At NEC meeting: SDF discusses winning-strategy ahead of twin elections.

The discussions were held during a NEC meeting which took place in Yaounde Saturday February 7. It was the first time SDF NEC members were meeting since the start of the year. 

The parley offered a platform for NEC officials to reflect on the year just ended and strategise ahead of upcoming political confrontations to be organised this year.

Chaired by SDF National Chairman, Hon Joshua Osih Nambangi, the meeting was the first since the October 12, 2025 presidential election in which the SDF candidate emerged in a distant 6^th position.

In his preliminary statement during the Yaounde NEC meeting, Hon Osih Joshua who was the party’s candidate at the October 12 election told the gathering that: "We are going through very deep state capture…what occurred last October 12, 2025 was basically the deep state controlling the electoral process".

Reacting to rumours that he was paid 1 billion FCFA by the Yaounde regime to facilitate the reelection of President Biya, Hon Osih, was unequivocal.

Hon Osih who represents Wouri Centre at the National Assembly, said he was deeply hurt by the fact that "in the middle of or towards the end of the electoral campaign, John Mbah Akuroh from America was claiming that I collected 1 billion CFA for various electoral reasons basically to lose the election”.

The lawmaker and political leader continued that: “I want to state vehemently here that, that never happened…my pains did not come from what he (Akuroh) said because I go through that and I live that every day…my pain came from the fact that high-ranking officials of the SDF relayed that information and some even supported it and that is the reason why of the four candidates who were portrayed as having received a billion francs each, only Joshua Osih carried the weight because the other candidates were lucky enough that their party stood behind them as one man".

While indicating that judicial proceedings are ongoing in Cameroon and in Washington DC on the issue, Hon Osih disclosed that: "I don't want the SDF to be a threat for the livelihood of his children and probably his wife".

He said he was calling on friends of John Mbah Akuroh to cause him to apologise publicly “for accusing me wrongfully”.

Osih told journalists that he has put his “mandate on building bridges and not walls, they should tell him to retract, apologise through the same canals he used".

He continued that: "we need everyone and we need to work together. We have been fighting each other for reasons I cannot understand but that is what has been going on and today my cry in this meeting is for us to stand as one team, one family and move together towards the upcoming elections".

Need for mobilisation ahead of twin elections

Speaking further during Saturday’s NEC meeting, Hon Osih told the gathering that there was need for party to mobilise adequately ahead of the twin elections.

He told his followers that: "These elections will need more than 10,000 councilors, more than 360 mayors, more than 1,000 or 2,000 deputy mayors, more than 180 MPs if they increase the size and so there is space for everyone in here. Moreso, we might go through some further gerrymandering that might make it such that today's constituencies are no longer tomorrow's constituencies and so during the election, we might be obliged to team up with other candidates...”.

“Even though our texts are clear on the issue of counter-campaigning…and although the evidence is abundant, I refuse to have stones thrown at anyone. We need everyone if we are to reclaim the grounds we have lost and if we are to win the municipal and legislative elections ahead of us," he concluded.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3700 of Tuesday February 10, 2026