Cameroon : Unveiling the Betrayal: The Shocking Truth Behind John Fru Ndi’s Final Days and the SDF’s Struggle for Justice

The founder of the Social Democratic Front (SDF), John Fru Ndi popularly called the « chairman », died last 12 June 2023 at the age of 81 in Cameroon’s political capital, Yaounde.

Fru Ndi had once been a staunch militant of Cameroon’s ruling party until he founded the SDF in 1990. He was elected as SDF »s national chairman at its first extraordinary national convention, held in Bamenda-Cameroon in May 1992.

Regarded as the father of multi-party politics in Cameroon, Fru Ndi achieved numerous exploits before sharing a common meal with dictator and gerontocrat Paul Biya and his ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM).

In the 1992 Presidential elections, Chairman made a strong showing against dictator and gerontocrat Paul Biya, losing 36% of the votes against a highly contested Paul Biya’s 40%. This led to Fru Ndi suffering a one-month house arrest in October 1992 at his Ntarinkon’s residence in the Bamenda neighbourhood.

The Betrayal process started when Fru Ndi and the SDF denied showing up for the 1997 municipal and legislative elections. This was sanctioned by a drop in his popularity in the 2004 Presidential elections where he officially registered a 17.40% vote count as against an over 70% for Paul Biya. Since then leading up to his death on 12 June 2023, Fru Ndi’s opinions had always counted less in political issues.

He was despised by the Ambazonian separatist fighters who treated him as a traitor to the extent of burning down his Ntarinkon’s residence on 19 April 2019 and later kidnapping him and his brother before releasing them a week later.

At the level of the SDF party, his unflinching support for SDF’s candidate, Joshua Osih at the 2018 presidential elections was not only contested at the level of the party but by the entire opposition family. Joshua Osih is said to be a very good friend to the dictator and gerontocrat Paul Biya’s son Frank Emmanuel Biya, who is today listed as his father’s successor at Camerooon’s presidency of the Republic.

A few SDF revolutionary militants like; Jean Michel Nitcheu, Jean Robert Wafo, and Barrister Moustapha Ngouana who attempted to contest Fru Ndi’s decisions were regularly threatened with being expelled from the party.

Many SDF militants and Cameroonians in general hope that peace will return to the SDF PARTY after Fru Ndi’s funeral service in his Baba II native village in the North West region of Cameroon on July 2023.

Yomkil Kana

Camerooon