Nacho Junction massacre: West Region elite, population protest killing of seven indigenes in Bamenda.

They came out yesterday, brandishing peace plants at the Bafoussam Grandstand to condemn the cowardly action. They also declared that they won’t retaliate on Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, of the Anglophone crisis, who have been seeking refuge in the West Region.

The Governor of the West Region, Awa Fonka Augustine, attended the ceremony. He used yesterday’s ceremony to underscore the need for unity and living together as preached by the Head of State, Paul Biya.

The elite, among them traditional rulers, administrators and the clergy, held peace plants, heralding the need for compatriots to bond together to face the challenges head-on.

We won’t fall into the trap of Amba fighters

Speaking to reporters yesterday, the City Mayor of Bafoussam, Roger Tafam, said the people of the West Region will not fall into what those who killed civilians in Bamenda think they have set for indigenes of other Regions.

 He reassured Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs from the North West and South West Regions living in Bafoussam, that their host population will continue to remain hospitable to them.

 “The population of Bafoussam will continue to welcome Anglophone crisis IDPs. The people, in the first place, are not ready to carry out any reaction against those behind the killings,” the City Mayor said, adding that: “We know in their minds, they think because they have killed somebody from the West Region, we will also kill somebody from the North West Region. We will show them that we will never follow them in their madness”.

 Governor says West Region for peace

For his part, the Governor of the West Region, Awa Fonka Augustine, reiterated that the people of his administrative unit are for peace. Yesterday’s action, he said, was a way of the people of the West Region to dissociate themselves from the killings and crusade peace.

The super scale administrator remarked that: “The population of the West Region came out massively to express their indignation toward the recent killings that took place at Nacho Junction, Bamenda. We join them to express our dissatisfaction and to tell whoever that we are for peace”.

He called on the population to continue to promote reconciliation, uphold the desire for peace and remain united in their diversity. 

Yesterday’s outing, the celebrated administrator added, was a way to preach peace and living together in the West Region.

To the President of the West Regional Council, Dr Jules Hilaire Foka Foka, the ceremony was carefully planned to send across a message of peace, social cohesion and peaceful co-existence.

The heads of the various communities from the North West and South West Regions residing in the West Region, also condemned the killings at Nacho Junction.

The ceremony brought together the Fo’o of Bafoussam, His Royal Majesty, Njictack Ngompe Pele, the Presbyterial Secretary for West Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon, PCC, Rev Mokoko Thomas, Imams, Rev Fathers and a host of dignitaries.