MILLAN ATAM, the profile under scrutiny
By The Editorial Desk – The Independentist
Once presented to the world as a tireless advocate for the rights of Southern Cameroonians, Millan Atam, co-founder of the Southern Cameroons Ambazonia Consortium United Front (SCACUF) and later associated with the Southern Cameroons Alliance, now sits at the centre of one of the darkest mysteries of the Ambazonian liberation struggle—the abduction and rendition of President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and nine members of his cabinet from Abuja, Nigeria, in January 2018.
Touted as a strategic mobiliser, Atam rose to prominence alongside Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, forging international pathways and diplomatic connections for the fledgling resistance. But beneath the activism lies an unresolved trail of contradictions, disappearance, and suspicion—particularly concerning his whereabouts and actions leading up to the Nera Hotel arrests.
When the new government was formed under Dr Samuel Ikome Sako and they started investigating what really happened, Millan Atam was approached to give evidence. He stonewalled and was immediately fired from the government as much was expected from him as he was forunner to the Nerra meeting.
THE UNANSWERED QUESTIONS ABOUT NERA
To this day, Millan Atam has failed to publicly and transparently account for what transpired around the time of the Nera 10’s arrest—a leadership decapitation that changed the trajectory of the Ambazonian revolution.
He has claimed he was delayed in Kigali, en route to join the meeting in Abuja. But multiple credible sources and subsequent investigations have found no evidence of a Kigali transit. On the contrary, it is strongly alleged that Millan was already in Nigeria days before the arrest—yet he was absent from the crucial meeting.
Even more troubling, he later said he arrived at the hotel the next morning, saw no one, and assumed that the leaders may have overslept due to drinking—despite knowing well that many of them are devout and abstain from alcohol.
He then claimed to have seen Nigerian security agents asking about him and simply walked away unharmed. But this raises urgent questions:
If security agents were already at the hotel looking for Ambazonian leaders, how did he know they were not coming for him too
Why did he not alert the community, the diaspora, or Nigerian lawyers immediately
Why did he not raise an international alarm or mobilise human rights groups in real time
Even worse, he later sued some of the same abducted leaders, further deepening suspicions that he had a role in orchestrating their arrest or at minimum, that he benefitted from it.
May he use the secret Zoom meeting on Saturday July 19th to answer these questions, because The Independentist and The Voice of Ambazonia have received their secret invitation and will certainly be there.
SPECIFIC QUESTIONS FOR MR MILLAN ATAM
Where exactly were you between January 3 and January 6, 2018? Were you in Nigeria, and if so, why were you not with the delegation
Why did you falsely claim to transit through Kigali when records suggest otherwise
If you were truly delayed and not involved, why did you later allege that the leaders were drunk and had a hangover? On what basis did you make such a damaging assumption
How did you witness Nigerian security officers asking about you at the hotel, yet simply walk away? Why would they spare you
Why did you not inform the Ambazonian public immediately after the disappearance of our leaders, and instead remain silent for crucial days
Why did you not lead the international outcry or immediately report their kidnapping to Amnesty International, the UNHCR, or even Nigerian human rights lawyers
Why did you later sue the same leaders who were abducted and rendered to La Republique du Cameroun
What changed between your one-year break from activism in late 2017 and your sudden trip to Nigeria in early January 2018
Did you meet with any Nigerian or Cameroonian government officials during your time in Nigeria? If so, who were they and what was discussed
Can you provide your immigration travel records from January 1 to 15, 2018 to prove your claims
A STRUGGLE SOLD
If these questions remain unanswered, the shadow of betrayal will continue to hang over Millan Atam, no matter how many new alliances or zoom meetings he hosts under poetic slogans. The Ambazonian people are no longer swayed by empty rhetoric. We demand truth, accountability, and clarity.
As the liberation war enters its defining phase, history will remember not only those who stood for freedom but those who, through action or omission, endangered its most precious torchbearers.
From the Editorial desk
