Suspected Amba fighters kidnap Bamenda II DO, five others!.

The incident, The Guardian Post learned, occurred in the evening period of Tuesday February 6 in Ntumbaw, Ndu Subdivision of Donga Mantung Division.

The administrative official and other hostages, whose identify are still to be known, are said to have been heading to Nkambe.

They were said to have been heading to Nkambe for the installation of the new Senior Divisional Officer, SDO, for Donga Mantung, Bassilekin Georges Magloire Emmanuel, who previously served as the Secretary General at the North West Governor’s Office. 

The SDO was due to be installed into office, Wednesday February 7. 

The Guardian Post gathered from sources that the kidnapped officials were part of a military convoy that left Bamenda and was heading to Nkambe for the installation ceremony.

However, it is alleged that the DO decided to overtake the convoy. It is also alleged that Amba fighters ambushed the DO’s vehicle, kidnapping him and others who were in the car. 

It is not clear if there was a shootout between the DO’s security guards at the time of the ambush.

 As at press time last night, The Guardian Post could not attest the identity of the five other occupants as official statements are yet to be made by authorities of the North West Region. 

It is worth noting that the North West Governor, Adolphe Lele l’Afrique, yesterday in Fundong, chaired the installation ceremony of the new SDO for Boyo, Saidou Moussa. He is due to commission that of Donga Mantung today.

Nicolas Nkongho Manchang, it should be said, is the second civil administrator serving in the two troubled English-speaking Regions who has so far been kidnapped by separatist fighters, since the Anglophone crisis morphed into an armed conflict. 

The former Divisional Officer, DO of Batibo, Namata Marcel Diteng, was the first civil administrator to be kidnapped by separatist fighters, on February 11, 2018. He was later killed in captivity months later. 

Worth noting is the fact that several civil administrators serving in the two restive Regions have narrowly cheated death in separate separatist attacks. 

It should be recalled that the now kidnapped Manchang, was installed into office as the DO of Bamenda II Subdivision, on July 2, 2020, succeeding Tanyi Akwo. 

The native of Eyumojock Subdivision, Manyu Division of the South West Region, before his appointment as Bamenda II DO, served in the same capacity in Belo Subdivision still in the North West Region.