Kumba School Shooting Proprietor, Teachers Detained For Acts of Terrorism, Capital Murder
Intimidation, conspiracy theories and use of force has been government tool since seven students were shot dead at the Mother Francisca International Bilingual Academy in Kumba, Meme division in the southwest region. In an attempt to silence private schools that have witnessed an influx of students and pupils as compared to government schools, administrators in the division have forced many schools to shut down, pushing some to relocate. The SDO, and Secondary education delegate, Abunaw Aghim, have been heard on several occasions saying that if government schools are not full to brim, private schools should forget. This is the same scenario in Ndop, Ngoketundjia division in the northwest region.
Despite the pains the Proprietor, his wife and some teachers are going through since the unfortunate incident on October 24, 2020 that saw seven children killed by yet to be identified armed men, the government and Kumba administrators, have decided to transfer the detained to Buea.
Cameroon News Agency learned that the couple Suh Gabriel and Ayanu Judith and four others were taken to the Judicial Police in Buea, on December 1, 2020. They were later taken to the Buea central prison where they will be kept for 10 days where they will be crossed examine and sent to the military court, and will be tried with military laws.
Their phones have been confiscated as they remain incommunicado.
Before the start of the new school year, government promised that security will be top in every schools in the Anglophone regions but far from that, security is porous and some administrators are taking advantage to ask private schools to shutdown and send their pupils to government schools due to “security issues”.
On Tuesday December 1, 2020, Meme SDO, Ntou’u Ndong Chamberlain told reporters that security forces had arrested a suspect in the Kumba school massacre, a man popularly called commandant Zebra. But CNA’s investigation shows that the said man is a thief well known in the neighbourhood and has never been an Ambazonia Separatist fighter.
What are administrators hiding? What are they up to? these questions and more have come up even within the ranks of CNA newsroom as we try to digest and analyse the situation.
Such a story that went viral and everyone including the Catholic Pope commented about it, cannot be treated like this when a culprit in a major murder case is caught.
In November when a brewery company, Les Brasseries du Cameroun visited Mother Francisca Academy and donated computers for their lap, the secondary education delegate, Abunaw Aghim, immediately called the daughter of the couple in detention and asked her to bring all the computers to his office. Her resistance led to her arrest before she was bailed for FCFA 30, 000.
With such events, all is not well and the recent murder and terrorism charge on the couple and four teachers, their transfer to Buea and subsequent appearance in a military court speaks volume for people whose only crime was promotion of education amidst tension and warning from Separatists. Despite the massacre, the couple and teachers need to be decorated for standing tall as school boycott preached by Separatists increases.
