Makak: Brigade Commander rejects DO's order to arrest Akere Muna!.

The presence of revered international lawyer and global anti-corruption heavyweight, Akere Muna, also aspirant for the October presidential election, electrified the locality, provoking panic within the administration.

According to the Secretary General, SG, of the UPC, Dr Pierre Balequel Nkot, things went off course when the Divisional Officer, DO, of Makak ordered the Brigade Commander to arrest Akere Muna. 

Dr Balequel Nkot said the same DO also ordered for his arrest, insisting nothing was going to transpire in his administrative unit.

He recounted that to the shock of the DO and onlookers, the Brigade Commander and his officers, denied respecting the order. 

Other accounts hold that the administrator called in another set of security officers, dishing out the same instruction for the international lawyer to be arrested. To his greatest surprise, the law officers simply looked away.

Detailing what he said was a spade of bottlenecks, leading to the failed attempt to arrest Akere Muna and others, the UPC scribe said the convoy of Bâtonnier Akere Muna and a host of party supporters were treated to a hostile reception by the administration.

He disclosed that the Makak Council building, which they had rented for the event, was sealed by the administration. Dr Balequel Nkot said they tried hosting the anniversary celebration in a hotel, but the administration blocked the move again.

Seemingly stranded, he said Akere and other guests who had trooped to Makak for the activity, were led to a private residence. 

Dr Balequel Nkot said it was a cheering crowd that sang and walked with the delegation for kilometers to the residence where they staged their activity.

He indicated that despite going to a private residence, the DO rallied security forces and pursued them there, battling to stop the event. 

The UPC scribe averred that the administrator insisted that no one, especially Akere Muna, was going to be allowed to speak in Makak. 

Dr Balequel Nkot said the DO announced to them that he had received instructions from Yaounde to stop the meeting. 

The Secretary General of the oldest political party in Cameroon said when he started delivering his address, the DO ordered for him to be arrested before doing same for Akere Muna.

Akere Muna says will never be intimidated 

Addressing UPC supporters in the heat of the confrontation with the Makak administration, Akere Muna expressed regrets over the happenstance but insisted he will never be intimidated. 

He maintained that what they are fighting for “is for the wellbeing of the military and the police who suffer just like us. This is our Republic. I work in Cameroon and elsewhere, but what I have seen here today in terms of repression, I have never seen it elsewhere. It is a shame to this country that we refuse citizens the right to live in a private residence the way they want”.

He thundered further: “The law is not applied by talking. The first thing the law says is that administration is written. There is nothing written. We are in a private residence, and we are told the meeting was not authorised. This story will not end here. If it means it should end in international courts, it will end there”. 

“I will never be intimidated. I have seen more than this here and elsewhere. I am happy that this is the first political party in this country that liberated us that received me,” he added. 

Incident shame to reunification

Contextualising the clash with the energy the UPC, his father and other meaningful Cameroonians put in to achieve the renunciation of Cameroon, Akere Muna said it is a shame. 

“I was poisoned alongside my father because we were fighting for reunification. But if this is reunification, I am ashamed. This is the reason we have to work together to change all this,” he remarked.

He saluted the security officers who rejected the DO’s order and opted for professionalism and urged the population to “stay courageous, stay strong”.

Snippet of first 100 days if voted president

Meanwhile, during an exchange with some journalists of English extraction in Yaounde last Friday, Akere Muna gave the public an idea of what he plans to do within his first 100 days in office if voted President. 

Akere Muna, who already has the backing of the UPC, UNIVERS and Popular Action Party, PAP, said he dreams of overhauling the State apparatus upon taking over the highest office of the land. 

He told the journalists that within his first 100 days in office, he intends to get the population of all Subdivisions nationwide to submit an inventory of the priority projects they need.

On tackling corruption, which he insisted remains a major blight on Cameroon’s potential to develop, Akere Muna said handing him the Presidency will result in all public officials declaring their assets. 

He is also promising Cameroonians judicial reforms and institution of dual nationality to channel the potential of the country’s Diaspora to boost national development.

The international legal icon also said under him, Cameroonians will be given every detail relating to the exploitation of its subsoil. 

He said he also has on his agenda, plans for real and genuine dialogue to end the crisis in the North West South West Regions.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3420 of Monday April 14, 2025