SPEECH BY THE PRESIDENT AT THE MANYU COUNTY AWARD22, (23 July 2022)
OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
Saturday 23rd July 2022 Ref. No. FRA/0723/22
SPEECH BY THE PRESIDENT AT THE MANYU COUNTY AWARD22, (23 July 2022)
Let me begin by acknowledging My friend and Brother the Vice President of Ambazonia,
My indefatigable Eric Ateh,
The Speaker of the Interim House of Representatives, Dr Winnie Lobati, and my special Presidential Entourage.
The following trusted associates of mine in the Interim Government from the great County of Manyu:
Dr. Anderson Kajang - My Director of Cabinet Administration,
Mr. Oben EMMANUEL - Deputy Secretary of State for IT,
Mr. John Manga - Senior Presidential Adviser,
County Coordinator - Willy Eyong.
LGA Chairs:
Mamfe Central: Ma Sarah,
Akwaya: Dr. Mbia,
Upper Bayang: Mr. Tabi,
Eyumojock: Mr. Ojong Stephen,
House of Representatives:
Mamfe Central: Honorable Dr, Egbe,
Akwaya: Honorable Elias,
Upper Bayang: Hononorable Tanyi Victor,
Eyumojock: Honorable Caroline.
Dear People of Manyu
Fellow Ambazonians,
Let's start by paying tribute to the more than 45.000 Ambazonians especially our pioneer heroes and heroines of the armed struggle here in Manyu, who lost their precious lives since this war was declared on us by Dictator Biya of the French vasal State of Cameroun in 2017.
Let us remember, in particular those compatriots and defense forces of Manyu who were the first to pay the ultimate price in our Liberation Struggle with their precious blood. Not forgetting the scores of lives recently wasted by LRC in Akwaya.
(A moment of silence please).
- their sacrifice not be in vain, and may we continue our fight in honor of them, as they rest in power.
I salute all of you great sons and daughters of the great County of Manyu. History has on record that, over 2 years ago, precisely on May 9, 2020, we gathered here to launch the first ever County-wide Draft Tour in 2020. You took up the challenge amidst deep political wranglings that rocked the county at the time. The enemy and spoilers had written Manyu off because of self-destructive forces, tribal bigots who lacked the revolutionary grit to comprehend the real intentions of clansmen and women, pulling the strings from the shadows. They had been emboldened by the “Nera abduction” incident two years earlier when our former leaders, led by Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, were abducted and put under chains and locks. Taking advantage of the cracks in our ranks, they sought to starve the struggle of a strong revolutionary leadership and necessary resources to re-direct the people of Manyu unto victory.
They thought it was all over and some joined the camp of CPDM blacklegs to trade our common destiny for crumbs. Others joined the camp for a quick fix through direct surrender talks with LRC. They were all mistaken! There was a stubborn patriotic remnant, that you wholly represent here today. You invoked the spirit of our national ancestors who converged in Mamfe in 1953 to agree on the need for our total independence, and you arose to stem the waves of spoilers and to grant the wishes of our revolutionary martyrs whose blood speak forth our freedom in the streets of Dadi.
You stood tall for Ambazonia! The very courage that your sons and daughters mustered to challenge the genocidal marauders in armored vehicles and helicopter gunships is the same courage that our Ambazonia Restoration Forces across Ambazonia, have emulated in successfully countering the genocidal onslaught on our innocent people. Even when the enemy tried to use some of our sons in the dungeons to manipulate Ambazonians and derail the course of our liberation, most of you - the wise people of Manyu, were the first to reject tribalism, reject nepotism and remain steadfast in your resolve.
You boosted our hope of resisting the cruel enemy with our bare knuckles if need be. You led us as a Country to embrace the strategy of self-defense or armed resistance, as the most pragmatic option to counter the enemy’s genocidal agenda now or never. Let me use this opportunity to salute our brave ARFs especially those in Manyu County, who have constantly denied Dictator Biya's genocidal regime the opportunity to claim control over our territory, and to fake victory over us, and present Manyu as a trophy to his French master Macron, currently visiting their genocidal troop headquarters in Yaounde. Your tenacity on the battlefield in the complex and strategic border County of Manyu is remarkable, despite many challenges.
I wonder what more lies Dictator Biya will be telling Macron to justify further French support to continue sustaining this senseless war, or bail out their crippling economy from the present freefall. The economy of the LRC will remain in this downward spiral as a result of an unsustainable military strategy, and their refusal to negotiate with Ambazonia.
Every socio-economic indicator from the IMF confirms clearly that, Cameroon is now in a self-inflicted recession and if their state of financial insolvency is not overturned that country shall collapse sooner than imagined by the war hawks in Yaounde. That will lead to what is known as a failed state, as the state of insecurity within LRC shall be grossly aggravated. A failed state in the Gulf of Guinea will be a loss - loss not only for our two nations, but for all International Stakeholders in the Gulf of Guinea. A free Ambazonia will be a better friend to France and the US, than a Russian Republic of Cameroun by the Gulf of Guinea.
Let me say this to Mr. Macron, President of France: This is not the 50s when colonial France spearheaded the massacre of French Cameroon nationalists and civilians, using helicopter gunships and committing all kinds of pogroms - the worst genocide committed by the French in the 50s that was hardly documented, and went for decades unaccounted for in our history books. But, in case you were ever pressured by your war hawks in Yaounde to think your dark history of the 1950s in French Cameroon, could be repeated today with impunity, in the war with Ambazonia, think again! And if you have the expectation to escape international scrutiny, like your forebears, Jacques Foccart or Charles De Gaulle did, then you are mistaken again.
Consider this proxy war of yours in Ambazonia as an unpleasant feedback for your country’s colonial legacies in this part of the world.
Your policies in Africa are the big elephant in the room. You cannot wish this problem away, you must take concrete steps to redress the issue, not pretentiously as a passerby but as the true principal and the primary international stakeholder. Acknowledging your historical role in our ongoing war and apologizing to the peoples of Ambazonia and Cameroon, will be a right step in the right direction. Unlike French Cameroonian nationalists who fought without external help, we are AMBAZONIANS (Former British Southern Cameroonians), we are a determined people with a No-Nonsense Diaspora.
We have decided that colonial France will not govern Ambazonia again by their proxy. We will freely negotiate the terms of our engagement with France as a Free, Sovereign and Independent People.
French Cameroon, one of your vasal states in Africa, has for the past 60 years, taken everything we are and all we have in Ambazonia, and left us with nothing. He who has nothing to live for is not afraid to die trying to get what he believes is his. We have nothing to loose because we have lost all, our only hope is to fight. Some of us will surely die but not all of us, Ambazonia must be free! No force by whosoever will break our resolve to a free and independent homeland. If it means continuing this war for decades, we will do so until Ambazonia is completely liberated from this Franco-Cameroon annexation!
My advice to you Sir, and to the French is that France should take responsibility now for the current anti-French revolutionary wave that is gradually enveloping Sub-Saharan Africa, led by the continent’s number one victims of French colonial policies – the Youth. Mr. President, you have a chance in history during your second and maybe final term in office, to embrace the immediate re-decolonization of Africa from the vestiges of France’s chokehold. You will need an honest dialogue with the people of the continent and sincerity to define a new Franco-African ideology suitable for this dispensation. If you don’t, the current wave of anti-French sentiments will continue to grow. When the present agitators, those you despise today, will seize power across the board, it will be too late to re-negotiate with Africa. France will be condemned to wage primitive wars against each of its former colonies, just to maintain an iota of relevance on the continent.
We have expressed our will to dialogue via the Swiss-led process - a Peaceful Resolution Mechanism launched since 2019, and supported by almost all UN Security Council Members.
Recently, Mr. President, I wrote to you congratulating you upon winning the French presidential elections. I reiterated our willingness to engage in meaningful dialogue with France if possible, for a peaceful resolution of the ongoing conflict, that constitutes a threat to the interests of the people of our two states. Permit me re-emphasize what I meant.
Mr. President, the fact is you will protect the interest of France in The Cameroons, not through a sustained military strategy in Ambazonia but by embracing a free and friendly Ambazonia, and ensuring a stable and prosperous LRC. Otherwise, it is our opinion that a failed Cameroon State will be the inexorable outcome of your present military strategy in Ambazonia. The jarring questions that Ambazonians are asking tonight are: Where does Mr. Macron stand on the issue of dialogue and negotiation, and what is he going to do about it?
As a young leader of a free Europe, you understand better the need for us to fight to guarantee the future of Our Own Children in a free and prosperous society. Our children too deserve a just and peaceful resolution of this conflict. We came together by political action to mint a new country, LRC did not conquer us in a war. For French Cameroon to think that they have the right to kill 45.000 plus of our people for daring to reverse the same political action we took peacefully 60 years ago, Sir, is unforgivable.
No amount of barbaric force will quell our Quest for a Free and Independent Homeland. We believe in Sarkozi’s theory that he espoused in Dakar in 2007, where he said, (and I quote):
“the tragedy of Africa is that the African has not fully entered into history...." He was very correct. However, if that was a challenge, then Ambazonians accepted the challenge literally. We will fight until we “fully enter history” as a liberated people - completely independent!
Sons and Daughters of Mamfe Central, Akwaya, Eyumojock and Upper Bayang LGAs,
My Dear People on the Home Front,
Our restoration quest could not have gone anywhere, if you did not defy the barbaric Biya-led Bulu-Beti regime’s slaughter on our people in 2017, by picking up whatever tool you could lay your hands on to start defending yourselves. For that father, whose home was burned down and who left everything behind, braving the treacherous border forest in Manyu to flee to safety in Nigeria with his family, we cannot give up! For that widow, who wakes up every morning in the bush or in a foreign land, pondering what her children will eat, we cannot give up!
For that little girl or boy, who is not sure of his or her next meal and whose education has been cut short because of this genocide, we cannot give up! For our daughters, being raped by LRC genocidal thugs and some forced into prostitution, we cannot give up! For our frail grandparents, wondering whether some angel will provide them with basic medicine to relieve them of their illnesses, we cannot give up! And for our valiant Restoration Forces - the ARFs who are battling day and night to make sure our vulnerable people are protected from the military surges of LRC barbaric genocidal army, we cannot afford to give up!
We are here today because we cannot give up on our people! We are here today to recommit ourselves to this yearly patriotic duty to draft, as our own contribution and sacrifice to this Liberation Quest. Let us open our wallets and contribute generously to our freedom. Freedom is never gotten for free! Our Ambazonia Restoration Forces are counting on us today to do the most that we can this year financially, so that they can have the necessary tools to do the work that destiny has assigned to them. Let us not fail them. Let us send a clear message to the enemy and her master tonight, that we have not been slowed down by media manipulations, corruption, black-legism, betrayals or malicious propaganda.
The only path to our freedom is resistance until we are free. That, our patriotic civic duty of drafting will continue to guarantee the minimum we need from the Diaspora to sustain our resistance. I want to encourage all of you, financial warriors, to speak out with your wallets tonight so that the enemy will hear these loud and clear.
Dear Compatriots,
Last year, the execution of our National Strategic Plan took the enemy off-guard. In frustration, they doubled down on their 1950s barbaric scorch- earth policy - burning hundreds of our settlements and villages, roasting innocent civilians in the act. Their inability to face our valiant ARFs has exposed LRC genocidal thugs as animals that have no values for human life. That is why they continue to target our unarmed women and children daily to package their anti-Amba propaganda to the armchair international community.
The recent massacre and burning of bordering villages of Bakinjaw, Marvas, Ballin and other neighboring communities in Akwaya LGA, which resulted in not only the death of Ambazonian civilians, but also citizens of Nigeria, was just another blind tactic, masterminded by the genocidal regime of Yaounde and facilitated by so-called CPDM elites from Manyu and colonial apologists in the Diaspora who hail from this County. Shame on them! This atrocious madness perpetrated by LRC genocidal thugs, who turned around to blame our forces for the same atrocity crimes is ludicrous! They do all these to try to manipulate international opinion against our Liberation Cause. These are all signs of compounded frustration.
Our ARFs are up to the task, and we must continue to make sure that they have the resources to defend our vulnerable people and our homeland. Let all of you in Manyu County make sure you bring in those on the side to participate, albeit anonymously, in this patriotic duty of drafting for country. Tell your neighbor that when a nation is at war, winning the war is more important than white elephant development projects, and joining the army is more honorable than all professions put together; personal riches compared to the collective destiny at stake amount to nothing, your learning and intelligent arguments without freedom is glorified slavery. We must therefore come together and fund this effort as our primary responsibility.
There is much work to be done. Let me remind you that Our ARFs are more sophisticated today than they were 5 years ago. They know what to do and can do better if we continue to furnish them with what they need now, if we continue to keep them focused on the ball. That is why the AWARD22 is very crucial in the implementation of our National Strategic Plan going forward.
And to you my comrades-in-arms, the ARFs,
Manyu county commandos, the Anacandas in Otu bleeding the enemy in Eyumojock LGA, the Vultures of Marvas in Akwaya, the ARFs of Upper Bayang, not forgetting our Mamfe Center Commandos, you are some of our best fighting forces that we still have in Ambazonia. We celebrate you all!
The bad news is that certain One-Cameroon blacklegs at home and in comfort of the Diaspora, some who had once been in the inner core of our revolution, are now busy trying to infiltrate your ranks by preaching “blind unity” and disguising as your genuine helpers.
99% of you have never spoken with me but these will tell you Sako is your problem. People who are not paying their Draft will tell you Sako is your Problem, people who drink and dine with the Manyu CPDM cabal will tell you Sako is your problem. Please ask them, Which LGA in Manyu has ever paid their money into my personal account? Which one of them ever lost their money in the National Treasury to Dr. Sako? Instead, it is one of yours from Manyu that conspired to swindle $71,000 plus $40,000 from our Central Treasury-- money that was meant for our ARFs.
Before you donate today, the money in your pocket belongs to you, after you donate today the money is still yours and managed by you, why should anyone make this about Dr, Sako? Please you all must develop forensic filters in your ears and minds, otherwise the rate of manipulation is becoming too sophisticated for some of us.
My advice to all is to stick with those who are consistent in their words and actions, those who don’t change their language according to their changing selfish interests. Please when you don’t know what to do, stick with those who stick with this IG, because if they are wrong we shall correct them.
As ARFs, you have been united by your common allegiance since 2018 when we officially embraced self-defense and later established the APP County by County blueprint as our revolutionary model. What then is unity today with people you have no experience working with, people you cannot trust with your life? Can’t you see that unity with someone going in the opposite direction to yours is confusion?
Make no mistake, a few ranks within our ARFS have been infiltrated and you, the Generals and Commandos of ARF Manyu should be more vigilant now than before. I call on you all to stay focused and know that your Interim Government will always be with you, all the way till we reach Buea. Leaving your ARF ranks to join with every newly minted group, not fighting the enemy, not under the same authority as you, is a huge risk! And doing so if you must, without due diligence, is signing a warrant for your untimely death.
Fellow Ambazonians,
I have declared a National Lockdown from Monday, the 25th of July 2022 to Wednesday the 27th of July 2022. This is in Memory of the more than 45.000 Ambazonians who have perished in this genocidal war declared on Ambazonia since 2017 - a genocide declared and executed by Dictator Biya, under the watchful supervision of his colonial master Mr. Macron, President of France. We are doing so to send a strong message to Mr. Macron and his media entourage that our determination to liberate our homeland is steadfast and we will stop at nothing short.
The two weeks that were decreed to crush us have turned into five years, and we are just starting. This generation will get this Liberation Project closed once and for all, even if it means decades of resistance.
That is the message.
We will overcome!
Let’s get to work.
Let the 2022 Draft for Manyu County kick off!
Viva the Great People of Manyu County,
Viva, our Brave Ambazonia Restoration Forces,
Viva the Federal Republic of Ambazonia,
God Bless Ambazonia!!
