Our fathers built: A responsible Prime Ministership, A parliament with legislative authority, An independent judiciary, Civilian-centered governance, A multiparty democratic system, A peaceful political culture unmatched in the region, What we had before Foumban is precisely what many African states could not build even after independence.
By Ali Dan Ismael | Editor-in-Chief, The Independentist
History has a way of circling back to its unresolved wounds. For Southern Cameroons — today’s Ambazonia — that wound is called Foumban. Before Foumban, our nation stood with dignity among free peoples: a parliamentary democracy, a functioning civil service, a rule-of-law tradition, and a political culture rooted in accountability — all built after courageously leaving the Eastern House in Enugu to govern ourselves from Buea. But the Foumban Conference of July 1961 — branded as “constitutional dialogue” — was the political ambush that dismantled everything our leaders had built.
Today, as new forms of deception spread through the statements and manoeuvres of Issa Tchiroma Bakary, it becomes even more urgent to revisit Foumban with clarity and restore the truth that too many still refuse to confront.
THE STATE WE BUILT — THE STATE THEY DESTROYED
Southern Cameroons was not a “region.” It was a state — internationally recognized, self-governing, and constitutionally mature. Our fathers built: A responsible Prime Ministership, A parliament with legislative authority, An independent judiciary, Civilian-centered governance, A multiparty democratic system, A peaceful political culture unmatched in the region, What we had before Foumban is precisely what many African states could not build even after independence. It is this achievement — this miracle of African constitutionalism — that Fumban suffocated.
THE FOUMBAN MISCALCULATION: HOW A NATION WAS DISARMED
Foumban was sold as a negotiation between equals. It was nothing of the sort. French Cameroon arrived with: A pre-written constitution, A centralized unitary model, French military backing, A non-negotiable framework, A pre-decided future, Southern Cameroons arrived with trust. That trust was our undoing.
The result
No federation, No dual sovereignty, No legal safeguards, No international guarantor, No power-sharing mechanism, No path to enforcement, What happened at Foumban was not a constitutional bargain — it was the velvet-glove annexation of a free people.
THE COST OF FOUMBAN — SIX DECADES OF COLLAPSE
Because of the mistake at Foumban: Our parliament was abolished, Our autonomy erased, Our legal system attacked, Our identity criminalized, Our lands militarized, Our economy plundered, Our youth massacred, Our leaders jailed or exiled, Our people declared “terrorists” for demanding the restoration of their state. Foumban was not a conference. It was the burial of the State of Southern Cameroons.
THE NEW DECEIT: ISSA TCHIROMA AND THE ILLUSION OF REDEMPTION
Today, as Cameroon sinks deeper into crisis after the 2025 elections, a new narrative is being marketed — led loudly by Issa Tchiroma Bakary, the regime’s surviving propagandist. His message comes in several forms:
- “Cameroon can be reformed if the right leader emerges.” This is false. The structure born at Foumban was never designed to reform itself. A system whose legal foundation is fraud cannot produce justice.
- “Ambazonians should wait for constitutional dialogue after the transition.” This is deceit. We waited in 1961. We waited in 1972. We waited in 1990. We waited at the Tripartite Conference. We waited with the SCNC. We waited at the Grand National Dialogue. Waiting is the tool of the oppressor.
- “A new Cameroon is possible if Ambazonians return to the fold.” Return to what? A fold built on annexation? A fold where our people are killed for speaking their language? A fold whose constitution does not recognize our existence? This narrative exists to prevent restoration, not to build unity.
- “Issa Tchiroma represents a ‘bridge’ between Anglophones and Francophones.” A bridge to where? A bridge built on denial of historical truth is not a bridge — it is a trapdoor. Issa Tchiroma is not offering reconciliation. He is offering another Foumban — wrapped in modern language.
WHY SAKO’S VISION IS THE ONLY PATH THAT CORRECTS FOUMBAN
President Samuel Ikome Sako’s vision stands on the opposite side of deception.
It is rooted in:
- Restoration, not reintegration
Ambazonia cannot reform a union that never legally existed. Sako’s approach restores: Our international legal personality, Our decolonization status, Our right to statehood under UNGA Res. 1608, Our pre-Foumban autonomy
- State-building, not personality politics
Where Yaoundé offers personalities, Sako offers institutions: A structured cabinet, Accountability mechanisms, Diplomacy grounded in international law, Civilian control over self-defense forces
- A modern constitutional state
Sako’s vision echoes the Buea tradition — a nation built on: Federal balance, Institutional checks, Democratic culture, Respect for human dignity, Transparency and the rule of law. This is the anti-Foumban model.
THE BALANCED TRUTH THE WORLD MUST HEAR
This is not merely about condemning Foumban or attacking Issa Tchiroma. It is about confronting the historic lie that: “Southern Cameroons voluntarily joined Cameroon.” No such union was ever complete, No treaty was ever signed, No federal system was ever implemented, No sovereignty was ever shared. Ambazonia is not separating from Cameroon. Ambazonia is restoring itself from a fraudulent arrangement.
CONCLUSION: WHAT OUR FATHERS STARTED, OUR GENERATION MUST FINISH
The leaders who walked out of Enugu into Buea built a free nation. Foumban destroyed it. Issa Tchiroma’s narrative seeks to preserve it in its destroyed form, but Sako’s vision — grounded in legality, discipline, diplomacy, and institutional restoration — demands that Ambazonia must rise beyond: old deceptions, new manipulations, recycled regimes, and the seductive lies of political actors who benefit from our perpetual captivity.
Our fathers built a state. Foumban undermined it. Sako’s leadership aims to complete the restoration. This time, the world will not look away. And this time, Ambazonia will not be deceived again.
Ali Dan Ismael | Editor-in-Chief
