Tuesday January 14th 2020, shocking news went viral online as a 15 years old form three students stabbed his mathematics teacher to death.

The shocking incident happened at GHS Ngolbisonn in the nation’s political capital Yaoundé and the cause of the attack is not yet known.

The deadly school attack has forced the secondary education minister prof. Nalova Lyong to abort her Douala trip as reports say she is heading back to Yaoundé to get first-hand information with respect to the despicable attack which is becoming common in our secondary schools

The gruesome attack is the second in her tenure as secondary education minister after a similar incident in Douala in 2019 where a student stabbed his friend to dead at a very popular public secondary school in the economic capital, Douala.

The Douala incident shocked the city as well as the nation, as politicians and government ministers trooped into Lycee Deido after the deadly incident. Public health minister sanctioned some medical officials of the Deido district hospital for unprofessionally sharing images of the stabbed student online. But the questions remains, how safe are our schools and what measures have been taking by government to prevent further attacks

How safe are our schools

This second attack by 15 years old has once again raised serious questions about the safety in our schools. Increased Drug addiction in big cities mean schools are no longer safe and incidents like these begs the questions about what the state is dong to ensure safety in schools

Government has often been accused and rightly so of reacting to situations rather than taking preventive measures and this latest stabbing will give more munitions to the firepower of its critics. Why the cause of the attack remains unknown, many are already asking so many questions
How do students with deadly weapons have access to school premises most of which have security checks?

What measures were taken after the Deido attack to prevent future attacks in school?
What was the motive of the previous attack and what measures were taken to prevent future attacks?

As the questions keep coming, many will be hoping that a broad based security policy in implemented in schools across the country to prevent such deadly attacks in future. Basic security measures such as
Security personnel at entry points

Security cameras to monitor all areas outside and within

Blast-mitigation window film

Metal detectors for all students and teachers and many more can help prevent such reckless loss of human lives in the hands of rogue individuals

The first bi-annual Conference of Regional Governors in Cameroon opened on Monday, January 13, 2020 in Yaounde at the city’s council hall.

This was presided over by the Cameroon’s Minister of Territorial Administrations Paul Atanga Nji.

The meeting rallied all the governors from the ten regions, their collaborators, the Secretary of State in Charge of National Gendarmarie and the Delegate General for National Security.

Top on the agenda wwas the forthcoming twin elections scheduled for February 9th 2020 and the security situation in the restive Anglophone regions albeit calm and serenity.

During the meeting, Minister Atanga Nji says those boycotting the elections are simply exercising their constitutional rights and privileges even as he regrets their decision

However, the MINAT boss wares no time to issue a stern warning to those calling for elections boycott in what appears to be a red line, saying they will face the full weight of the government.

“What we can never accept or tolerate are statements like: I will not participate in the elections and I will do everything possible to stop other Cameroonians from exercising their civic right. That is when the State will display its might against whoever shall attempt to create disorder before, during and after the twin elections. Regardless of their social status, trouble makers shall be dealt with firmly and squarely in accordance with the laws of the Republic” he dates

Minister Atanga Nji continued without evidence to statethat those calling for elections boycott are not even up to 0.0075% of the national electorate.

In a rare moment of spiritual inspirational within government circles the minister quoted from St Pauls letter to the Romans 13:1-5 which credits submitting to authority as it is given by God and equally talked about punishment from those who go against hierarchy

In his general message, he was forcefully optimistic that all will be well as far as elections and security issues are concerned in Cameroon.

The seminar also saw presentations from national security and national Gendermarie bosses.

It was a betrayal many described as shocking and heavy blow for the Ambazonian cause when former fighter “General” Nambere left the struggle to join forces with the government to help end the crisis. He was one of the highest profile defectors at the time.

TeboPost CEO described Nambere as an intelligence goldmine in an article published on this platform, saying his defection will provide vital information badly needed by the government to combat the separatist fighters

As one of the kingpins of the separatist fighters, Nambere was reportedly very much involved in high level decision making within the Ambazonian  circles.

His forces were active the better parts of Kupe Manenguba division and in November 2019, images flooded social media showing the former fighter dinning with some French diplomats and government officials in Yaoundé

Some activists took to social media to ridicule his defection, saying he was no longer influential on the ground, even though there have been multiple reports of infighting between Nambere and the leadership  of the Ambazonian movement for moths leading to his defection

The former Ambazonian fighter disappeared from the spotlight ever since, only to be seen among the 700 refugees who were brought back home by government from Nigeria earlier this January 2020.

On the official page of his website on  Monday January 13^th 2020, renowned activist and Ambazonian frontline social media general Mark Bareta warned all activists and fighters who had contacts with Nambere to quit immediately as the former fighter had given vital intelligence to the Cameroon and government and Nigeria governments concerning the mode of operations of the fighters.

According to Bareta, Nambere had given key information related to supply routes for weapons and munitions by their fighters as well as supplies to both Cameroon and Nigeria government

He writes “important Alert

Anyone who has dealt with Nambere before in any capacity especially in purchase of sticks and Gnuts must change numbers and locality and be extra careful. Nambere has now officially activated the Nigerian security network in collaboration with French Cameroun embassy to pick up all those he worked with to stop the flow of Gnuts. Routes of movement must also change as well as staying alert. One of us was almost picked in G1, today, if not of our intelligence, it could have been sad. Please let’s share widely”

The two English speaking regions of Cameroon have been in crisis since 2016 in what is known as the Anglophone crisis. More than 3000 persons have been killed and hundreds of villages razed as armed groups  are fighting for the restoration of their state called Ambazonia

They decry endemic discrimination by the Francophone majority and have refused any form of direct dialogue with the state without third party.

The international community has called on both sides to negotiate and find peaceful solution to the crisis

The government has given given special status to the two regions in an effort to resolve the crisis but critics say it’s not enough