Who authored the Lekie motion of support?

Sources say the population of Lekie division is divided over the contents and tone of the controversial motion of support to president Biya

By Steve Macquens Balemba in Yaounde As the debate intensifies over allegations of a “nordistes” conspiracy and rebellion against the Biya regime, it has become common knowledge that elite of Lekie division are now divided over the motion of support to President Biya that emerged from the Obala conclave of 3 September 2014.

Informed sources say the “Lekie call” was crafted, written and published by Henry Eyebe Ayissi, minister delegate at the presidency in charge of supreme state control alone.

Le Jour Newspaper quoted one of the elite as saying “Minister Eyebe Ayissi is the spokesperson of the elite of our division (Lekie division). In this capacity he has the prerogative to speak on our behalf. But he went too far in his declarations in the motion to Biya. This is unacceptable.”

To buttress the intriguing possibility of Eyebe Ayissi single-handedly drafting the motion of support, a commentator was quoted as saying that the mere and rare fact that the motion did not bear the names of its signatories is pointer that the author(s) feared and already foresaw the possibility of some elite distancing themselves from it and of course refusing to sign it.

“Why did he/they prefer to avoid mentioning the names of the signatories? Worse still, why did Eyebe Ayissi not publish the motion only in Cameroon Tribune as is common practice, but also as a paid announcement in other newspapers,” wondered another commentator, who observed that Essimi Menye Lazare, minister of agriculture and one of the senior elite of Lekie, did not attend the Obala meeting on 3rd September.

“Had Essimi Menye attended the meeting he would have at least cautioned Eyebe Ayissi against the inflammatory and provocative tone of the motion,” he said, noting that “unfortunately the two ministers are avowed rivals and political enemies; they don’t even talk to each other.”

Le Jour quoted other elite of Lekie division as also castigating the “problematic and provocative” motion.

“The tone and certain positions adopted in the motion were problematic and peremptory,” said Marie Robert Eloundou, spokesperson for the association for the development of Monatele. He urged the authors of the motion to name the Northern accomplices of Boko Haram, if truly they do exist.

“We must avoid such confusion and manipulation and show solidarity with our brothers who are seriously heartbroken at this time of the Boko Haram insurgency,” Robert Eloundou said.

However, sources close to Minister Eyebe Ayissi say he is unruffled by the mounting criticism against (his) motion. They say the minister considers the criticisms as intended to stifle the debate on Boko Haram.

“Those who are criticising our motion know the game they are playing. They are playing bad politics,” said a source that went on that “our message is clear, Boko Haram exists in Cameroon. It has accomplices in the country; notably in the Greater North. We are however not saying that they are “Nordistes” as our detractors are making the public to believe.”