EKANE ANICET, That Minister ATANGA NJI, In A Controversial Decision, Appointed President Of MANIDEM, Last Week Gave The Minister The Shock Of His Life.

EKANE ANICET gave investiture to Prof MAURICE KAMTO, to be candidate at the 2025 presidential election on the ticket of MANIDEM, definitely against the wish of Minister ATANGA NJI

 Last night, the legal President of MANIDEM, Mbog Mbog DIEUDONNE YEBGA, that Minister ATANGA NJI pushed away, in 2018, deposited the file of his candidacy as presidential candidate of MANIDEM, placing EKANE and KAMTO in a difficult situation. Who will Minister ATANGA NJI now support?   

Speaking at the first biannual meeting of the 10 regional Governors that held in Yaounde from Wednesday, July 16 – Thursday, July 17, 2025, the Minister of Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji, again vowed that the National President of MRC, Prof Maurice Kamto, whose patty boycotted the last legislative and municipal elections, would not be a candidate at the 2025 presidential election to hold on October 12, even though he did not directly mention Kamto by name.

But to the greatest embarrassment of the MINAT Boss, Atanga Nji, information surfaced on that Thursday, July 17, that the President of MANIDEM, Ekane Anicet, had signed the investiture for Maurice Kamto to be a candidate at the 2025 presidential election, on the ticket of MANIDEM. The information that started circulating on that July 17 as a rumour, was soon confirmed by the President of MANIDEM, Ekane Anicet, in an interview with Radio Balafon in Douala.  Ekane in the radio interview accused Police Station No. 6 in Yaounde where Prof Kamto went to certify some documents, to have leaked out the information.

The Minister of Territorial Administration, Atanga Nji, was reportedly furious that local administrative authorities and security services in Douala in particular, did not track the secret negotiation that took place between Maurice Kamto’s representative, Hon Jean Michel Nintcheu, and the President of MANIDEM, Anicet Ekane. The meetings culminated in the agreement by MANIDEM to give investiture to Maurice Kamto, to be the party’s candidate for the 2025 presidential election.

Minister Atanga Nji’s Greatest Shock

But the greatest shock of the Minister Atanga Nji in this whole affair is that it was the President of MANIDEM, Ekane Anicet that signed the investiture for the President of MRC, Maurice Kamto, to be a candidate at the presidential election, on the ticket of MANIDEM.  It should be noted that it was Paul Atanga Nji, who soon after been appointed Minister of Territorial Administration in the cabinet reshuffle of March 2, 2018, pushed out Mbog Mbog Dieudonne Yebga from the post of President of MANIDEM, and illegally brought back Ekane Anicet, who was the Pioneer President of party.

Ekane Decided To Step Down As President Of MANIDEM, A Couple Of Years Before

It would be recalled that  a couple of years back,  Ekane Anicet, the then Pioneer President of MANIDEM,  announced at a press conference in Douala that he had decided to step down  and handover the baton to the younger generation.  This reporter was present at that press conference. Ekane challenged other long serving Pioneer Presidents of opposition parties then like Ni John Fru Ndi of the SDF, and Adamou Ndam Njoya of CDU, to emulate his example and thus do same by handing over the batons to the younger generation. Ekane was applauded by the public. The youthful Banda Kani Rene, who was very close to Ekane in MANIDEM, became the new President of the party.

In 2011, Ekane Anicet took part in his first ever election, which was the presidential election. But later, there were indications of tension in MANIDEM between Banda Kani who was supposed to be the President, and Ekane Anicet, the former President. At one point, Banda Kani told the press that he could no longer tolerate the overbearing influence of Ekane Anicet on him. Banda Kani fumed that since he took over the post of President of MANIDEM, Ekane that claimed to have stepped down, as President, would not leave him to have a free hand to run the party.  He said Ekane in claiming to have stepped down as President of MANIDEM, was in reality the driver who left the driver seat to the back seat, and was trying to drive the vehicle from the backseat.

Ekane Pushed Out Banda Kani

But in the conflict that sparked off between Banda Kani and Ekane Anicet, the later had the upper hand, because the headquarters of MANIDEM was in the Ekane’s family house.  At one point, Ekane locked the door of the MANIDEM headquarters, and told Banda Kani to go to hell. Banda Kani left MANIDEM, and later created his own party, NMP. The person that replaced Banda Kani as President of MANIDEM did not stay in that post for long, as he unfortunately passed away.

First Major Congress Of MANIDEM In 2014

The first major congress of the MANIDEM held in Yaounde in 2014, with the Douala based entrepreneur and traditionalists, Dieudonne Yebga, elected President.  The Ministry of Territorial Administration was duly informed, as well as the local administrative authorities of the Littoral Region.

But along the line, tension started rising between the President of MANIDEM, Mbog Mbog  Dieudonne Yebga, and the former President, Ekane Anicet, and  by 2016, a conflict sparked off between the two.  The MANIDEM President, Dieudonne Yebga , accused  the party’s former President, Ekane Anicet, of trying to control him like a child, and acting as if he was still the President of MANIDEM. Ekane was in fact trying to do the thing he did to Banda Kani.

But Diuedionne Yedga resisted Ekane Anicet’s attempt to drive the vehicle from the backseat.  Ekane tried to push Yebga out of MANIDEM as he did to Banda Kani. He barred Yebga from coming to MANIDEM headquarters, which was in the Ekane’s family house. Yebga was not taken by surprise, as he had expected Ekane to do that, just as he did to Banda Kani.  But Yebga was not Banda Kani. He was an entrepreneur, and so had the financial means to do things. Yebga went on to rent an apartment as the new headquarters of MANIDEM. Ekane Anicet’s lone strategy to push out any President of MANIDEM who did not follow his instruction, had failed against Yebga, and he got frustrated.  In 2017, Ekane Anicet organized a press conference at his own ‘headquarters’ of MANIDEM, and alleged that  Dieudonne Yedga had embezzled party funds, and declared him sacked from MANIDEM. Dieudonne Yebga dismissed Ekane and his men as clowns.

Minister Atanga Nji Backs Ekane Anicet

Then in the March 2, 2018 cabinet reshuffle, Paul Atanga Nji was appointed Minister of Territorial Administration. The minister immediately delved into politics, to create a group of so called opposition parties baptized as  G. 20, to support President Biya’s candidacy in that year’s presidential election. This was a strategy to give the false impression to the world that even part of the Cameroon opposition, supported Biya’s candidacy.

Minister Atanga Nji then went on to address  correspondence No. 0000032  dated July 17, 2018, on the,  Situation In Some Political Parties, to all the 10 Governors in the country. In the controversial correspondence, the minister said the leader of UPC was Bapooh Lipot Robert, the President of MANIDEM was Ekane Anicet, and the President of CPP was Tita Samuel Fon. The minister told the Governor to scrupulously respect the directives.

Thus Minister Paul Atanga Nji, pushed out the legal and legitimate National President of MANIDEM, Mbog Mbog Dieudonne Yebga, and brought back Ekane Anicet who had stepped down as President of MANIDEM almost 10 years back.  There was no doubt that Minister Atanga Nji and Ekane Anicet struck a deal. Of course Minister Atanga Nji is known to be somebody who never does anything for the interest of the opposition. Though Ekane Anicet, or MANIDEM, was not part of the G.20 that Minister Atanga Nji created, to support Biya’s candidature at the 2018 presidential election, Ekane nevertheless worked closely with the group, and was as well a regular visitor at the Ministry of Territorial Administration.

A Big Lesson  

Today the same Ekane Anicet has embarrassed and shocked Minister Atanga Nji, by giving investiture to Maurice Kamto, to run on the ticket of MANIDEM for the 2025 presidential election.  The situation is no doubt, a nightmare to Minister Atanga Nji.  Some CPDM elites are now blaming the minister that he was the person that illegally brought back Ekane Anicet to the post of President of MANIDEM, and today Ekane has sided with Maurice Kamto against President Biya.  Political observers however think, that serves Minister Atanga Nji right.  What Ekane has done should serve as a big lesson to Minister Atanga Nji, to stop interfering in the internal affairs of opposition parties.

It should be noted that since Minister Atanga Nji illegally brought back Ekane Anicet to the Post of President of MANIDEM in 2018, Ekane has since then not even tried to organize a congress of the party to give some small legally to his occupation of the post of President of MANIDEM.  In the programme, Canal Presse, over Canal 2 international on Sunday, July 20. 2025, the representative of the CPDM, Herve Emmanuel Nkom, who like Ekane Anicet and Dieudonne Yebga, is also a Bassa elite, remarked that the person who was elected President of MANIDEM at the last congress of the party, was Mbog Mbog Dieudonne Yebga. He was right. That was the congress which held in Yaounde in 2014.

Meanwhile Ekane Anicet who happened to have been following the programme over Canal 2, sent a text message to the Moderator of the programme, to reject what Herve Emmanuel Nkom said. Shamefully enough, Ekane cited the controversial correspondence that the Minister of Territorial Administration addressed to Governors in July 2018, as his own evidence that he is the rightful President of MANIDEM.

Mbog Mbog Dieudonne Yebga  Puts Ekane And Kamto  In Difficult Situation

Meanwhile, in the night of Monday, July 21, 2025, that is, a few hours to the end of the 10 day period for presidential aspirants to deposit the files of their candidacies for the 2025 presidential election at Elections Cameroon, ELECAM, Mbog Mbog Dieudomme Yebga, showed up at the ELECAM headquarters in Yaounde, where he deposited the file of his candidacy as MANEDAM’s candidate for the presidential election. This was definitely a nightmare scenario for Ekane Anicet and Maurice Kamto. It means now that there are two candidates from MANIDEM, and it will thus be for the Constitutional Council to decide, as to who is supposed to sign the investiture in the name of MANIDEM. Ekane Ancet that was designated President by the Minister of Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji, or Mbog Mbog Dieudonne Yebga, who was elected President at the congress of MANIDEM.  Another question: Who will Minister Atanga Nji now support in this matter?

The Case Of CPP

It would be recalled that in the same controversial correspondence that Minister Atanga Nji addressed to Governors in July 2018 saying that Ekane Anicet was the President of MANIDEM, the minister also brought back the former Pioneer President of CPP, Samuel Tita Fon, thus pushing aside Edith Kah Walla, who was the elected National President of CPP. But the no-nonsense Kah Walla dragged both Minister Atanga Nji and Samuel Tita Fon to the Administrative Court of the Centre Region in Yaounde, and won the case. The Administrative Court ruled that it is the congress of a party that elects its President, and that it is not the Minister of Territorial Administration that has to appoint the President of a party.

Perhaps the mistake Mbog Mbog Diuedonne Yebga did, with his own situation, was that he did not go to court to challenge the controversial decision of Minister Atanga Nji. to have appointed Ekane Anicet as President of MANIDEM. As aforementioned, Ekane too made a big mistake, that since the 2018 appointment, he, did not convene the congress of MANIDEM, to give him some legality and legitimacy.  It is however certain that Mbog Mbog Dieudonne Yebga is in reality not interested in being a presidential candidate, but he definitely has a score to settle with Ekane Anicet.