Appointment of Mochiggle into senate: Dismissed SDF bigwigs say move confirms party’s march towards joining gov’t.

Members of the group who have since a seized a court in Yaounde, demanding the restatement of their membership, have said, by accepting the appointment by President Biya, of Vanigansen Mochiggle into the senate, Fru Ndi and the leadership of the SDF have confirmed the party’s march towards joining government through the back door.

In a statement circulated Saturday, the G27+ group said it was rejecting the appointment of Senator Mochiggle and his subsequent election as Vice President of the senate. 

The group is also urging other party supporters to reject same move. They have also called on supporters of the SDF to desist from following the directives of Ni John Fru Ndi “so as not to be complicit in the liquidation of this precious heritage that is the SDF”.

The group of 34 members stated in the Saturday statement that by endorsing the appointment of Senator Mochiggle, Fru Ndi has shifted from the original spirit of the SDF and its ideology.

The group said it was denouncing “once again this umpteenth slippage of the National Chairman, John Fru Ndi, and his clique who, after having repeatedly violating the party’s statutes and internal regulations, unilaterally decided to change our political orientation by making the SDF an allied party to the CPDM and its Presidential Majority”.

They recalled that: “On March 31, 2023, comrade and former Senator, Vanigansen Mochiggle, unsuccessful SDF candidate in the senatorial elections of March 12, 2023, against the CPDM list in the North West Region, was appointed by the President of the Republic among the 30 senators of the ruling party and allies, to the great surprise of militants and public opinion”.
The group noted that: “While militants, as well as public opinion expected the SDF hierarchy to denounce in strong terms, the appointment which will have heavy consequences on the political line of the party, this same appointed comrade was elected Vice-President of the Senate”.

The disgruntled ex-heavyweights of the SDF who are demanding the reversal of a National Executive Committee, NEC decision, expelling them from the party stated that: “At this pace, we are moving ineluctably towards the entry of the SDF into the next government of the CPDM, an act which radically and definitively changes the ideological line of our party”.

“Faced with this sad episode in the history of our political party, the group of SDF officials and members of G27+: Denounces with the strongest energy the unilateral change in the ideology of the SDF by John Fru Ndi, who, beyond the idea of the Founding Fathers, was consolidated by the Cameroonian people through the Union for Change”.

They said they are also aghast by the acceptance by “our hierarchy of the appointment by the President of the Republic of Comrade Vanigansen Mochiggle, as well as his election as Vice-President of the Senate”.

“In view of all the above, the G27+ understands the deep disappointment of party militants and asks them once again to remain calm and vigilant. The G27+ also urges them to no longer follow the directives of the national president, Ni John Fru Ndi, so as not to be complicit in the liquidation of this precious heritage that is the SDF,” the group urged.

No separation yet

It should be mentioned that the group of 34 heavyweights of the SDF, who were recently expelled from the party under what many have qualified as controversial circumstances, recently seized a court in Yaounde, demanding the reinstatement of their membership.

Members of the group, operating under the aegis of the G27+ platform were in February slammed the contentious Article 8.2 of the party’s constitution which expels members found guilty of engaging in ‘anti-party’ activities.

The decision to expunge members of the group was arrived at at a National Executive Committee, NEC meeting held in Yaounde. The gathering came days after the group had organised a press conference in Douala to publicly present their grievances.

The group which has since decried injustice, has described their expulsion from the party as a miscarriage of justice. In a recent fresh legal suit, the group engaged the Mfoundi Magistrate Court in Yaounde, to seek justice.

The group is amongst other things praying the tribunal to reinstate the membership of members of the platform as well suspend the forthcoming elective convention of the SDF. The party is due to elect a new national executive bureau at a convention billed for July this year.