Joe Dinga Pefok (Uncle Joe)
How Communiqué By Ministry Of Defence On December 1, 2025 When EKANE Died, Already Gave A Hint Of What The Result Of The Investigation, To Be Carried Out By The Gendarmerie On “The Exact Circumstances And Real Causes” Of His Death , Would Look Like. The EKANE Family Had Insisted On An Independent Commission Of Enquiry, Considering That ANICET Died In Gendarmerie Custody.
On Tuesday, February 24, 2026, the Ministry of Defence issued a communiqué on the report of the Government’s Commission of Enquiry on the exact circumstances and real causes that surrounded the death of opposition leader and National President of the MANIDEM Party, Anicet Georges Ekane, who died in gendarmerie custody in Yaounde on December 1, 2025. To be precise, Anicet Ekane who was arrested by the Gendarmerie in Douala on October 24, 2025, and whisked off to Yaounde where he detained at the Gendarmerie Headquarters commonly known by the French acronym, SED, died at the Military Medical Centre of the National Gendarmerie, to where he was moved when his health situation deteriorated.
Meanwhile as regard the findings of the Government’s Commission of Enquiry, the February 24 communiqué that was issued by the Ministry of Defence and signed by the Head of the Communications Service at the ministry, Navy Captain Atonfack Guemo Cyrille Serge, said the Commission of Enquiry in a nutshell declared that the death of Anicet Georges Ekane was natural. The Ekane Family in Douala in strong reaction on Thursday, February 26, 2026, through the legal counsels, Barrister Hippolyte T.B. Meli and Simh Emmanuel, strongly contested, as well as rejected, the result of the autopsy, which according to the communiqué of the Ministry of Defence, concluded that Anicet Ekane’s death was natural. The Ekane Family that insist that Anicet Ekane was killed, or better still, that his death was precipitated, even threaten to sue the Government for the controversial autopsy report. The family once more called for the setting up of a veritable independent commission of Enquiry, which will work in a transparent manner to establish the truth on the exact circumstances and real causes of the death of Anicet Ekane.
Rejection Of The Report By The Ekane Family Did Not Come As A Surprise
Observers will definitely be unanimous, on the fact that the rejection of the report of the Government’s Commission of Enquiry by the family of the decease, did not come as a surprise. This is because from the very beginning, there had been a number of serious disagreements between the authorities or the Government side, and the EKane family together with their legal counsels.
Starting with the communiqué that was issued by the Ministry of Defence on that fateful day of Monday December 1, 2025 when Anicet Ekane passed away, the Ekane family and the legal counsels, as well as even observers, found fault with some of the statements that were contained in the communiqué. The Government Statement that was issued on the death of Anicet Ekane on that same December 1, 2025 by the Minister of Communication , Rene Emmanuel Sadi, who doubles as Government’s Spokesperson, among other things stated that: “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”.
Some Controversial Claims In The Communiqué Of The Ministry of Defence
The Ministry of Defence in its communiqué that was issued a few hours before the Government Statement on that December 1, 2025, also talked about the opening of investigation to establish with precision, the circumstances under which Anicet Ekane died. But while talking about the opening of an investigation, the same communiqué by the Ministry of Defence talked of how Ekane suffered from diverse chronic health issues, and that since his admission into the Military Medical Centre of the National Gendarmerie , he was property taken care of by the medical personnel. The communiqué further said that Ekane was also followed up by his personal doctors, and that he also benefitted from complimentary follow-up by some hospitals.
Not only did the Ekane family and lawyers contest some of these claims, but there were questions as to why the Ministry of Defence would be saying all these, instead of leaving the Commission of Enquiry to carry out the findings. It was supposed to be for the Commission of Enquiry for example, to find out if Anicet Ekane was properly taken care of, by the medical personnel at the Military Medical Centre of the National Gendarmerie. Also, the Ekane Family and lawyers pointed out that the communiqué of the Ministry of Defence, said Aicet Ekane benefitted from the complimentary follow-up by some hospitals, whereas the authorities had rejected repeated appeals that were made by Anicet Ekane, the family and lawyers, that he be moved to another health facility, precisely the Yaounde Central Hospital which was better equipped to handle his health situation.
Autopsy Report
It should as well be noted that the Ekane Family had through their lawyers in early December 2025, made it clear to the authorities, that they would not accept the report of the autopsy that was conducted on the corpse of Anicet Ekane, without their representative. It should be noted that when Anicet Ekane died, the Ekane Family through their lawyers informed the authorities, that they would be represented during the autopsy, by a medical expert in the domain that they had designated. The family insisted on the designation of a medical expert to represent the family, in the autopsy or post –mortem examination. But suffice to say the autopsy was hastily conducted by medical doctors designated by the authorities, in the absence of the medical expert that had to represent the Ekane Family.
In fact according to a release that was issued by Barrister Hippolyte T.B. Meli, one of the lawyers of the Ekane family, the very next day after the tram of lawyers informed the authorities that the Ekane family would be designating an expert to represent the family in the autopsy, he received a message by whatsApp at about 11 am, informing him that the autopsy on the corpse of Anicet Ekane took place as from 7am on that day. It was of course clear that the authorities did not want the presence of the expert that the family had designated. The Ekane family had in a no nonsense reaction, made it clear that since the authorities refused to have their designated representative in the autopsy operation, the family would not recognized the result of the autopsy that the Government’s Commission of Enquiry would present, as there was clear lack of transparence and inclusion, in the exercise.
The Issue Of Ekane’s Health Before, And After His Death
Meanwhile, as regard the health situation of Anicet Georges Ekane, it was no secret that he had been in poor health for quite sometimes. In fact he left the hospital not long before his arrest. Anicet Ekane had a private Oxygen Extractor which became a part and parcel of him. The artificial respiratory apparatus which was recommended by his doctors was always handy, in case of need, or when he had any malaise.
Meanwhile, when Ekane was arrested and taken to Yaounde, the MANIDEM Party in a communiqué that was issued on October 26, 2025 and signed by Paul Jaures Tina, a member of the Political Bureau of the party, said Ekane’s health situation degenerated, following the poor condition of the journey from Douala to Yaounde, which the party said took some five hours, and worst still in a vehicle that lacked the basic comfort. Following Ekane’s deteriorating health situation, he was moved from SED to the Military Medical Centre of the National Gendarmerie, still in Yaounde.
Yaounde Central Hospital
As aforementioned, one of the major requests or pleas that Anicet Ekane, his family and his lawyers repeatedly made during the period he was at the Military Medical Centre of the National Gendarmerie, was that he should be moved to the Yaounde Central Hospital, which was better equipped, and thus could better handle his health problem. But the pleas received no favourable response. It is not clear as to which authority was supposed to take such a decision. But ironically enough, when Ekane died at the Military Medical Centre of the National Gendarmerie in Yaounde on that fateful December 1, 2025, his corpse was taken to the mortuary of the Yaounde Central Hospital. The autopsy also took place at the mortuary of the Yaounde Central Hospital.
The refusal to grant Ekane’s repeated request that he be moved to the Yaounde Central Hospital for better medical attention, is one of the points that Ekane’s family, is using to argue that though he was a patient, he would likely had lived longer, if his appeal was granted that he be moved to the Yaounde Central Hospital, to seek better medical attention.
The Personal Oxygen Extractor
Meanwhile, when Anicet Ekane was at the Military Medical Centre in Yaounde, he and his lawyers, Barrister Simh Emmanuel and Barrister Hippolyte T.B Meli, repeatedly raised the issue of his Oxygen Extractor. The apparatus was in his vehicle that he took to the Gendarmerie on the day he was arrested. When Ekane was arrested and whisked off to Yaounde, the Oxygen Extractor was left behind in Ekane’s vehicle that was parked at the premises of the Gendarmerie Legion.
Barrister Hippolyte Takouang Meli, one of the lawyers of Anicet Georges Ekane, 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, expressed disappointment to the Legion Commander, that their client, Anicet Ekane, was being deprived of his Oxygen Extractor, which he asserted, “is an important treatment apparatus, necessary to maintain our client alive”.
Meanwhile, a few days before Ekane passed away, Barrister Meli, announced in a social media post that some gendarmes finally brought the Oxygen Extractor to Ekane at the Military Medical Centre, and asked him to sign a ‘decharge’, which he did. However, Ekane and his lawyers decided that the artificial respiratory apparatus should better be taken to some medical officers outside the Military Medical Centre for examination, for his personal security. It is not clear whether Ekane had started using the Oxygen Extractor before his death. Whatever the case, the long period of time that, it took for Anicet Ekane’s Oxygen Extractor to get to him in Yaopunde, is the major element that his family is using to press on with the allegation that his death was precipitated. The family insists that Ekane’s Oxygen Extractor was confiscated by the Littoral Gendarmerie Legion. Sources at the Littoral Gendarmerie Legion have however rejected the accusation as spurious.
Ekane Family Insist On Independent Commission Of Enquiry
Meanwhile as regard the investigation, on December 23, 2025, the widow of Late Anicet Ekane (Mrs Ekane nee SOGUE Jeanne Edwige), and a few other family members, received summons to report at the Littoral Gendarmerie Legion in Douala on December 24, 2025 at 10 am, in connection to investigation that was ongoing, on the death of Anicet Ekane. They did not show up.
Rather, the lawyers of the Ekane Family addressed a correspondence to the Secretary of State in charge of the National Gendarmerie, Etoga Galax Yves Landry. It was stated at the top of the the correspondence, that is was also for the attention of the Inspector General No. 3 of the National Gendarmerie, Colonel NCHOURUPOUO ISSIAKA, who was heading the Commission of Enquiry, as well as other members of the Commission.
Suffice to say in the correspondence that was signed by Barrister Hippolyte T. B. MELI, the lawyers of the Ekane Family told the Secretary of State in charge of the National Gendarmerie, that to the Family, it was out of question that the National Gendarmerie in whose hands Anicet Ekane died in suspicious or questionable circumstances, should be the same to carryout out the investigation to determine the real causes and exact circumstances of the death, as President Biya demanded. The Ekane Family called on the National Gendarmerie to stay off the investigation. The Ekane Family was firm that they would accept nothing short of a veritable Independent Commission of Enquiry, to carry out the investigation. This thus meant that if the Government insisted and went ahead with the investigation by the Gendarmerie, the Ekane Family would not accept the report of the Commission. And that is what has happened.
