After release from prison: Nguini Effa weeps for wives of detained regime barons.

Dr Nguini Effa opened up on what he said women of detained personalities go through during a thanksgiving mass at his Yaounde residence. 

He had organised the mass Thursday August 29, shortly after emerging from the Kongengui Maximum Prison.

A college of priests, friends, relatives and acquaintances flooded the home of the petrochemical engineer to join him in thanking God.  Addressing guests at the event which was his first in a post-prison life, Ngunini Effa thanked his wife but left many sympathetic when he opened the chapter of what the wives of persons in detention go through.

Citing his wife as having gone through hell, receiving attacks from different angles, he said the same is what the wives of former ministers and other personalities in detention go through. 

Nguini Effa said once a personality has issues to answer with the justice system, their wives become exposed to all forms of attacks.

He thanked his wife in particular for standing by him but asked persons of goodwill to pray for the personalities still in detention and their wives.  According to Nguini Effa, going through such challenging times is not easy.

Besides personalities, he said several other persons in detention and their wives go through difficult times. Even youngsters he said face challenges but remarked that even in such circumstances, such persons are still human beings who deserve compassion.

“You know there are people, for instance, my wife whom you are not seeing who took all kinds of punches. The wives of people in prison receive terrible attacks… I can assure you that you will suffer when your husband is taken in relation with the justice system of our country,” Nguini Effa remarked.

He enthused that: “I want us to pray like the priests said for those who are still in prison. Be they personalities, be they ministers, be they delinquents, be they those condemned to death…when you see them in prison, they are humans. They have the capacity to laugh…there some of them who are innocent…you are presumed innocent until when the Supreme Court has taken a definite decision on your matter…I can assure you, there are many whom I may say are innocent”. 

He disclosed during the mass that while in prison, he received constant prayers from various groups, moral, financial and physiological support. He expressed gratitude to those who stood by him and his family.

To note that Dr Nguini Effa regained freedom on August 28. He had spent 15 years in jail after being arrested in August 2009 while serving as SCDP, boss. 

The former regime heavyweight had spent years battling for his freedom. He was first detained at the New Bell Prison in Douala where the Wouri Court of First Instance initially slammed him a 30-year sentence in October 2012.

The Special Criminal Court, SCC, re-examined Nguini Effa’s case and reduced his sentence to 15 years. This was on June 17, 2022. As at then, he had already spent 13 years in prison. 

My name is a name of sacrifice

Situating the context of this release, the now ex-Kondengui Prison inmate says he is aware the name, Jean Baptiste, given him is a name of sacrifice.

He related the name to that of the biblical John The Baptist in the inferring that: “Jean Baptiste is a name of sacrifice. Jean Baptiste paid the price. He was beheaded but Saint Jean Baptiste is not dead. All of us know that Saint Jean Baptiste announced the coming of the Saviour. His teaching is alive. He is the one who showed us the way for the coming of Christ who saved all of us. So, I want to thank all of you...”

This story was first published in The Guardian Post issue N0:3217 of Monday September 02, 2024