Tchiroma slams gov't for ignoring Pope’s peace call.

He says Yaounde has continued with repression and other “outdated practices that trample on human dignity”.

The denunciation of the former regime Spokesperson and self-proclaimed winner of the October 2025 presidential election, is contained in a statement he released Monday. 

In the statement, the former member of government boasted that “change is underway, and no repression can extinguish the flame of freedom thus rekindled”. 

Tchiroma regretted the fact that as soon as the Holy Father departed Yaounde, the Yaounde regime “made a further show of its wild repression”.

“On that same day, charges were notified to several activists, whose sole offense is their thirst for justice,” he stated. He further detailed that political activists, Essama André Blaise and Aladji Lougman, were “dragged before the Military Court, for having demonstrated peacefully”.

He said the cases of the two activists “tragically add to the fate of thousands of young Cameroonians, as well as that of leading figures and his allies such as Ndjeukam Tchameni. 

Tchiroma detailed that Tchameni “had been held in several detention places across the country, for simply demanding respect for the ballot box verdict”. 

The FSNC party leader was said he is shocked that at a time the entire nation is embracing the Pope’s call for a soul searching examination, Yaounde authorities are rather doing the contrary. 

Faced with the urgency of national reconciliation and the restoration of the social contract, Tchiroma called “for an immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners without exception”. 

He urged the Yaounde regime to “strictly respect the rule of law guaranteed by our Constitution, so that the of the Cameroon people sovereignty is no longer sacrificed on the altar of arbitrariness”. 

Tchiroma further invited compatriots, political party leaders, civil society, as well as the diaspora, to join in a ‘Sacred Union’ around the “momentum that he continues to embody and to meticulously lead, being aware of the shared thirst for change”. 

The political leader, through the statement, expressed gratitude to His Holiness Pope Leo XIV, following the historic apostolic journey he undertook in Cameroon, from April 15 to 18, 2026.

He recalled that in the lead-up to the visit, he had, as early as November 5, 2025, engaged a diplomatic effort toward the Vatican, which he claimed helped “inform the Holy Father of the deep socio political reality” of Cameroon. 

Tchiroma commended the highly moral stance of Pope Leo XIV, as well as his words of wisdom of inestimable depth spoken during his stay in Cameroon. 

“These messages, significantly incorporating the substance of the correspondence addressed to the Holy Father, have doubly highlighted the systemic ills that have plagued our country for 44 years,” he stated. 

He said the frank outings of the Holy Father, “further reiterated, before the world, the extraordinary potential and assets of Cameroon, compromised by disastrous governance”.

Tchiroma said the “Papal words resonated for the citizens as a true anthem of hope, validating their legitimate quest for change and justice”. 

With the decisive turning point of the important visit, he said a strategic dialogue will be pursued between his team and the Holy See, “in order to give a chance to the aspirations for change and the sovereign transition, expressed by the Cameroonian people during the October 12, 2025 Presidential election”.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3767 of Tuesday April 21, 2026