Privilege Over People: The Tragic Fall of Ambazonian Collaborators

Paul Atanga Nji,Victor Arrey Mengot,Dorothy Njeuma,Diane Acha Morfaw,Peter Mafany Musonge, Paul Ghogomu Mingo, leading the process to erase their own people

By Ali Dan Ismael Editor-in-chief

The pain of Ambazonia’s oppression is not only inflicted from without—but also from within. While the regime in Yaoundé has deployed tanks, death squads, and foreign proxies to crush the Ambazonian people, an equally dangerous betrayal festers in the hearts of certain Southern Cameroonians who have chosen personal privilege over the collective survival of their people.

This betrayal is not limited to the usual suspects—the so-called “11th Province” of loyal agents like Joseph Dion Ngute, Felix Mbayu, Peter Essoka, Francis Wete, and Julius Victor Ngoh. These men, long unmasked as ceremonial figureheads of the Biya regime, operate with predictable obedience.

But more insidious is the role played by Southern Cameroonians of sound background, respectable credentials, and historical knowledge—those who, knowing the truth, still choose to obey and propagate a system designed to erase their own people.

At the center of this dishonor stands Paul Atanga Nji, current Minister of Territorial Administration. A man whose past includes an abrupt departure from Saint Bede’s College and a troubled history, he has now become the primary enforcer of the regime’s machinery of repression. Married into the Beti-Bulu political establishment, he operates at the heart of the electoral fraud complex. His French may be broken, but his efficiency in facilitating war crimes in Ambazonia is clear. He is not a representative of Southern Cameroonians. He is a proxy operator, executing a mission that includes surveillance, bribery, and the funding of genocidal campaigns.

Then there is Victor Arrey Nkongho Mengot, an engineer by training, now reduced to a political functionary. Like his father-in-law, the late Francis Nkwain—known for speaking boldly among Ambazonians but whispering before Yaoundé—Mengot struts in Mamfe, only to shrink in silence in Yaoundé. His preference for delivering speeches in French to Ambazonian communities is not a matter of state protocol—it is a symbol of surrender. A man of his education knows better. That he chooses otherwise speaks volumes.

Professor Dorothy L. Njeuma was once a trailblazer for women and scholars alike. Her academic career and leadership at the University of Buea inspired many. But the promise of intellectual excellence has been quietly drowned in years of loyalty to a regime that silences the very voices she once empowered. Her silence in the face of injustice and military atrocities has become deafening.

Peter Mafany Musonge, an Ivy League-educated structural engineer, could have been a builder of nations. Instead, he now chairs a powerless Bilingualism and Multiculturalism Commission—an entity that does nothing to address the marginalization of English-speaking citizens. His talent and standing are now reduced to ceremonial gestures that mask a deeper erasure of Ambazonian identity.

To this list we must now add Professor Paul Mingo Ghogomu—a man of impeccable academic credentials and perhaps the most eloquent poster child for the “ideal Camerounese”. With mastery of both English and French, and a towering presence in government academic circles, Professor Ghogomu could have become one of the strongest institutional voices for justice during the 2016–2017 teachers’ and lawyers’ protests. Instead, he aligned with the regime and ignored the legitimate demands of his own people. Rather than advocate for negotiation, he stood silently as peaceful protesters were arrested and brutalized. His name was later featured among the lead actors of the infamous so-called “Major National Dialogue”—a staged event whose conclusions lacked legitimacy and whose process ignored the suffering on the ground. Ghogomu’s role, in the end, proved insignificant. Today, as his people are murdered in broad daylight, he remains a bystander—silent, distant, and irrelevant.

And then there is Professor Diane Acha Morfaw, another academic whose legal credentials once inspired hope. Rather than stand as a custodian of integrity, she has instead chosen to become an accessory to electoral fraud. As a senior member of ELECAM, her name has been linked to scandalous reports of carrying pre-filled ballots and facilitating fraudulent electoral outcomes that prop up the very regime killing her people. Her amorous proximity to powerful men in Yaoundé has shielded her from scrutiny while elevating her beyond merit. Once a symbol of academic promise, she now represents an affront to Anglo-Saxon legal and electoral tradition. Her presence in the electoral commission is not just unfortunate—it is insulting.

These individuals have one thing in common: they have chosen proximity to power over loyalty to their people. They have become defenders of a narrative that says unity with oppression is better than resistance with dignity. Their homes are secure. Their children are abroad. Their careers are intact. And they show off their status as if privilege were a sign of merit, not complicity.

But history teaches us a painful lesson: collaborators are always remembered—not for their wealth, but for their betrayal. They will not be honored in Ambazonian memory. They will not be celebrated in future textbooks. Their names will be footnotes of caution, not celebration.

As President Dr. Samuel Ikome Sako has declared, there will be no compromise on Ambazonia’s sovereignty. This is not a campaign for ministerial reshuffling. It is a liberation struggle for a people who refuse to be erased. The Ambazonian people will carry this struggle to its logical and irreversible end—with or without the approval of those who have traded nationhood for convenience.

To the youth, to the exiles, to the families in the camps and the freedom fighters on the ground: know your enemies. They do not only wear uniforms. Some wear suits. Some speak your dialect. Some once taught you in class or helped you win scholarships. But today, they serve a system designed to destroy you.

Ambazonia will rise—not because of them, but despite them.

—Ali Dan Ismael
Editor-in-Chief, The Independentist