Announced Dead By The Social Media In Late October, Veteran Opposition Leader, EKANE ANICET, Finally Died In “Illegal Detention”, In The Nation’s Capital, Yaounde

Gov’t Spokesman, And Ministry Of Defence, Announce That Investigation Has Been Opened, While Arguments Spark Off Over The Issue Of EKANE’s Oxygen Extractor

Former Prime Minister, SADOU HAYATOU, Once Confided To A Journalist That In Cameroon, When The Gov’t Wants To Bury Or Kill A Dossier, It Creates A Commission Of Enquiry. Let’s Hope This One Will Be Different

 Since the rebirth of multiparty politics in Cameroon, major opposition leaders have from time to time gone through hell in the hands of the CPDM regime. Either it is physical torture (arrest and detention), mental torture, harassment, intimidation, blackmail, and all what not. But as far as The Mentor News can recall, never before, that is, since the rebirth of multiparty politics, has there been the case of an opposition leader that has died in detention.

The nightmare finally occurred in the morning of the fateful day of Monday, December 1, 2025, The National President of MANIDEM Party, 74 year old veteran politician EKANE ANICET GEORGES, who was as well one of the two leaders of Union for Change, that supported the candidature of ISSA TCHIROMA BAKARY, at the October 12, 2025 presidential election, died I at the Military Medical Centre of the National Gendarmerie in Yaounde, while in detention.

It should recall that the death of Ekane Anicet was on announced on the social media in late October, few days after his arrest and incarceration. His lawyers debunked the information as fake news.  Ekane himself, announced through a blogger that succeeded to contact him, that he was alive. He had also seized the opportunity to call on the Cameroonian people to stand firm behind Issa Tchiroma, whom he insisted won the October 12, 2025 presidential election.

MANIDEM’s Communiqué On EKane’s Arrest  

It would recalled that according to a communiqué of the MANIDEM Party, that was issued on Sunday, October 26, 2025 and signed by PAUL JAURES TINA for the Political Bureau of  the party,   the Douala  based Ekane Anicet was arrested  by the Gendarmerie ( “Groupement de  la Gendarmerie Territorial de Douala”), on Friday, October 24, 2025.  As The Mentor News reported then, it was actually Ekane who went to the Gendarmerie Station on that day, not knowing that there was a plan to arrest him.  Ekane, who was living in Douala Central town (Bonadibong), actually went to the Gendarmerie to find out about the situation of his “nephew”, who was arrested   earlier on the day.

But when Ekane arrive the Gendarmerie Office, he was instead arrested. Elements of the Gendarmerie also went to the residence of the Co – leader of the Union For Change, DJEUKAM THACHEM, at Bonaberi – Douala, and picked him up.   The Treasurer of MANIDEM, Madam TITCHIO FLORENCE AIMEE, (a teacher by profession) was also picked up. Ekane Anicet and Djeukam Tchameni were whisked off to the nation’s capital, Yaounde, and detained in a cell at the Gendarmerie Headquarters commonly known by the French acronym, SED.   As for Madam Titchio, she was first detained in Douala, before later moved to Yaounde.  Anicet Ekane, Djeukam Tchameni and Titchio Florence were all initially scheduled to appear at the office of the Examining Magistrate at the Yaounde Military Tribunal.

Poor Health Situation

Meanwhile, it was no secret that Ekane Anicet had been in poor health for quite sometimes, and had in fact been in and out of hospitals a number of times in recent years. When he was arrested and taken to Yaounde, the MANIDEM Party said his  health situation had degenerated, following the poor condition of the journey, which took some five hours in a vehicle that lacked the basic conform.  Following Ekane’s deteriorating health situation, he was moved to the Military Medical Centre Of the National Gendarmerie.

One of the major  complaints that  Ekane  and his lawyers raised during the period he  was at the Military Medical Centre  of the National Gendarmerie in Yaounde, was that they repeatedly requested or pleaded,  that he should be moved to the Yaounde Central Hospital, which is better equipped,  but the pleas received no favourable response. It is not clear as to who in the Gendarmerie was supposed to take such a decision.

Issue Of Oxygen Extractor

Also, while at the Military Medical Centre in Yaounde, Ekane and his tram of lawyers that included Barrister SIMH Emmanuel, and Barrister MELI T.B HIPPOLYTE among others, repeatedly raised the issue of Ekane’s Oxygen Extractor. The apparatus was in his vehicle that the Gendarmerie took on the day he was arrested. He was whisked off to Yaounde, leaving behind the Oxygen Extractor in his vehicle that was packed at the premises of Gendarmerie Legion. Despite their plea, the apparatus was not immediately sent to Yaounde. The reason for the long delay was not clear.  Some journalists even shamelessly went to the extent of writing that Ekane told a lie, that there was an Oxygen Extractor in his vehicle that was packed at the Gendarmerie. It should be noted that Ekane’s driver, NJOYA HAROUNA, who drove the car to the Gendarmerie Station on that October 24 that he was arrested, is also on detention at the New Bell Prison. The reason for his detention is not clear.

Barrister Meli Wrote To Littoral Gendarmerie Legion Commander On Nov. 15, To Complain About Ekane’s Oxygen Extractor

Meanwhile, Barrister HIPPOLYTE MELI TAKOUANG, who was the lead legal counsel or defense lawyer of Ekane Anicet Georges, actually addressed a correspondence dated November 15, 2025, to the Littoral Legion Commander of the Gendarmerie, on the issue of Ekane’s Oxygen Extractor. In the correspondence, Barrister Meli, on behalf of his other colleagues, expressed disappointment to the Legion Commander, that their client, Ekane Anicet, was being deprived of his Oxygen Extractor, which he asserted, “is an important treatment apparatus, necessary to maintain our client’s alive”.

Barrister Meli disclosed in the correspondence that somebody was sent to meet the Gendarmerie Legion Commander at his office in Douala on November 13, 2025 to collect the Oxygen Extractor which was in Ekane’s vehicle, but that the person who he apparatus on  the backseat of the vehicle, could not collect it, as he could not meet the Legion Commander, even though he was in the office. The lawyer said the Legion Commander told his secretary to tell the person to come later, without giving any specific time. He called on the Legion Commander to take urgent measures to ensure that the Oxygen Extractor got to their client at the Military Medical Centre of the National Gendarmerie in Yaounde

Meanwhile, one week  before Ekane passed away, precisely on November 22,  his lawyer, Meli, announced in social media post that some gendarmes finally brought the Oxygen Extractor to Ekane at the Military Medical Centre on that day, and asked him to sign a ‘decharge’, which he did. The lawyer said that the medical officers at the Military Medical Centre examined the Oxygen Extractor and said it was in good condition. However, Ekane and his lawyers had decided that the artificial respirator should better be taken elsewhere for proper examination. It is not known whether by the time of Ekane’s death, he had started using the Oxygen Extractor.

“The Oxygen Extractor Was Never Confiscated By The Gendarmerie”   

Meanwhile, following the death of Ekane Anicet, some persons on the social media acting in the defence of the Littoral Gendarmerie Legion, are fighting back desperately, to try to dismiss as spurious, the allegation that Ekane’s Oxygen Extractor was confiscated by the Gendarmerie in Douala. . According to some postings by the ‘defense lawyers’ of the Littoral Gendarmerie Legion, on the social media,  the Gendarmerie Legion did  not even know that Ekane’s Oxygen Extractor was on  the backseat of his vehicle, until when Barrister Meli addressed a correspondence to the Legion Commander on the issue, which they claimed he received on  November 20.  According to post, the Littoral Gendarmerie Legion Commander in the morning of November 22, sent a team to the New Bell Prison in Douala, to bring Ekane’s driver, to search the vehicle for the Oxygen Extractor. They say when the driver found it, the Legion Commander immediately dispatch a team of Gendarmerie officers to Yaounde, to handover the apparatus to Ekane. They posted on the social media a copy of the ‘decharge’ that Ekane Anicet signed when he received the Oxygen Extractor, without stating how they got the ‘decharge’.

The social media defenders of the Gendarmerie, also claim that the Military Medical Centre of the National Gendarmerie in Yaounde, gave Ekane a bigger and better Oxygen Extractor when he was admitted at the health facility, and that Ekane in reality did not need his own Oxygen Extractor  while as the Medical Centre.  But the content of the correspondence by the lead defense lawyer of Ekane, Barrister Meli, addressed to the Littoral Legion Commander of the National Gendarmerie on November 15, did not suggest that Ekane was given another Oxygen Extractor at the Military Medical Centre of the National Gendarmerie in Yaounde. Whatever the case, it is hope that the result of the investigation that has been opened, on the circumstances of the death of Ekane Anicet in custody, will throw light on this important issue of Ekane’s Oxygen Extractor that was allegedly confiscated.

Ministry Of Defense Says Investigation Has Been Opened Into Ekane’e Death

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defence under which the National Gendarmerie falls, issued a communiqué on that fateful day of Monday, December 1, 2025, that Ekane Anicet died.  In the communiqué that was signed by the Head of the Communication Service at the Ministry of Defence, Navy Captain ATONFACK GUEMO CYRILLE SERGE.  The communiqué stated that Ekane Anicet died at the Military Medical Centre of the Gendarmerie in Yaounde, on that fateful December 1, from sickness. It was stated that Ekane was arrested in Douala on October 24, and 2025 placed on judicial detention, as investigations opened on a number of “serious faults”  for which he was being accused, and which falls within the competence of the military tribunal.

As regard Ekane’s health situation, the communiqué of the Ministry of Defence said he suffered from diverse and chronic health issues, and that since his admission at the Military Medical Centre, he was properly or appropriately taken care of by the medical personnel. The communiquésaid that Ekane’s health situation was also followed up by his personnel doctors, and that he also befitted from complementary follow – up by some hospitals.

Meanwhile the communiqué concluded that in conformity with the procedure in force at the Military Medical Centre,, an investigation has also been opened to establish with precision,  the circumstances under which Ekane Anicet died,

Government Spokesperson

Meanwhile, the Minister of Communication, RENE EMMANUEL SADI, who doubles as the Government Spokesperson, issued a Government Statement on the dead in custody of veteran opposition politician, Ekane Anicet Georges, on December 1, 2025. “The Government of the Republic has learned with deep consternation, the death of Mr Ekane Anicet Georges, a Cameroonian political figure which occurred today, 1 December 2025, at the Military Medical Centre of the National Gendarmerie in Yaounde, following an illness”, read the opening paragraph of the Government State.  It should be noted the Government Statement, went in line with the communiqué that was issued earlier that day by the Ministry of Defence.

“As a matter of fact, the Government hereby informs national and international opinion that an investigation has been immediately ordered by the Head of State, with a view to clarifying with precision, and objectivity, the exact circumstances and real causes surrounding the death”, the Government Statement disclosed.

Cameroon’s Former Prime Minister, Sadou Hayatou, On Creation of Commissions Of Enquiry

Talking about investigation into the circumstances of the death of Ekane Anicet, it should be noted that most Cameroonians do not have faith in the CPDM Government’s announcement of the creation of a Commission of Enquiry, because in large majority of cases, when the Government makes such announcement, the result is never known to members of the public. It is as if Government’s announcement of the creation of a commission of enquiry, whenever an serious issue comes up and the population is boiling with anger, is more of a strategy  to manipulate the population and calm down fury and tension in the country, and then forget about it.

In fact, a former Prime Minister of Cameroon, Sadou Hayatou, now of blessed memory, once confided to a journalist that in Cameroon, when the regime wants to bury or kill an issue that erupts in the country, raising anger and tension, a Commission of Enquiry is created. Let’s however hope that this one on the death of Anicet Ekane, will be different.