Maurice KAMTO, Cameroonian political leader statement on the murder of a Cameroonian journalist, MARTINEZ ZOGO in Yaoundé
4 min readThe rumour is now, unfortunately, reality. MARTINEZ ZOGO was kidnapped and then murdered! They dared to do it! They dared to defy the people, since MARTINEZ ZOGO was, in his own way, the representative of the people in the media, notwithstanding what we might think about him. In fact, the numbers of listeners of his programme “EMBOUTEILLAGES” in taxis, households, markets, kiosks, etc. testified sufficiently to his popularity. He was provocative and sometimes annoying, but he was in a way the barometer of a suffering people, crushed by their own leaders entangled in the race for the conservation of power at any cost and in the grabbing of the public wealth.
To the family of this compatriot who was monstrously snatched from his life, I send my deepest condolences and the expression of my compassion, as well as that of the CRM militants and sympathisers.
MARTINEZ ZOGO was not a friend of the MRC. Far from it! But we respected his choices, his choice of words and his zeal. However, without perhaps realising it, he was waging some of our battles: the protection of public wealth. As a result, without probably realising it, like the CRM leaders, militants and sympathisers, he had become an objective target for the mafia clans nestled at the heart of the CPDM regime and engaged in a battle to the death for the conservation of power and the succession by mutual agreement at the top of the State, due to the incapacity, now observed, of the president of the Republic in office, crushed by the weight of a venerable age (90 years old in a couple of days – excuse the pun!) MARTINEZ ZOGO was thus finally savagely murdered on the same battlefield as Rodrigue NDAGUEHO KOUFET, who died in the New Bell prison as a result of medical negligence. Along with hundreds of his comrades, he had been arbitrarily arrested, severely tortured, and illegally condemned, because he and his comrades were peacefully demanding, among other things, an audit of the kleptocratic management of the TOTAL AFCON 2019.
The staging of the kidnapping and atrocities inflicted on MARTINEZ ZOGO is part of a clear logic: to terrorise Cameroonians and to make them surrender. To traumatise those who might be tempted to ask questions about the management of public funds. With his murder, the clans and mafia gangs wanted to make a show of force, a real staging of what they would be ready to do to Cameroonians who might be tempted to oppose, even peacefully, the materialisation of their infamous project of handing over power by mutual agreement or its illegitimate monopolisation.
Should we simply accept to be all murdered like MARTINEZ ZOGO? The answer is of course no! The People of Change, Democrats of all political persuasions, civil society, Cameroonians at large must stand up against political barbarism and the gangs that orchestrate it! WE ARE ALL MARTINEZ ZOGO! LET US FIRMLY DEMAND THAT THOSE LEADERS WHO STILL HAVE A REMNANT OF HUMANITY BRING TO JUSTICE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE THE TORTURERS OF MARTINEZ ZOGO, THEIR ACCOMPLICES AND THEIR SPONSORS. THEY OWE IT TO THE CHILDREN, THE WIDOW, THE NUCLEAR FAMILY, THE PROFESSIONAL FAMILY OF MARTINEZ ZOGO. THEY OWE IT TO CAMEROONIANS AND NON-CAMEROONIANS, WHO HERE AND ELSEWHERE, DEMAND JUSTICE FOR MARTINEZ ZOGO. THOSE WHO ORDERED, CARRIED OUT, AIDED AND ABETTED AND BENEFITED FROM THE BARBARIC AND VILLAINOUS MURDER OF MARTINEZ ZOGO MUST FACE THE HUMAN GAZE BECAUSE THEY ARE NO LONGER HUMAN.
The fate of the investigation in this case, which shows that the mafia has taken control of the State of Cameroon, should not resemble that of other assassinations such as those of journalists WAZIZI and BIBI NGOTA, Bishop Benoît BALLA, the sisters of Djoum, Bishop PLUMET, Father MVENG, Abbot MBASSI, Bar. NGONGO OTTOU, Bar. BOPDA, and so on.
I urge the family of MARTINEZ ZOGO not to despair and to believe in the future of our dear country, despite the agony of suffering in which they have been plunged by lawless clans and gangs. For Cameroon will rise from the death that is being mercilessly inflicted upon.
Done in Yaoundé on 24 January 2023
Maurice KAMTO
CRM National President
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Berinyuy Cajetan is the founder and publisher of Human Rights and Legal Research Centre (HRLRC) since 2017. He has intensive experience in strategic communications for Civil Society Organizations, campaign and advocacy, and social issues. He has an intensive experiencing in human rights monitoring, documentation and reporting.
