Joshua Osih, dishonestly reduces a people, to a linguistic entity
By the Editorial Desk | The Independentist
Date: 24 July 2025
Joshua Osih has once again mistaken political ambition for historical truth. His insistence on framing the conflict in terms of an “Anglophone problem” is not only outdated—it is intellectually bankrupt, legally indefensible, and morally offensive. The real issue at stake is not marginalization within a nation; it is the illegal occupation and annexation of a former UN Trust Territory—Ambazonia, the former British Southern Cameroons.
- There Is No “Anglophone Problem”—There Is an Ambazonian Problem
Let it be said in no uncertain terms: Ambazonia is not an ethnic region within La République du Cameroun (LRC). It is a distinct geopolitical entity, with a separate colonial history, international legal status, and right to self-determination under international law. Referring to Ambazonians as “Anglophones” is a deliberate obfuscation—an attempt to reduce a nationhood crisis into a linguistic inconvenience. This is dishonest and disrespectful.
The UN never completed the decolonization of the British Southern Cameroons. The so-called “federal union” that allegedly bound Southern Cameroons to La République was never legalized through any treaty of union or international legal instrument. There was no act of union, no ratified agreement, and no constitutional referendum binding the two as one. What occurred in 1961 was not a merger—it was a fraudulent annexation.
- Osih Ignores the Will of the People
Joshua Osih deliberately omits the most damning evidence against his position: Cardinal Christian Tumi’s own survey revealed that 69% of the people of former British Southern Cameroons—despite the risks—openly supported full independence. That was years before the worst of the genocidal war began. In 2025, after 30,000 deaths, thousands imprisoned, and over 1.5 million displaced, who in their right mind still believes the numbers haven’t surged higher?
What moral authority does Osih or any candidate in Yaoundé have to dictate terms to a people who have not only rejected the union but have paid in blood to sever it?
- You Cannot Be the Problem and the Solution
Joshua Osih is part of a system that thrives on the illusion of change without substance. His Social Democratic Front (SDF), once a beacon of reform, now serves as a proxy for the regime it once condemned. For decades, SDF parliamentarians collected salaries in a rubber-stamp legislature that presided over the marginalization, militarization, and exploitation of Ambazonia. They watched as common law institutions were dismantled, our local councils converted into CPDM fiefdoms, and our schools militarized.
Now, Osih proposes a “100-day solution” to a 64-year-old problem. Is this a joke? Even Canada, under internationally facilitated talks, could not resolve the impasse after months of structured diplomacy. But Osih—armed with empty slogans and colonial logic—believes he can do what France, Britain, and the UN failed to do?
- Jobs and Development Are Not Substitutes for Justice
Another tired trick in Osih’s bag is the economic argument—“create jobs, end marginalization.” But Ambazonia’s grievances are not economic—they are existential. Before 1961, Ambazonia had functioning institutions: the West Cameroon Marketing Board, the Cameroon Bank, the Produce Marketing Authority, the CDC, and its own parliament and judiciary. We were not unemployed beggars. It was La République’s colonial agenda that destroyed these institutions, not poverty or incompetence. No amount of job offers can replace what was stolen: our sovereignty. - This Is an International Problem, Not a Presidential Manifesto Issue
Let us be clear: the Ambazonian question is not a matter for LRC’s presidential candidates. It is a pending international decolonization file, rooted in breaches of international law by Britain, France, and the UN. The matter does not belong in a Yaoundé campaign rally. It belongs in The Hague, Addis Ababa, Geneva, and the UN General Assembly.
We are not demanding that Osih solve Ambazonia’s problem. We are demanding that he get out of the way. His continued promotion of the “one and indivisible Cameroon” mantra is the very trigger that sustains this crisis.
- Final Word: Intellectual Dishonesty Cannot Win Hearts
Joshua Osih’s campaign would do better by acknowledging the root cause of this war and advocating for a legitimate, negotiated settlement leading to the complete and irreversible separation of Ambazonia from La République du Cameroun. Anything less—especially recycled slogans of unity and marginalization—is a betrayal of truth and a reinforcement of oppression.
If he has integrity, he should campaign with the truth: Ambazonia is a separate country under international law, forcibly annexed by La République du Cameroun. If elected, will he recognize this reality? If not, then he is no different from those who have ruled before him—French surrogates on borrowed thrones.
Ambazonia is not a minority. It is a people. It is a country. And it will be free.
the Editorial Desk
