Gruesome killing of Bamenda II Deputy Mayor: Despicable, senseless!.

In a release issued Monday, the Prefect of Mezam, said the lifeless body of the municipal authority was found during the early hours of October 28, at the Nchuobo neighbourhood in Bamenda II Subdivision. 

The administrator detailed that the Deputy Mayor was kidnapped Saturday October 26, 2024, at about 5:30p.m.; in her residence at Savannah Street, in Bamenda II Subdivision. 

Going by reports, Mayor Joko Frida was whisked off to the unknown while returning from watching the public projection of the documentary-film on the Head of State, titled: “Paul Biya; A Great Statesman With an Extraordinary Destiny”. 

The projection took place at the esplanade of the Mezam Divisional Office, Up Station. 

It is suspected that the municipal authority might have been killed by her abductors, on the night of Sunday October 27, before her remains were later abandoned at a junction in Nchuobo.

Sources say her husband, Joko Evaristus, was heading to the US for the wedding of their daughter, this weekend, at the time she was kidnapped and later murdered in cold blood.

Joko, it should be said, is the former coach of PWD Bamenda and former Secretary General of North West FECAFOOT. 

Mezam SDO condemns act

The SDO, in his release, on behalf of government, expressed condolences to the bereaved family and the staff of the council “so hardly affected”. 

The administrator strongly condemned the “atrocity committed against an unarmed civilian,” whom he described as a “valiant lady who was serving her community and country with a lot of patriotism and devotion”. 

The SDO said such “repeated barbaric acts of these heartless criminals,” violates human rights and gender-based violence.

He assured the bereaved family and the population at large that the State is already working to track down the perpetrators of the “heinous assassination,” in order to bring them before judicial authorities. 

SDO Emile Mooh also called on public officials to be more vigilant. He equally urged the population to collaborate with authorities and security forces to put an end to such acts.

The late Mayor Joko Frida was a retired treasury staff serving as President of the Women’s Wing of the ruling CPDM party in Mezam 1B Section. 

The murder of Joko Frida comes four months after that of the Mayor of Belo Council, Ngong Innocent. He was shot dead while heading to the grandstand to celebrate National Day on May 20, 2024. 

In March 2024, the Second Deputy Mayor of Babessi Council, Nkwanto Solomon, was also killed. In November 2023, the Second Deputy Mayor of Balikumbat Council, Passi Christopher, was equally kidnapped and murdered by suspected separatists.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post issue No:3274 of Tuesday October 29, 2024