Good morning. On the foot of April 2017, I was in a cell in the prison in Yaounde.
Listening to my father's body being lowered into the grave. I was not allowed to attend the funeral.
Neither was I allowed to show any emotion in jail.
A couple of weeks earlier, I was arrested, cuffed, blindfolded and transferred to Yaounde.
I was thrown into a cell with 12 members of the notorious Boko Haram terrorist group.
Yeah, they kept me in a cell, because I too was accused of terrorism, incitement of civil war and group rebellion
amongst others.
But my only crime, my only crime in the eyes of the government was the fact that I had lead a peaceful
protest against the 56 years of marginalization, oppression, and suppression that my people - the
anglophones in Cameroon - suffered at the hands of the predominately French dominated francophones.
Life wasn't easy.
I had to go through the pains and sufferings of being in jail
To be an anglophone in Cameroon is not very easy.
English and French are supposed to be our official languages. But because of the majority francophone
speaking Cameroonians, English has been regulated to the background.
Cameroon seems very peaceful from the outside.
But to the average anglophone it's a very polarized society.
It seems as if there are two Cameroons in one.
The majority dominates the minority. To the English speaking Cameroonians, words have been used to
describe us as terrorist. "The enemies in the house." "Bamenda." "Anglofools." These words might seem
very unimportant but take a different glance. When the francophone dominated military is sent to repress
our people when they freely express their opinions.
Cameroon, historically, was the French and the English. The two peoples came together, represented in the two
star in the flag. By 1975, the government removed one of the stars on the flag.
This clearly showed that they were removing the anglophone identity.
And in 1984, they changed the name from the République du Cameroun to Republic of Cameroon.
This was a name that the French had used prior to use coming together. It signified a lot.
They expanded; extended their dominance to our culture, to our language, and to our institutions.
The French common law. The French civil law dominates in our courts.
There's been an erosion of the English common law.
Francophone teachers who cannot understand or speak in English are teaching our students.
They cannot understand the pain that the children go through.
And because they control the military and the police, it's clear from government attitude that they're out
to eliminate all form of dissent in anglophone Cameroon.
This has resulted to the killings of more than 2000 anglophones, the burning down of hundreds of villages
by predominately francophone military. More than 1000 anglophones are currently detained in jails in Cameroon.
With half a million internally displaced, about 50,000 are currently living in Nigeria as refugees.
In Cameroon was see the division, we see the elimination, we see the classification
and the extermination, but we're in denial of what is happening.
25 years after the genocide in Rwanda, what is gradually happening in Cameroon is seen as a new normal.
But I say, "no." This cannot be normal. This is not normality.
In Africa, or in any part of the world, we cannot accept that
Growing up as a child, I was inspired by my father who was a trade unionist.
He fought for the rights of the anglophone workers. He protected their rights.
I got the inspiration and I started writing against the injustices, the marginalization and oppression
that my people were suffering. As a result of that, I was expelled in high school for so-called offensive writing.
But I did not give up. It gave the impetus to continue the fight for the people.
This lead to the creation of the Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa, an organization that protects
and promotes the human rights of the people.
Subsequently, I was voted president of the Fako Lawyers Association
and in my capacity as the president of the Fako Lawyers Association, I rallied anglophone lawyers association
for us to call for a peaceful protest because we had issued several memos to the government and they
never replied. And on the 3rd of November, 2016 we organized one of those peaceful protests.
We were tear-gassed. We were beaten. We were dragged through the mud. We were humiliated.
Our basic and fundamental rights were violated, but we did not give up. We continued the struggle.
But over time, I realized that we had to build a society. Not all francophones hated us. Some showed love.
And we started working with francophone civil societies, to build synergy across the board.
To let the Cameroonians understand that we can fight the struggle. We can find a solution to the crisis
if both of us speak the language of nonviolence. To be honest, it was not easy to work with francophones.
How could I have worked with people I felt disrespected us? Who did not love us?
But over time, being in jail, and where the francophone lawyers and anglophone lawyers defended us
made me to reconsider my position. And today, I'm at the forefront working with francophones
and anglophones to see how we can find a solution.
To the average francophone, especially to the government in power, I am considered as a radical
because I bring out the atrocities that the government has committed. And to my anglophone brothers, when I
talk about peace, when I talk about reconciliation, when I talk about cooperation and dialogue
they consider me to be too moderate.
It's not been an easy route. Even when my father's house was burnt and my life threatened, I still did not give up.
I still did not fold my arms. I continue what, to me, is my mission. To speak truth to power.
To help in finding a solution to the crisis.
As we gather here today in Oslo, my wish is that the situation happening in Cameroon
should not be considered as normal. That all of us should look at it as unacceptable levels
of loss of human dignity.
Each and everyone here can make a change. We, of the Oslo Freedom Forum, can find a solution
You can find a solution to the crisis. Let all of us join our hands and support the sovereign people in Cameroon.
Let us rise up against tyranny. Let us rise up against dictatorship and let us ensure that we leave the world
a better place than we made it. Thank you.