutou William, visited the ugly scene of the incident
Sunday. SDF National chairman, John Fru Ndi was also part of the visiting
delegation.
Three trucks loaded with
combat-ready BIR elements are said to have trooped into Wum to put the
situation under control. At the moment, there is a military siege in Wum as the
soldiers go in search of the bikers who vandalised and burnt down the military
camp.
While addressing the demonstrators,
NW Governor called for calm to return as investigations have been open. The
governor is reported to have held a crisis meeting with the demonstrators.
Resolutions of the meeting are yet to be made public.
As we went to press, the
exact number of those killed and those injured was still conflicting. We were told
by a source in Wum that another bike rider who had sustained severe injuries
later died at the hospital, putting the death toll at two. Others who were
rushed to the hospital are said to equally be in critical conditions.
With the recent
incident, the population of Menchum has continued to condemn in strong terms,
the excesses of men in uniform deployed to work in the area. Cases of
inhabitants being harassed by soldiers, sources in Wum say, have become
rampant. To recall that, in 2014, a young man in his early twenties narrowly
escaped the cold hands of death after receiving snake- beatings from a BIR
element. The cause of the confrontation was still linked to a clash over a
girl.
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