Joe Dinga Pefok (Uncle Joe)
Even, A Senior Member Of Gov’t, LAURENT ESSO, Minister of State In charge of Justice And Former SG At The Presidency, Publicly Questioned The Credibility Of Some Of The “High Instructions” That Come From The Presidency These Days. State Owned Media Organs, Cameroon Tribune And CRTV, Have Respectively Been Victims Of Fake “High Instruction” And “Fake Presidential Decree”.
In the last few years, Cameroonians have increasing been having doubts about the veracity, authenticity or credibility of correspondences or documents allegedly written or signed on the ‘High Instruction” or “High Accord” of the President of the Republic. President Biya who officially hit 93 years of age on February 13, 2026, has indisputably been naturally weakened by age. Apparently, some of the President’s close collaborators, have either been observed or suspected, to have viciously been taking advantage of the President’s situation, to fraudulently use his name falsely, to do certain things for their selfish interests.
Justice Minister, Laurent Esso, Denounce Fake ‘High Instructions”
In 2024, a senior member of Government, Laurent Esso, Minister of State in charge of Justice and Keeper of the Seals, and who is as a former Secretary General at the Presidency, openly declared in a public presentation, that not all the “High Instructions” that come from the Presidency these days, are genuine, true or credible. As the senior minister put it, there are now also “False High Instructions”. There was no doubt that Minister Laurent Esso, a magistrate by training, was taking a jab at the Minister of State, Secretary General at the Presidency, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, who many Cameroonians think is abusing the power of the “High Instruction” that President Biya delegated to him in the February 5, 2019 Presidential Decree, by using it for his personal and selfish interest. But if a senior member of Government, more so the Minister of Justice could publicly declare that there are now false of fake “High Instruction”, it shows the gravity of the situation.
An Example Of A Fake ‘High Instruction’
Talking about the Minister of Justice, Laurent Esso, The Mentor News knows the case of a fake “High Instruction” that the minister discovered in that 2024. There was a case between the National President of the PCRN, Hon Cabral Libii Ngue, and the former National President of the party, Pa Robert Kona, who was sponsored by some ‘big guns’ of the regime, to destabilize the party, and frustrate Cabral Libii in particular. It was a revenge operation, for a video which Hon Cabral Libii recorded and posted on social media, denouncing the scandal that is commonly known in the country as ‘Olembe Gate’. Pa Kona was being used to try to seize back the PCRN from Cabral Libii and the others, after he had in 2019 signed documents and made public declarations, and handed over the party to Cabral Libii and his group.
When those big shots of the regime who were backing Pa Kona saw that things were not going well for him in court, following the tons of concrete evidences that Cabral Libii and the Executive Committee of PCRN presented, a purported ‘High Instruction’, was secretly sent from Yaounde to the local administration in Garoua, to get the President of the Court of First Instance (Magistrate Court) that was handling the case, to ensure that the ruling on the matter went in favour of Pa Kona. The SDO of Benoue immediately met the President of the Court of First Instance Garoua, with the message of “High Instruction”.
The President of the Court on his part decided to inform his boss, precisely the Minister of Justice, Laurent Esso. The minister dismissed the “High Instruction ‘as false or fake. He said he did not want to know about the details of the case, but insisted to the President of the Court of First Instance Garoua, that they should examine their consciences and deliver nothing but a fair judgment on the matter. He assured them that nothing would happen to them, for having done their job rightly. The Justice Minister also noted that even if there had to be a genuine ‘High Instruction’ on the case, it would be directed to him and not to judges in the field.
SOPECAM Boss Found Herself In Trouble For Respecting A Fake ‘High Instruction”
Meanwhile in the same 2024, Madam Marie Claire Nnana, the General Manager of the State owned SOPECAM, Publisher of Cameroon Tribune and others, found herself in hot waters, when one of President Biya ‘s close collaborators in the Civil Cabinet at the Presidency (not Mvondo Ayolo), who is a bosom friend of FECAFOOT President, Samuel Eto’o Fils, misled her with a false ‘High Instruction’ by the President of the Republic. That was at the height of the conflict that Eto’o had with the Minister of Sports and Physical Education, Prof Narcisse Mouelle Kombi, as to whose list of Technical Staffs of the National Football Team, President Biya approved.
The General Manager of SOPECAM was contacted late one evening, and told that on ‘High Instruction’, President Biya had put an end to the cacophony that was going on, by instructing that the list of the President of FECAFOOT be the one to be validated by Government. It meant President Biya had rejected the list of his Minister of Sports.
It was one of the stories on the front page of Cameroon Tribune the next morning. But then it soon turned out that the information was false, as no ‘High Instruction ‘, had been given by President Biya on the issue. The Board of Directors of SOPECAM was embarrassed, and the Board Chair, Joseph Le, a journalist by training who is also the current Minister of Public Service, demanded for an explanation from the General Manager of SOPECAM. Rumour also emerged that the Board of Directors of SOPECAM, was about to hold an emergency meeting to sack the General Manager, Marie Claire Nnana. The General Manager who is said to be close to the presidential couple, quickly addressed a correspondence to the President of the Republic, crying out that she was about to be sacked, and pleaded for the President’s protection. That was how she was saved.
In fact there have been many cases of fake ‘High Instructions’ these day by President Biya’s close collaborators, as he increasingly loses control of power due to his physical and mental weakness caused by his much advanced age. A couple of weeks ago, the National President of ‘Les Liberateurs’ Party, Prof Olivier Bile, filed a petition at the Constitutional Council, demanding that Paul Biya should be relieved of the function of President of the Republic, arguing that the President’s much advanced age has made him lack the mental and physical capacity to run the country. But the Constitutional Council said it did not have the competence to handle such a case.
Fake Presidential Decrees From The Presidency
With President Biya increasingly in a weak situation, things have been degenerating to a point where, some of his close collaborators are exploiting the situation to come out with fake presidential degrees in his name. It would be recalled that a couple of months ago, The Mentor News reported about a fake presidential decree that came out of the Presidency on a Friday, and was read over State owned CRTV, which thought that it was authentic. But it turned out, a few days later, to be a fake. In that fake presidential decree, Bamenda based business tycoon, Bochong El Hadj Lawan Bako, was replaced as member of the Board of Administrators of the National Hydrocarbon Corporation commonly known as SNH.
But the octogenarian and long serving General Manager of SNH, Adolphe Moudiki, a longtime personal friend of President Biya, suspected that there was foul play. The President of the Republic, who has over the years always respected the official procedure in appointing a Board member of SNH, did not do so this time around. It should be noted that Moudiki as General Manager of SNH, is also one of the personalities in the country that has access to President Biya’s direct line. And so he got to President Biya the next day which was a Saturday, to find out about the presidential decree. But it turned out that President Biya instead learnt but from Moudiki, about the so called presidential decree. The long and short of it, was that President did not sign anything like that. In fact President Biya did not sign a presidential decree the whole of that week.
But the fact is that, if the General Manager of SNH, Adolphe Moudiki, was not somebody that has direct access to President Biya, nobody would have discovered that the presidential decree, was fake.
