Ahead of October 12 poll: SDF on verge of implosion.

The negative development within SDF follows the summary dismissal of the party’s lone Senator, Mochiggle Vanigansen. 

The appointed Senator and First Vice President of the SDF, was summarily expunged from the opposition outfit in a statement issued last Friday and signed by the party’s Secretary General, Njong Donatus.

The decision by the SDF follows Senator Mochiggle’s participation in a public gathering organised in Bamenda by Territorial Administration Minister, Paul Atanga Nji.

During the meeting to donate to IDPs which was literally transformed into a CPDM campaign rally, Minister Atanga Nji had singled out Senator Mochiggle from the crowd, presenting him as a symbol of political tolerance. 
He had praised the lawmaker, informing the crowd that politics isn’t war. 

Seemingly embarrassed by the utterances of the Minister, Senator Mochiggle wasn’t offered the opportunity to utter a word.

In an outing same day, the SDF, in a statement, said it was distancing itself from the utterances of the Minister and the presence of Senator Mochiggle at the ceremony.

Stating categorically that Senator Mochiggle was on his own, the SDF wrote: “The public is hereby informed that the entire SDF is embarrassed, following the anti-party activity orchestrated by Senator Mochiggle Vanigansen, on the 3rd of October 2025, at Up-Station, Bamenda; by participating with Minister Atanga Nji Paul in what appears to be a CPDM campaign meeting”.

The party continued that “Considering Section 15(II) of the Constitution of the party which borders on the discipline of its members and which states as follows: ‘A member who is found to have committed any anti-party activity or conducting him/herself in a manner which is likely to embarrass the party or bring the party into hatred; contempt or dispute in whatever manner’”.

“The Secretary General of the SDF, assigned by NEC resolution Ref.60/SDF/NS/2025 of September 13, 2025, to assume the Operational Direction of the party during this electoral period, takes cognizance of the following: That the SDF did not mandate him to attend any CPDM rally,” the SDF added.

The party said Senator Mochiggle is a member of the SDF campaign team and was supposed to be campaigning for the party in the Centre Region, for their candidate, Hon Osih Joshua.

The political party was blunt that: “…the SDF distances itself from the activities of Senator Mochiggle and the utterances of Minister Atanga Nji concerning the SDF during that meeting. Senator Mochiggle knows that by his action, he has distanced himself from the party…the National Executive Committee, NEC, will take its responsibility”.

Mochiggle fires back

Meanwhile, in a sharp response, Senator Mochiggle, speaking to an online news platform accused the Secretary General of the SDF of overstepping his authority. 

He defended his actions, stating that he attended the event as a public office holder. 

“I am a Senator…I represent all Cameroonians; not just the SDF. When invited to activities concerning the population, I must attend,” he said.

He explained that he was officially invited by the Governor of the North West Region to the security meeting chaired by the Minister of Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji. 

Mochiggle admitted he was unaware of the full agenda, including the distribution of aid to internally displaced persons. 

“I was caught off guard when Minister Atanga Nji called me out from the crowd unexpectedly,” he said.

“I was embarrassed. I hesitated, but the SDO urged me not to create a scene, so I complied. In reality, the minister ambushed me,” he continued.

Mochiggle criticised the SDF Secretary General’s statement as hasty and vindictive, arguing that he should have been consulted before the press release was signed. 

“I have sacrificed a lot for the SDF since joining in 1990, leaving a promising public service career and positions within the CNU and CPDM. My loyalty has never wavered. To label my presence at a public event as anti-party activity is unjust and amounts to witch-hunting,” he insisted.

Osih Joshua accused of scores-settling

The Guardian Post gathered from usually trusted sources within the SDF that its National Chairman and candidate for the October 12 poll, Hon Osih Joshua, had since been nursing a grudge against Senator Mochiggle.

Mochiggle’s crime, we have been told, is his acerbic criticism of Osih’s management of affairs within the SDF, since taking over as the party’s boss.

The development is said to have created tension and bad-mouthing between the SDF National Chairman and his First Vice President.

Pro-Mochiggle supporters within the SDF say Osih might have seen in last Friday’s development in Bamenda, where the Senator attended the security meeting summoned by the MINAT boss, a God-given opportunity to silence his critic within the SDF, once and for all.

Pro-Mochiggle supporters within the SDF say Osih, a man they qualify as going to equity with filthy hands, should have been the first to be expelled from the party, when he teamed up with CPDM MPs to sign a petition to the US government, urging the repatriation of Cameroonians who escaped the crisis in the North West and South West Regions to the US.

“We have seen Osih, at both public and private ceremonies dining and wining with regime barons, but no one has ever raised a finger. This is because in the SDF, we believe politics is not war. Senator Mochiggle was invited to a security meeting by the North West Governor, as a public figure and an elite of the Region…he attended the meeting in those capacities and nothing more. It baffles me that Osih is desperate to make an elephant out of an ant hill,” a senior SDF official, fearing victimisation, said on condition of strict anonymity.

Meanwhile, Senator Mochiggle is adamant that he arrived the security meeting hall in Bamenda, and was told the programme had been adjusted. He said instead of the security meeting holding before the distribution of gifts to IDPs and bike riders, it was rather the reverse.

“I was left with no choice but to accompany the other high-profile personalities also invited to the security meeting…I was surprised Minister Atanga Nji later turned it into a campaign ceremony for Biya…and there was nothing I could do…,” Senator Mochiggle maintains.       

 This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3586 of Monday October 06, 2025