October 12 poll: Bello, Osih, Cabral boycott meeting to designate consensus opposition candidate!.

The meeting, we are reliably told, was organised at the behest of the National President of the Cameroon Democratic Union, CDU, Hon Hermine Patricia Tomaino Ndam Njoya, also a candidate for the election.

According to reports, those who received the invitation but didn’t show up or designate a representative were; Bello Bouba Maigari, National President of the National Union for Democracy and Progress, UNDP; Hon Osih Jousha Nambangi, National Chairman of the Social Democratic Front, SDF; and Hon Cabral Libii, National President of the Cameroonian Party for National Reconciliation, PCRN.

The absences have left observers worried, given that Bello Bouba, Osih Joshua and Cabral Libii are all candidates for the crucial political consultation of October 12.

It is reported that Bello Bouba informed the meeting organiser that he received his invitation at short notice and could not make the journey to Foumban. 

Additionally, Bello reportedly said he would only be opened to being part of such a gathering, only after the final decision of the Constitutional Council; which begins deliberations on complaints from aspirants disqualified by ELECAM, today.

Hon Osih, we are told, actually wrote to the organiser of the Foumban meeting. The SDF presidential candidate is quoted as telling the organiser that he wasn't comfortable with the venue of the meeting. 

Osih reportedly said such a meeting should have taken place in the national capital, Yaounde; not in Foumban. Like Bello Bouba, Hon Osih is also quoted as having said, "it was too early to organise such a meeting".

Authoritative sources told The Guardian Post that unlike Bello Bouba and Hon Osih Joshua, who gave reasons for not making it to the Foumban gathering, Hon Cabral Libii simply looked away after receiving the invitation.

Political analysts say his absence was evident, especially given that his candidature now hangs on the balance; following a pending complaint against his presidential bid, at the Constitutional Council.

It should be recalled that though his presidential bid was validated by ELECAM, Robert Kona, a founding father of the PCRN, the political party that invested Cabral, has tabled a complaint to the Constitutional Council, calling for his disqualification.

Both political actors have of late been moving from one court to another, over the leadership of the PCRN. 

Although Kona has been floored in all court cases, the PCRN founding father appealed the recent court decision, recognising Cabral as the leader of the political outfit. The move is seen as throwing a spanner in the works; a development which has seriously dented Cabral's presidential bid.

Explaining why it came as no surprise that Cabral boycotted the Foumban meeting, a political observer told The Guardian Post: "It would have been suicidal for Cabral, to show his face at such a gathering, especially given that his candidature is under serious threat of disqualification. You cannot be seen to be fighting the same person at whose mercy your candidature lies," he added.

Professing change, refusing to unite

The boycott of the Foumban gathering of last Saturday, those who understand the make-up of the country’s opposition said, is not surprising. 

They link the postures of the key opposition figures who didn’t show up to what has been happening for decades in the country.

Pundits say the nation’s opposition is one that has continued to identify the Biya regime as its common enemy but always whimsical in grouping under one canopy to defeat it. 

Such a situation, analysts say, sends a clear message to citizens that not everyone who identifies as an opposition and promising change, is an opposition stakeholder.

Critics have, based on the absences recorded during the Foumban meeting, revisited old narratives that some of those masquerading as forces of change, are rather satellite window dressing figures to show the world that democracy is alive in Cameroon.

Attendees, vision shared…

Besides the notable absences, attendees of the meeting besides Tomaino Ndam Njoya included; Celestin Bidzigui, National President of the Liberal Alliance, PAL; Bougha Hagbe Jacques, presidential candidate of the Cameroon National Citizen Movement, MCNC; Akere Muna, candidate of the UNIVERS party; Prof Prosper Nkou Mvondo; National President of UNIVERS; Serge Espoire Matomba, First Secretary of the United People for Social Renovation, PURS also a candidate; Karamoko Soulemanou, Secretary  General  of the Cameroon National Salvation Front, FSNC, of Issa Tchiroma who represented the presidential candidate; Dr Pierre Balequel Nkot, Secretary General of the Union des Populations du Cameroun, UPC; and Prince Michael Ngwesse Ekosso, leader of the United Socialist Democratic Party, USDP.

United to flush Biya out of power 

In a joint declaration, participants said they are united to end 43 years of President Biya’s stay at the helm of the State. They stated that the Biya regime has served Cameroon with over four decades of stagnation and democratic marginalisation.

Affirming that the election of October 12, 2025, is a decisive moment for the country, the political actors called for; united action, a new vision for Cameroon and mobilisation of Cameroonians at home and abroad from all walks of life; to massively take part in the election. 

They declared their quest to get a consensual candidate with a common programme, to defeat Biya, come October 12.

Prominent Bamileke monarch blesses alliance members 

The Guardian Post has it on good authority that after Saturday’s meeting in Foumban, attendees trooped to the palace of HRM Fo'o Sokoudjou Chedjou II, in Bamendjou, still in the West Region.

While in the Bamendjou palace, the acerbic critic of the Biya regime, Fo'o Sokoudjou Chedjou II, not only traditionally blessed the alliance members. 

He called on them to do everything possible to get those still sitting on the fence to join the crusade for a unique opposition candidate against Biya. 

He was quoted as warning that: "...any opposition candidate who refuses to be part of the coalition, should be considered a traitor and treated as such". 

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3523 of Monday August 04, 2025