Yaoundé, November 15, 2025 (True Cameroon) — The tragic attack on the Sabga mosque during Friday Jummah prayers has left Cameroonians mourning and searching for answers. At least three worshippers lost their lives, several others were injured, and once again the country finds itself trapped in a storm of conflicting narratives, rumors, political manipulation, and deepening mistrust a familiar pattern in the ninth year of the Anglophone conflict.
One of the first to react was Anglophone activist Abdulkarim Ali, who condemned the killings and challenged the early claims circulating online that Ambazonian fighters carried out the attack. His statement, titled “The Hands With Sagba Blood,” criticised what he described as a long history of false or contradictory official narratives surrounding violence in the North West and South West.
But beyond who is responsible, the Sabga killings reveal something deeper and more disturbing:
after nearly a decade of war, Cameroon has become a country where truth itself is contested and where the state’s failure to provide credible information fuels endless suspicion.
I. A Country Where Violence Is Immediately Politicised
Almost instantly after the attack, contradictory versions circulated:
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Some witnesses blamed separatist factions.
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Others accused state-backed militias.
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Some pointed to personal disputes.
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Later reports mentioned a welder named Mohammed and a separatist figure known as “General Never Die.”
Yet no official investigation, no autopsy of facts, and no authoritative state communication has been released.
This vacuum allows political actors from activists to CPDM elites to weaponize tragedy for their narratives.
In such conditions, truth becomes political property, not public information.
This is the direct result of a governance system that has:
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eroded public trust,
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weakened institutions,
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politicized security information,
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and failed to establish credible investigative mechanisms.
Sabga is not only a human tragedy it is a crisis of truth.
II. Abdulkarim Ali’s Critique: A Symptom of Deeper Disillusionment
In his statement, Abdulkarim:
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condemned the killings,
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argued that Amba fighters historically avoided religious sites,
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suggested parallels with past controversial incidents,
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and blamed CPDM-aligned Anglophone elites for sustaining the conflict by legitimizing deeply flawed electoral processes.
While his interpretations remain his own, his anger reflects a broader sentiment among many Anglophones:
they feel abandoned, unprotected and constantly blamed by a state that has failed to resolve the root causes of the crisis.
For nine years:
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schools have been attacked,
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villages burned,
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civilians killed by various armed actors,
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and state communication has often been slow, inconsistent or contested.
This has created fertile ground for alternative explanations even when they cannot be immediately verified.
The core issue is not Abdulkarim.
The core issue is that Cameroon’s institutions have lost the power to produce trusted truth.
III. CPDM-Elite Politics and the Erosion of Credibility
Abdulkarim’s sharp criticism of CPDM Anglophone elites especially those who endorsed the 2025 electoral process reflects a hard reality:
For years, local political elites have acted not as defenders of their communities, but as transmission belts of a centralized system whose priority is preserving power, not solving problems.
Under CPDM rule:
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decentralization remains symbolic,
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local voices are marginalized,
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state violence is never independently investigated,
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and political leaders defend Yaoundé’s narrative even when their communities suffer.
This political betrayal helps explain why many Anglophones rightly or wrongly no longer take official claims at face value.
When a government systematically suppresses transparency, it eventually loses the right to be believed.
IV. The Crisis of Sabga Is a Crisis of Governance
Regardless of who committed the attack something that must be determined by independent investigation, not partisan claims the killings highlight the deeper governance failures of the Biya/CPDM system:
1. Security has collapsed in rural North West communities.
Villagers live between armed groups, state forces, vigilantes and criminals.
2. The state cannot protect worshippers at prayer.
A mosque should never be a battlefield.
3. There is no credible investigative institution.
Without independent inquiries, the cycle of rumor and manipulation never ends.
4. Politics continues to inflame violence.
Every killing is used to score political points instead of finding solutions.
5. The Biya regime has allowed the Anglophone conflict to become a chronic, ungoverned warzone.
After nine years, the conflict persists because the political system prioritizes control over dialogue, and narratives over accountability.
V. Why Cameroonians No Longer Trust Official Narratives
The Sabga crisis sits within a longer pattern:
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The unresolved controversy around Ngarbuh (2020)
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The killings in Menka-Pinyin (2018)
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The Mamfe convent attack (2022)
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The Kumba school massacre (2020)
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The constant disputes over casualty reports in Bamenda and Muyuka
Each incident has been characterized by conflicting claims, politicized explanations, and a lack of independent verification.
When truth becomes negotiable, misinformation thrives.
This is not an accident it is the predictable outcome of a political system that has weakened its own institutions.
Conclusion: Sabga Is Not Only a Tragedy It Is a Warning
The Sabga mosque attack is heartbreaking.
It is also revealing.
It shows a nation where:
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security has collapsed,
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truth is fragmented,
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narratives are weaponized,
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political elites have failed their people,
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and the state’s credibility is deeply eroded.
The real enemy is not each other.
The real enemy is a political system that sustains conflict through opacity, neglect, and centralization.
Until Cameroon builds institutions capable of independent investigation, transparent communication, and genuine local accountability, tragedies like Sabga will continue and so will the war of competing narratives that dishonors the dead and traumatizes the living.
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