Why Cameroonian men are killing their lovers!.

It is, however, a paradox that in recent times, there has been a devastating multi-year spike in the killing of women by their husbands or boyfriends, in some cases in the presence of their children.

As The Guardian Post reported last Friday, three women, including one said to have been pregnant with twins, were killed, reportedly by their partners, in separate incidents in Yaounde, Centre Region and Ntam, in the Upper Nyong Division of the East Region, between September 7 and 9, this year.

One of the victims was allegedly beaten to death by her husband in the Etoug-Ebe neighbourhood of Yaounde, on September 9, 2026. Reports across social media said she was pregnant with twins at the time of her death.

Another had her life sniffed off by a gendarme officer their love affair had ended. She was allegedly shot four times in front of her 10-year-old son on September 9, 2026.

The uniform man is said to have subsequently turned the firearm on himself but survived after a failed attempted suicide as the bullet missed his vital organs. He was taken to the Sangmelima Referral Hospital for treatment.

Reports later indicated that he regained consciousness at the health facility. Before the three cases, which represent a spike in reported femicides in the country, there had just been a tragic wave of violence with eight women killed across the country in a single week; prompting the media to recall that at least 219 women and girls have been killed in gender-related crimes since 2023.

The killings were a sharp upward trajectory in recent times as 50 women were officially documented as murdered in 2023, then 67 the next year, 77 in 2025 and in the first four months alone of this year, the Ministry of Women's Empowerment and the Family, MINPROFF, officially registered 50 brutal murders.

Minister Abena Ondoa neé Obama Marie Thérèse, has raised alarm that the soaring numbers represent only the "tip of the iceberg," due to extreme underreporting caused by social stigma, family pressures and fear of retaliation.

The soaring graph of killing lovers has triggered widespread public outrage and government pushback in recent times. 

The government has, however, been grappling to prevent femicide, which is an aspect of domestic violence, described by organisations like UN Women as the most extreme and brutal form of violence against women. 

In 2022, it adopted both a National Strategy to combat gender-based violence and a National Gender Policy. Minister Abena Ondoa told parliamentarians last June that her ministry was finalising a bill to create a standard criminal offence of Gender-based Violence and strengthen legal protections on women’s rights. 

But what motivates lovers of yesterday to be murderers of today?

Psychologists have offered several reasons based on research and interviews with some of the culprits of the crimes of passions: “Many men kill their partners out of love, often driven by possessiveness and jealousy, which can lead to violent outbursts.” 

Their research also points to certain personality traits, such as fragile egos and the need for control that can predispose men to violent behavior.

Another  cause is when men who struggle with emotional insecurities may resort to violence as a coping mechanism, particularly when faced with loss or separation.

There is also the case psychologists say is influenced by “some cultures, the risk of femicide is high, with many women killed by intimate partners, highlighting the societal factors that contribute to this phenomenon”.

According to Prof Aaron Ben-Ze'ev, author  of The Arc of Love: How Our Romantic Lives Change over Time, “Rigid, traditional conceptions of masculinity,  and inflexible, uncompromising personality traits  appear to justify extreme actions, including violence. When these factors converge, the risk of lethal violence increases sharply.”

As Prof Aaron, a renowned international authority on homicide, who is also author of “In the name of Love,” has pointed out, “Many people long for the idealised love portrayed in novels, films, and popular music- an all-consuming bond where the partner becomes one’s entire world. This ideology rests on beliefs such as: Love is all you need, love is unconditional, and love is uncompromising” while murderers will say: “I killed because I can’t leave without her.”

It is a false narrative like the Nigerian musician who sings: “One plus one is one,” “I can’t live without you,” or “for better, worse till death do us part,” as preached by some religious organisations.

But in a circular society like Cameroon, with divergent religious organisations and even cults in the name of churches, that may explain why the suspected murderer in the East Region did not see how he could “live without her lover,” and attempted to kill himself after allegedly shooting his lover to death.

The solution, as physiologists have taught, is not just deterring such “lovers” with hash laws but an awareness that should be preached more by religious and traditional authority and advertised by the government that already has in place the death penalty for per-meditated murder and life jail for other degrees of killings.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3909 of Monday September 14, 2026