“1992 must be remembered not as a hope lost—but as a warning sounded. No people should walk into the same fire twice.” Dr Samuel Sako Ikome
Re:Response to the Open Letter to the Ambazonian Separatist Groups
Issued by the Department of Communication
Federal Republic of Ambazonia
Date: 23 July 2025
To: Mr. Ndifor Richard
Subject: Clarifying the Position of the Ambazonian Government on LRC’s 2025 Elections and the Dismantling of Common Law Institutions
Dear Mr. Ndifor,
We acknowledge receipt of your open letter urging Ambazonian leaders to reconsider their longstanding position against participation in elections organized by La République du Cameroun (LRC). Your appeal, though passionately written, misdiagnoses the crisis at hand and risks misleading the people of Ambazonia at a time when clarity and conviction are urgently needed.
This is not a political disagreement over electoral strategy. This is a colonial crisis, where a foreign regime uses elections as a tool to consolidate military, legal, and psychological occupation.
Let us therefore respond, firmly and decisively, under the leadership of President Dr. Samuel Ikome Sako:
- Ambazonia is Not a Province—It is an Occupied Nation
Ambazonia, formerly known as the British Southern Cameroons, was never lawfully joined to LRC. The 1961 plebiscite offered no option of independence and violated key provisions of the UN Trusteeship system. No Treaty of Union was ever signed or registered. Therefore, Ambazonia is not seceding—it is resisting illegal annexation. - The 1992 Election Betrayal: A Historic Warning
You argue that participation in elections offers a peaceful path to change. History disagrees.
In 1992, Ni John Fru Ndi, a son of Ambazonia and leader of the SDF, won the presidential elections across both Cameroons. But instead of assuming office:
The regime stole the victory through fraud.
Fru Ndi was placed under house arrest.
Peaceful demonstrators were slaughtered.
The state tightened its grip through a revised constitution.
That was the last real challenge to Biya’s power. Over three decades later, the dictatorship remains untouched.
As President Dr. Sako warned:
“1992 must be remembered not as a hope lost—but as a warning sounded. No people should walk into the same fire twice.”
- Elections Under Occupation Are Weapons, Not Remedies
You ask us to vote while our homeland is under martial law, our communities are militarized, and thousands of our citizens are displaced, imprisoned, or murdered. This is not civic duty—it is political surrender.
Elections in Ambazonia have never brought justice. They have only served as rituals of false legitimacy, used by Yaoundé to parade its control over a people who never gave consent.
- The New 2025 Notary Decree: Another Nail in the Common Law Coffin
The most recent example of this deceit is the July 16, 2025 Presidential Decree, signed by Paul Biya, appointing “Notaires” to operate in the territory of Former West Cameroon. This action abolishes the independence and principles of the Common Law Notary Public, which is based on attestation and witnessing—not on state appointment or civil law hierarchy.
This is not just an administrative decision—it is a legal assault on Ambazonian heritage, identity, and autonomy. It violates the bicultural foundations of the so-called union and confirms what we have said all along:
LRC is not reforming—it is assimilating. It is not accommodating—it is erasing. And every election they conduct is a step further into that erasure.
We will not participate in our own legal extinction.
- Dr. Sako’s Position: Do Not Give Legitimacy to Illegality
President Dr. Samuel Ikome Sako has made it unequivocally clear:
“No Ambazonian should legitimize the structures of a foreign regime. To vote in their elections is to validate our own subjugation.”
His position reflects not only the voice of our liberation movement, but the will of our people on the ground who have consistently rejected elections in favor of resistance and restoration.
- Boycotts Are Not Apathy—They Are Political Defiance
You ask: What have boycotts achieved?
We reply: Boycotts have denied LRC the one thing it desperately craves—legitimacy in the eyes of the world. When Ambazonians stay away from the polls, they speak louder than any vote. They say:
“We do not recognize your rule, your courts, or your ballots.”
And that message echoes in Geneva, Washington, New York, and The Hague.
- The Path Forward is International Law—Not Colonial Ballots
Our government remains committed to:
Justice through the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights
Accountability through the International Criminal Court
Global advocacy through alliances with the United States, Germany, the Caribbean, and ECOWAS
Resettlement, reconstruction, and restitution through community-driven diplomacy
We are not afraid of elections.
We are simply done playing games with our chains on.
- Final Word: We Will Not Be Blindfolded Again
Mr. Ndifor, you call on Ambazonians to be strategic. But we ask: What is strategic about repeating mistakes?
1961: No treaty.
1972: Federation abolished.
1992: Fru Ndi robbed.
2025: Common Law notary system abolished.
How many more signs do we need?
We will not be blindfolded again.
This is not the time to vote.
This is the time to refuse. Resist. Remember. Rise.
And as President Sako affirmed:
“The ballot of a free people is sacred. But the ballot of a slave is a ceremony of surrender. Ambazonians shall never again vote in their chains.”
Issued by:
The Department of Communication
Federal Republic of Ambazonia
Federal Capital Territory – Buea-in-Exile
Date: 23 July 2025
