Kumba: Senator Nfon Mukete's phone call nips bikers’ protest that had reached boiling point.

They had taken to the streets in protest of the killing of one of theirs, Njam Kenney, 29, on Monday April 1.

The incident happened in the Bonakama neighbourhood of Kumba I Subdivision. 

Njam, who was also known as Star Boy across Kumba, was a member of the Kumba III Subdivisional Bikers’ Union.

Nfon Mukete, administration step in

In the face of the commercial motorbike riders protesting across Kumba, it took the intervention of the Divisional Officer, DO, of Kumba I, Ali Anugo, and Nfon Mukete, for the restive bikers to quit the streets.

Though the Nfon was attending the Congress of Parliament in Yaounde Tuesday, he talked the bikers to peace through a telephone conversation. He was alerted after the commercial bikers stormed his palace in Kumba. 

Senator Mukete, in a video call, spoke with the commercial bikers and educated them on the need to maintain peace and order, irrespective of their concerns, which he acknowledged were genuine.

After the King of the Bafaws' video call, the visibly excited bikers could be seen living his Palace, while Shouting: "As na you talk Your Majesty, we don hear..."

Who killed biker?

The President of the Kumba I bike riders’ association, Mbuyi Thaddeus, in an interview granted a local radio station in Kumba Monday, said the corpse of the biker was discovered the next day.

Mbuyi said the biker was shot by a passenger whom he was transporting from Kumba-Mbeng to the Bonakama neighbourhood. He quoted a biker who witnessed the incident as having stated that the passenger shot Njam from behind.

Mbuyi also disclosed that the assassin also carted away Njam’s motorcycle. Though locals rushed him to the Kumba Regional Hospital Annex, Njam, Mbuyi said, died after losing much blood.

Anti-ghost town "pass" 

Reports hold that a pass which local authorities institute months ago to fight separatists-imposed ghost towns is at the origin of the incident. 

The pass, which is a ticket, is said to be issued for use weekly, every Monday. Bikers who don’t have the ticket are not allowed to work on other weekdays.

The president of the bikers’ union in Kumba I Subdivision, Mbuyi, has however denied that Njam was not killed because of the pass issue. The Meme administration, which instituted the tactic in the last quarter of 2023, seems to have been succeeding until the shooting to death of Njam, Monday.