“Substituting the Native: Biya’s War on Ambazonian Identity”

General Ivo Desancio Yenwo, the loyalist that rescued the system of captivity

Editorial desk| The Independentist.

It is easy to blame Paul Biya for the woes of the Cameroons—but what if the man has long ceased to matter? What if the real story lies not in Biya’s rule, but in the invisible regime that took over after the failed coup of April 6, 1984?

That day, as tanks rolled through Yaoundé and blood stained the capital’s streets, Paul Biya was rescued from imminent death—reportedly by loyalists like General Ivo. But his rescue marked not a return to power, but the beginning of captivity. Since then, Biya has been a hostage-in-chief, a symbolic front for an entrenched, ethnicized oligarchy—the Beti-Ewondo-Bulu-Etom power clique, controlled by France and fueled by deep-seated paranoia and a lust for perpetual dominance.

Nowhere has this sinister regime unleashed more damage than in Ambazonia.

Through the carefully choreographed ideology of “Communal Liberalism”—a euphemism for ethnic engineering and elite assimilation—the Biya regime has pursued the silent genocide of Ambazonian culture. Not with machetes or bombs alone, but with more insidious tools: substitution and infiltration.

During the anti-colonial UPC uprisings, France massacred tens of thousands of Bassas and Bamilékés. In a moment of compassion and shared humanity, Ambazonia opened its arms to many survivors. Their descendants were born on Ambazonian soil, educated in Ambazonian schools, and speak English as fluently as any native. But somewhere in their political and psychological training, a switch was flipped.

Today, many of them stand as mouthpieces for Yaoundé:

PM Dion Ngute,

Ambassador Felix Mbayu,

Professors Julius Ngoh, Sylvestre Kwankam, and Ntamack,

Journalists Eric Chinje, Peter Essoka, and Mimi Mefo,

Activists like Cho Ayaba.

These are not simply “Anglophones.” They are political Francophones in English clothing—handpicked to dilute, distract, and dismantle genuine Ambazonian aspirations. Their rise was never accidental. It is strategic. They are part of the regime’s substitution project: to make the world believe that Ambazonians are “represented” when, in fact, they are being erased.

From the national broadcaster to the Commonwealth table, these voices now echo Yaoundé’s line in the Queen’s English. They are the “11th Province”—a manufactured demographic whose loyalty lies not with the people who sheltered their ancestors, but with the very system that exiled and murdered them.

This is how cultural genocide is executed in the 21st century:
Not by fire, but by fraud.
Not by silence, but by counterfeit voices.
Not by occupation alone, but by substitution.

Let it be known—we at The Independentist will not be silent.

We reject the idea that Ambazonian identity can be outsourced, replaced, or negotiated away. The struggle for restoration is not just about borders; it is about memory, dignity, and rightful representation.

As President Dr. Samuel Ikome Sako reminds us:

“We must restore Ambazonia not only with political power, but with cultural clarity. We are not lost Anglophones—we are a people. A nation. A civilization under siege, but never defeated.”

In this moment of reflection and resistance, we call on every Ambazonian—whether in the homeland or in the diaspora—to be vigilant. To know the difference between representation and substitution. Between voice and ventriloquism.

Ambazonia will rise. Not with impostors, but with its true children.

— The Editorial Desk
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