October 12′ 25: Akere Muna Warns Division Helps Biya, Calls for Opposition unity
By Synthia Lateu
Presidential candidate Barrister Akere Muna has warned that division among opposition candidates could hand victory once again to the ruling regime.
In a message addressed to opposition candidates on September 18, ahead of the October 12 polls, Muna urged them to answer what he described as the nation’s cry for unity.
“They plead for even the slightest consensus, a united front to bring down the mountain of injustice and oppression,” he said. “In response to this popular outcry, ego triumphs over the nation, personal ambition triumphs over the people’s salvation. The chance of a lifetime is being wasted on the question of who will lead, while we all perish.”
Muna lamented the “suicidal fragmentation” of the opposition, describing it as the biggest strength to the incumbent regime.
“Eleven voices are crying out in different directions, while the regime’s fortress mocks them” he stated.
Muna specifically addressed Issa Tchiroma Bakari and Bello Bouba Maigari, two key candidates from the Northern part of the country , criticizing their separate campaigns for splitting the vote in the Grand North , a region he described as the traditional “cushion of victory” for the ruling regime.
“Your division makes you the architects of your own defeat and worse, of the defeat of an entire nation,” he cautioned.
He reminded them that the public has forgiven their past association with the regime:
“They applauded your courage when you turned your backs on the regime you once served. They are ready to move past your past in the sacred interest of national reconstruction. They offer you the gift of forgiveness , a blank check drawn on the account of their hopes.”
Muna urged opposition candidates to decide whether history would remember them as leaders who let pride condemn the nation or as patriots who merged their forces and created “a wave of change that no fraud could stop.”
He questioned whether Cameroon must continue to carry the burden of having the world’s longest-serving president and called for a joint strategy.
“Let us form this team. Let us create this momentum. Let us force Cameroonians to see the undeniable power of a united front.” Muna stressed
Muna further encouraged Cameroonians not to lose hope, urging them to keep demanding unity from their leaders at a time when, he said, the regime is counting on the opposition to fail. He condemned years of “ corruption, bad governance, and despair” under the current administration.
His call comes just a day after opposition leader Maurice Kamto similarly urged candidates to form a coalition, warning that only a united front can end the 42-year rule of President Paul Biya.
