Soon, the truth will walk free again. When that day arrives, every word spoken by those who distorted it will become evidence. Every deed they tried to hide will stand exposed. And every life taken in darkness will be named in the light. The present may belong to the regime. But the future belongs to the truth. And the future is coming.
By The Independentist — Editorial Desk
There are moments in history when silence becomes complicity. In the land called Cameroon, silence has become policy. Truth has been under sedation for decades, held down by force, fear, and the monopoly of a single narrative.
When Minister Paul Atanga Nji appeared on television to comment on the sudden death of Anicet Ekane, he spoke with the confidence of a man who believes he owns truth itself. He claimed Christian charity, he displayed satisfaction, and he controlled the story from beginning to end. Ekane lay dead in a morgue, unable to respond. The regime tells the story. The people must accept it. That is the rule.
It did not begin with Ekane. It will not end with him. When Bishop Balla was found dead, it was the regime that explained the death. When journalist Samuel Wazizi was tortured to death and his body disappeared, it was the regime that gave the narrative. When the Bepanda 9 vanished, the regime told the story. When schoolchildren were massacred in Kumba, it was the regime that decided what happened. When families were slaughtered in Ngarbuh, the regime alone decided which “truth” would be allowed to exist.
Truth has not been absent in Cameroon. It has been imprisoned. It has been gagged. It has been declared illegal. For more than forty years, one version of reality has been force-fed to the people. A single voice announces who is innocent and who is guilty, who deserves to live and who must die. Atanga Nji represents that system perfectly. In him, power has no restraint. He is the accuser. He is the judge. He is the messenger. He is the executioner. He speaks for a state that fears only one thing: the truth that refuses to die.
Every dictatorship believes it can bury facts alongside its victims. But truth has a stubborn way of rising from the places where power thinks it buried it. It lives in the memories of grieving mothers. It survives in the testimonies of those who escape the dungeons. It breathes in the questions children ask when they see soldiers patrol their streets. Cameroon has become a place where truth has been treated as an enemy for so long that lies now wear the uniform of authority. But even a coma can end. Even silence can be broken.
The death of Anicet Ekane is another entry in a long ledger of human lives erased under suspicious circumstances. What terrifies the system is not the investigation. It is the possibility that one day, Cameroonians will no longer accept only the story handed to them by the same hands that shed the blood. History has taught us one consistent lesson: falsified narratives collapse the moment the oppressed find their voices. And everywhere today, voices are rising.
One day soon, the truth will walk free again. When that day arrives, every word spoken by those who distorted it will become evidence. Every deed they tried to hide will stand exposed. And every life taken in darkness will be named in the light. The present may belong to the regime. But the future belongs to the truth. And the future is coming.
The Independentist editorial desk.
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