On December 12th, 2023, inhabitants of Esu cried out, as they saw students of Government Technical High School Esu, running home half naked. The students reported that, they were attacked by men who forced them naked before sending them home. The invaders kidnapped some students and two administrators and also burnt down the school. A communique issued by the S.D.O of Menchum, Abdoullahi Aliou, reported of eight students kidnapped while local sources spoke of fifteen students kidnapped.
A video of the attack made rounds on social media with the attacker identifying himself as “General Lion”. The kidnapped students were released in the evening of the same day. Two administrators including a Vice Principal and a Discipline Master are still held up in captivity.
To address this problem as well as preempt a subsequent incident in future, descendants of Esu are asking, who perpetrated the act?
Some have pointed the recent assault in Esu to Ambazonian separatist fighters, who are known for similar recorded acts of burning, kidnaping and getting people naked.
However, those who blamed Ambazonians for the recent arson and kidnapping in Esu, also questioned the territory where the separatists are coming from given that the village of Esu no longer harbours separatists. “After fighting for long as separatist fighters, they saw that many villagers have died and there is no need to continue the fight. There is no need to attack their own brothers and sisters schooling so they decided to repent. They stopped fighting and picked up agriculture so the attack on the school on December 12th is not caused by fighters of Esu” Doctor Dankawo, elite of Esu told Cameroon Infotrend.
In a communique issued by the SDO of Menchum, Abdoullahi Aliou, it is said that the attack was done by terrorists. It reads “armed terrorists attacked Government Technical High School ESU in Fungom Subdivision at about 09.30 a.m., that led to the undressing of students, torture, burning of a block of two (2) classrooms and the Principal’s Office, kidnapping of the Vice-Principal Mr. ACHUO Oscar BUH and the Discipline Master Mr. KUM Julius MEH”
Fuh Ndze, an inhabitant of Esu and neighbor to the school witnessed the attack. He says the attack was carried out by people from a neighbouring village. “Esu is not a party to this attack. We educated the fighters in Esu to know that attacking schools is destroying the very things we built because unlike schools in other areas that were constructed by the government, that in Esu was constructed by us. We transported stones and sand from far off on our heads to build GTHS Esu. The attacks are coming from some youths who left Wum” Fuh Ndze told Cameroon Infotrend.
Divine Bin, who lives in Wum, reveals that the elites in Wum succeeded to send away separatist fighters who often attack Wum in order to have peace. According to Divine, the separatists settled in other parts of Menchum and continued attacking. “The so called General Lion and his boys were sent away from Wum and they took refuge in Esu. Lion and his boys are one of the notorious Ambazonian separatist in Menchum. He also attacked the village of Weh and burnt bikes some time ago” Divine said.
Concerning the blame being laid on the youths of Wum for causing havoc in Esu, Cameroon Infotrend got the reaction of Fang Fu’uh Edwin, one of the Wum youth leaders. He noted that Esu has the obligation to send away the attackers just like Wum did. “The boys who attacked are hoodlums we sent them away from Wum and denounced them so the people of Esu should push them away until they have nowhere else to hide. They should start with a vigilante. So if Wum sends them out, send them out further. They should not be found the neighbourhoods”
Other people who refused to be quoted said, those who attacked GTHS Esu took up refuge in Esu but were not named and shamed till the attack on December 12. They blame the people of Esu for failing to name and condemn criminals who took up residence in the neighborhood till it became too late.
Responding to the blame on Esu, Dr Dankawo revealed that it’s been a battle to send out the attackers “They have been threatening the population and looting property, extorting money. The population have had a hard time with their presence because they were sent away from Wum and Menchum Valley only to settle in Esu. We didn’t know that they would go to the extent of attacking a school”
Descendants of Esu are strategizing to form vigilante groups and work with the forces of law and order to flush out gangsters living in Esu.