Stop Fulani terrorism in Nwa!.

Initial assessments by the terrorized community leaders indicate that at least 205 houses were burned, forcing approximately 850 residents, including women, children, and the elderly, to flee into surrounding bushes for safety.

Many are currently sheltering in the open, exposed to harsh weather conditions and mosquito infestation, with limited access to food, clean water, or medical assistance, according to media reports.

Beyond indiscriminate destruction, the terrorists looted and razed key livelihood assets. Villagers report that 155 maize barns were destroyed, severely threatening food security in the coming months. 

In addition, 38 goats were stolen, six motorbikes taken, and 15 provision stores looted. Educational and religious institutions were not spared. Government School Mbat and the Baptist Church in Upper Mbat were also razed, further disrupting community life and access to essential social services.

The destruction of the school  akin to the Boko Haram vicious tactics,  raises very serious  concerns  and adds  to a growing pattern of violence affecting rural communities within the Donga Mantung Division, where tensions between farming populations and armed Fulani  grazers periodically escalate into deadly confrontations.

The roaring insecurity is further complicated by the conflict in Anglophone regions in which the Fulanis are allegedly being used by the government in its fight against separatist fighters.

For instance, during the Ngarbuh massacre investigations in which four soldiers have been convicted, it emerged that 17 Fulani militiamen allegedly helped the soldiers perpetrate the atrocities, but investigators were unable to apprehend them.

Two motives are now being suspected for the unbridled assault in Nwa. One is said to be the farmer-grazier conflict.

Talking with The Guardian Post, the National President of Mbat Development and Cultural Association, Young Pius Sobe, blamed the incident on Fulanis.

He noted that the former Senior Division Officer, SDO, of Donga Mantung, Dr Nkwenti Simon, had signed an order banning grazing activities in the Mbaw plain, including Mbat.

In the May 26, 2023 Prefectoral Order, he said, the senior administrator gave a 15-day ultimatum for grazers already on the Mbaw plain to vacate the area.

He added that traditional rulers of the nomadic communities and local administrative authorities were charged with strict implementation of the decision taken in a bid to stop recurrent disputes between indigenes and grazers over destruction of properties.

According to the Member of Parliament, MP, for Nwa Subdivision, Hon Edward Adamu Lambe, while condemning the attacks on Mbat village, which he described as one too many murders, gave the impression that it was motivated by the fight against secessionist fighters.

He said his people felt betrayed by their Fulani “brothers, who instead of confronting separatist fighters, are rather plundering the innocent communities and wreaking havoc on the people who unconditionally welcomed them into their communities several decades ago”. 

“If the attackers were out for separatists, we would have given them 100% support. But they went burning houses, luckily, a good number of the people in the village got the information and ran out for their lives before they [Fulanis] could get to some of the homes. If not, the casualties would have been terrible,” he told The Guardian Post.

Given the government's suspicious silence and past accusations that Yaounde uses the Fulanis to beef up the fight against separatist fighters, commentators are tempted to explain that as a reason it looked the other way while the mayhem was executed with impunity.

If not, why has even the regional administration not issued a statement to explain what happened?

What is the explanation that armed terrorists will invade two villages in two days, destroy, loot and walk away without any intervention or arrest given the persistent and consistent insecurity in the area?

According to the Parliamentarian from the area, the Fulanis have also been terrorising the population in other parts of the Subdivision unperturbed.

He cited Gom, Nkot, Ntamru, Ntarba villages and the Mbaw Plain where such ferocious atrocities have been reigning and also indicted Fulanis ransom-takings in his constituency.

“They kidnap a person today and the next day they are releasing the person to kidnap the next person...They're asking for ransom - three, four, five, six, seven or eight million," he said, adding that the victims "...sell their homes, lands, farmlands or properties in order to pay ransoms just to survive”.

“We are like orphans who do not have anyone to take care of them. It's true that the State has sent some military people to Nwa but the number is so minimal that they can't meet up to the security demands,” he lamented. 

He pleaded that if the State does not "rescue our Subdivision, the situation will deteriorate and when it deteriorates, the entire nation will be at risk because it's an entrance and exit through Nigeria. We know that the proliferation of arms from Nigeria into Cameroon is very common”. 

The Guardian Post urges him to table the issue in parliament. It is not only a subdivisional issue, but one that concerns national security, the protection of citizens and their properties which is the preponderant goal of any government.

The ready-made official reaction, if any, and whenever it comes, will be that "an investigation is being carried out" and suspects may never be fished out as was the case in Ngarbuh where such militia escaped justice. 

Vigilante groups that sprod up like mushrooms in the country should be well organised, its members in any locality identified so as to facilitate sanctions for those who abuse their assigned duties so as to prevent them from becoming terrorists as observed in Nwa.

Whatever the case, the deed has been done in Mbat and the government should urgently dispatch humanitarian assistance to affected persons, rebuild damaged infrastructures and increase security presence in a sensitive Subdivision like Nwa on a strategic international border.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3709 of Friday February 20, 2026