By
Jude Abanseka
His Lordship George Nkuo, Bishop of Kumbo Diocese in
the North West Region (one of the restive regions in Cameroon following the
escalation of the Anglophone crisis), was Saturday August 24 abducted by armed
separatist fighters aka “Amba Boys”.
The President of the Bamenda Provincial
Episcopal Conference BAPEC was returning to Kumbo from Bamenda after rounding
off the 67th Ordinary Meeting of BAPEC that grouped all the Bishops
of Anglophone Cameroon. Reports say the incident occurred at Sar Kong Wainamah
from where the Kumbo Prelate was whisked off towards Kikaikom.
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| Bishop George Nkuo |
Mgr. George Nkuo was in the company of some priests
and religious. His abductors clearly targeted only him as they ordered his
companions to continue their journey.
All hell thus broke loose in Kumbo shortly after news
of the abduction of the Chief shepherd reach the diocese. Some Priests,
Religious and Christ’s lay faithful overcame fear and decided to storm Kikaikom
to demand the immediate release of their bishop. The Christians could not take
it any longer given that two priests had been abducted in same Kikaikom (with
one of them held for over 5 days) some two weeks before Bishop Nkuo met his
ordeal. It was around Nyaro, that the group was asked not to go any further
because the Bishop had been released.
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| Christians marching to go release their prelate |
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| Bishop NKuo taken back to meet his people |
More Christians and other well-wishers had reportedly
joined the group by the time the Bishop arrived on a motorbike looking
physically very healthy and strong. Bishop Nkuo greeted and thanked all who had
come in search of him and blessed them before leaving for his house about 2:20
p.m. The happy crowd returned to Tobin Parish in song and dance.
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| Blessing his people |
Talking to AJ Scrolls the next day, Bishop George Nkuo
disclosed that what provoked his abduction was the sermon he delivered in Kumbo
Cathedral August 15, Feast of the Assumption. The said homily apparently did
not go down well with some separatists activists/fighters. A video excerpt of
the sermon went viral on social media, sparking criticisms from separatists
demanding for the independence of Ambazonia; a virtual state referring to the
two Anglophone regions of Cameroon.
One of the activists of the restoration of the independence
of Southern Cameroons, aka Ambazonia, John Mbah Akuro, released a video
following the August 15th sermon in which he accused the Catholic Church
in general and the Bishop of Kumbo in particular for having been bribed by the
Cameroon government to water down their struggle for independence. In the
sermon, Bishop George Nkuo “called on all who have lost the sense of the
sacredness of life, on all who are not giving a chance to the young, poor and
helpless children to go back to school to drop” their weapons of hatred and
stop all acts that dehumanize people. He also mentions in the sermon that
people get kidnapped for expressing their views and he knows he is not an
exception. Mgr. George Nkuo also regretted that “innocent people have been
brutally killed, a lot of people have lost their homes and property; violence
and all forms of torture and cruelty have become so common that it is beginning
to be considered normal to kill, to torture, to extort and to ask for ransom”. He said he was talking on behalf of the
voiceless
and the suffering people of Kumbo. This is the second time in exactly two
months that a prelate is being abducted by the Amba Boys. In June it was the
turn of the Archbishop of Bamenda, His Grace Cornelius Fontem Esua was abducted
on his way back from a pastoral visit to Esu Parish.
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