STATEMENT BY THE INTERIM GOVERNMENT ON FAKE NEWS PROPAGATED BY SOME FRENCH CAMEROON SPONSORED MEDIA OUTLETS.
The Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia condemns the continuous falsehood propagated by pay-to-play media outlets sponsored by French Cameroon ( La Republique du Cameroun. The news story captioned "Amba fighters invade Nigeria, kill over 20 in Cross River State” published by The Guardian Post Daily with headquarters in Mvolye Yaoundé on May 31, 2022, is not only false but intended to tarnish the reputation of our valiant organised Restoration Forces ( ARF) as well as provoke neighbouring Nigeria to review its policy to the disadvantage of our liberation quest.
However, news outlets in Nigeria are debunking this allegation. In The Guardian, a Nigerian publication of May 30, 2022, the Police Command in Cross River State referred to the allegation as a “spurious and subversive claim”. The Command through its Public Relations Officer, Irene Ugbo in a statement advised residents to disregard the claims. Below is an excerpt from The Guardian Post on the matter:
“The Command hereby advises members of the public to disregard this information currently trending on social media platforms, as it is subversive.
“Measures are being taken to review the source of this distasteful information intended to spread fear and panic,” Ugbo said in the statement.
“Consequent upon the above, the Police Command hereby warns the respective bloggers/online operators to always cross-check facts from established authorities before sending such unverified information for public consumption.
“Finally, the Police Command is resolute in discharging her statutory functions in collaboration with other sister agencies to keep the state peaceful and safe at all times.”
In another news outlet called Punch, the same allegation was discredited. Additionally, we have learned that more than 500 refugees from Ambazonia have fled into the Bashu Community in Boki LGA. We don’t know if this is a result of the allegations but we intend to investigate the source of this outrageous claim. In the meantime, we hope that UNHCR will provide some assistance to our displaced refugees.
With regards to the claim, It should be noted that Ambazonia is home to over half a million Nigerians and we have never attacked any since the beginning of the war with La Republique du Cameroun. Presently, there are more than 60,000 registered Ambazonian refugees, as well as hundreds of thousands of others, unregistered in Nigeria. These refugees are our grandparents, parents, brothers, sisters, and children and there’s absolutely no rationale for any of our ARF to attack those who have provided our desperate and embattled people a temporary haven away from Ambazonia.
We call on the Nigerian Government to investigate this matter thoroughly so that justice can be served. It should be recalled that an attack carried out on the people of Taraba state in November 2021 was prematurely attributed to "separatist forces" but further investigations pointed to Paul Biya's genocidal forces (BIR) of French Cameroon( La Republique du Cameroun) as the perpetrators of the attack resulting in deaths.
The intention of the enemy, French Cameroon in planning and carrying out raids and killings in neighbouring Nigerian localities, is to induce the Federal Government of Nigeria to take a more aggressive policy towards our liberation struggle to the advantage of the enemy.
Once more, we want to reassure the Federal Government of Nigeria and the peace-loving people of Nigeria that our liberation forces, the ARF have no interest whatsoever, in attacking any neighbouring locality in Nigeria. We continue to appreciate the hospitality of the people of Nigeria towards our refugees.
We are also grateful to the Nigerian Press for sharing our story in the past few months. We hope they continue to do so, for the sake of truth and justice, especially at this time when the worst genocide so far in the 21st century, is being classified as the least covered by the international media.
Read, ratified, and signed by
Martin Mungwa PhD, F.ASCE
Secretary Of State - Department of Communication and IT
Federal Republic of Ambazonia
