By Mankah Rosa Parks.
Buea – 2025 – Despite the many betrayals that the people of Ambazonia face from their own, who have chosen comfort for liberty, there exist some foundations builders of the revolution that history will record.
Albert Mukong
*Prisoner Without Crime. Patriot Without Equal.*
Albert Mukong never finished his degree in Physics at the University of Ibadan, but his moral stature towered above the most credentialed. In his memoir Prisoner Without a Crime, he chronicled the torture and injustices he endured under Ahidjo and Biya—without ever renouncing his convictions.
A founding pillar of resistance, Mukong refused to become part of the system. His life was his message: indomitable, uncorrupted, and unafraid. He fought not for position, but for the liberation of Southern Cameroons, even when it cost him his freedom.
Ekontang Elad
*Architect of the Anglophone Awakening*
Ekontang Elad was the principal convener of the All Anglophone Conference (AAC)—a pivotal moment in the reawakening of Southern Cameroonian political identity. With vision and determination, he brought together chiefs, lawyers, teachers, youth, and professionals to declare Southern Cameroons a distinct people with a right to self-determination.
Alongside Dr. Gumne, Elad shaped the constitutional argument that still guides the Ambazonian cause today. He was not just a unifier, but a strategist of liberation.
Dr. Kevin Ngwang Gumne
*Legal Mind of the Revolution*
Dr. Gumne’s legal victory at the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (2009) marked a turning point in internationalising the Southern Cameroons cause. His case established that Southern Cameroonians are a “people” under international law—with all attendant rights.
Where others marched, Dr. Gumne litigated. Where others compromised, he documented. He gave Ambazonia a legal identity in continental jurisprudence.
Fon Gorji Dinka
*Father of the Name and the Nation*
It was Fon Dinka who named the country “Ambazonia” and issued the first legal declaration of independence in the early 1980s. Through The New Social Order, he exposed the illegality of Cameroon’s presence in Southern Cameroons and outlined a vision of sovereign restoration.
Jailed and tortured, Dinka remained undaunted. His ideas became doctrine. His name, legend. His boldness, unmatched.
Stephen N. Shemlon:
*Diplomatic Mind of the Movement*
Stephen Shemlon took the cause from Bamenda to Brussels, from Buea to Geneva. His mastery of international law and diplomacy enabled him to translate Southern Cameroons’ pain into policy arguments in global fora.
Shemlon produced detailed position papers, human rights submissions, and lobbying briefs that framed the conflict within treaty obligations and post-colonial legal standards. He is the mind behind the globalisation of the cause.
Dr. George Ngwane
*Poet, Policy Advocate, Cultural Guardian*
Dr. Ngwane’s contribution came through the quiet power of the pen. His poetry, essays, and books—especially The Settled Dust—explored the slow erasure of Anglophone identity and the necessity of cultural preservation.
A man of words and principles, Ngwane combined literary expression with policy insight. He fought not just for political restoration, but for the cultural dignity of a people long suppressed.
Akwaya (The Columnist)
*The Pen that Roared in the Silence*
In an age of censorship and co-opted media, Akwaya’s fearless columns emerged as instruments of truth and clarity. His incisive editorials unmasked corruption, critiqued both government and pseudo-opposition, and called for uncompromising justice.
His words were weapons. His anonymity, his shield. His legacy lives in every Ambazonian voice that speaks boldly today.
Paddy Mbawa
*Sacred Heart Son. Street Soldier. Investigative Legend.*
A former student of Sacred Heart College, Paddy Mbawa ultimately embodied its core ideals—when many alumni defected to the chorus of conformity. Mbawa was a grassroots organizer, cultural educator, and fearless exposer of corruption.
He uncovered satellite images of a French frigate poised to bomb Bamenda after the controversial 1992 elections—a move meant to secure French geopolitical interests if Anglophone dissent turned volatile.
He also investigated and published evidence of Prime Minister Peter Mafany Musonge’s embezzlement at the Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC), revealing how the corporation’s leadership was handed to an unqualified tribal loyalist with no business background—crippling livelihoods and worsening ethnic patronage.
Mbawa’s journalism wasn’t commentary. It was combat. And he never retreated.
Frederick Alobwede Fossung
*The Relentless Flame of Exile*
Fossung was a titan of diaspora mobilisation and principled leadership. As a founding member of the SCNC and its longtime leader in exile, he kept the torch burning through the darkest years of betrayal and internal sabotage.
While others splintered and sought power, Fossung called for discipline, focus, and international strategy. He consistently appealed to law, truth, and international legitimacy—never once selling out or softening his message.
He stood before the United Nations, the African Union, and the U.S. Congress, making the case for justice not with bluster, but with the authority of truth. He died a faithful steward of the cause, and his legacy lives on in every principled Ambazonian movement that refuses compromise.
*Legacy: Our Compass, Our Conscience*
These men—Mukong, Elad, Gumne, Dinka, Shemlon, Ngwane, Akwaya, Mbawa, and Fossung—formed the bedrock of Southern Cameroons’ resistance. They did not serve titles; they served truth. They did not chase favour; they fought for freedom.
Let us honour them not only in words, but in action, reform, and eternal remembrance.
In their honour, we rise.
In their footsteps, we walk.
Through their example, we shall win.
Mankah Rosa Parks
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