Kumba: Residents scramble for food as lockdown bites harder.

The lockdown is intended to mar smooth school resumption in the restive North West and South West Regions.

The lockdown, which was in its third day yesterday, has been characterised by fear of the unknown. Many households are also reported to be running out of foodstuffs and basic necessities. 

Despite the lockdown, huge crowd of Kumba inhabitants trooped into the food section of the Kumba Main Market yesterday to get basic food items. 

Fresh foodstuffs like vegetables, plantain, meat, fish among others were on display. The food section of the market, fondly referred to as Back Park, was a busy hub for families who have already run short of food in their homes. 

Some of the buyers told this reporter that though with the difficult situation at moment, they could only muster courage to go out and look for what their families can eat. 

Traders on their part say the best they can do is to get food items to make available to buyers, even if they are risking their lives in doing so.

Most of the traders who spoke to The Guardian Post attest that they harvested the food from their gardens and nearby farms because of the lockdown.

However, it is not yet clear if the two-week lockdown will be observed to the latter. Separatist fighters are however said to have told the population to go about their duties freely at weekends.

It should be noted that since the new academic year started Monday September 4, 2023, majority of schools in Kumba have not gone operational as parents, students and pupils are uncertain about their safety.

Counter message against lockdown surfaces

In a video reported to have been shot in Kumba, which has now gone viral, a man masked and armed with a gun, identifying himself as ‘General’ Fred, is heard saying that he is against the two-week lockdown and that he only agrees with Monday ghost town.

“My people of Kumba and Ekondo in Mbonge Subdivision, I bring you greetings. This is ‘General’ Fred talking…I have heard about the two-week lockdown but I want to tell you that it will end today. The only ghost town we recognised in Ambaland is on Mondays. I’m doing this video because of the innocent girl that was killed in Mile 1. I want to warn my boys…our enemies are not Anglophones. They should never be our target,” the supposed pseudo-Amba General stated. 

He also sent a grim message to another peer of his whom he named ‘General Lucifer’, accusing him of kidnapping civilians. 

The self-styed Amba ‘General’ also stated that they joined the fight not to hurt the population. He went on to call on traders in Kumba to go about their activities.

“I am warning all the women selling in Fiango and Old Market that as from tomorrow, anybody who doesn’t open his or her shop will feel my wrath. By the time we are imposing a two-week lockdown, we are putting the population through a lot of stress. We want children to go to school, we don’t want to hear that children have been attacked in school,” the supposed Amba General said.

These happenings in Kumba comes after a 16-year-old orphaned girl, Ajeck Hilda, was killed on Monday September 4, in their home. The incident occurred at the Mile I nighbourhood. She was caught by stray bullet which perforated the wall of their plank house during shootout between security forces and suspected Amba fighters.