07/09/2025
Press Statement / Memo
On the Imperative of Participating in the 2025 Elections in the North West and South West Regions
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General Message
After eight years of pain, sacrifice, and searching for solutions, we stand at a decisive crossroad. The 2018 boycott of elections left our people voiceless, weakened our leverage, and worsened the suffering of ordinary men, women, and children in the North West and South West Regions. History has taught us a bitter lesson: silence in moments of decision empowers those who have never represented our aspirations.
Today, as the country prepares for the 2025 elections, the stakes are higher. This election will mark the final phase of President Paul Biya’s era by natural law, and it is only through active participation that our people can influence the transition and secure representation that speaks to our struggle, our identity, and our future.
We cannot afford to repeat the mistakes of 2018. Abstention in 2025/2026 would not only perpetuate our suffering but will cost us more dearly than ever before. For the sake of our children, our martyrs, and our future, we must choose engagement over silence, representation over absence, and political participation over boycott.
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1. To Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe and Leaders in Jail
Respected leaders, history has recorded your sacrifices. Your voices ignited the struggle, and your imprisonment is testimony to your unwavering conviction. But leadership is also about rethinking strategies when they no longer serve the people effectively.
The boycott of 2018 weakened our bargaining power, left us without political capital, and prolonged the suffering of those you fought to defend. Today, our people cry not just for liberation, but also for inclusion, dignity, and representation.
We appeal to you, from your place of honor and sacrifice, to give moral approval for political participation in the upcoming elections. Your endorsement will inspire confidence, heal divisions, and open the door for Anglophone candidates to rise as symbols of hope and representation in this decisive chapter.
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2. To Traditional Leaders, Religious Leaders, and Civil Society
Fathers and moral voices of our land, the people look to you for guidance when the storm is strongest. For too long, our silence in national decisions has translated into exclusion. Our towns remain militarized, our youths are lost between guns and exile, our markets are empty, and our women carry the heaviest burdens.
This election is not a total solution, but it is a bridge. A bridge toward amplifying our voice nationally, toward ending the paradox of fighting for recognition while refusing the tools of recognition. You have the sacred duty to mobilize, to counsel the fighters, to open dialogue, and to lift the fear that has crippled participation.
The people are tired. They need healing. They need representation. They need your moral courage to turn the page.
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3. To Leaders in the Diaspora
Brothers and sisters abroad, you have carried the flame of our cause to international stages. Your sacrifices have kept the struggle alive. Yet, you also know that every nation is built by a combination of pressure from outside and participation from within.
The 2018 boycott deprived us of seats at the table where decisions are made. It created a vacuum that weakened our people at home, while those in power tightened their grip. This time, the cry of the people is clear: We want representation.
We call on you to recognize that boycotts without alternatives only punish our people more. We call on you to encourage participation, support credible Anglophone candidates, and use your networks to protect their victories. Participation does not mean surrender—it means strategy, leverage, and presence.
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4. To the Population, the Fighters, and People on the Ground
To the mothers who bury their children, to the youths who have known nothing but fear, to the fighters in the bushes who believed in a better tomorrow—your pain is valid, your courage undeniable. But after eight years, ask yourself: has boycott improved our lives? Has silence restored our dignity? Or has it deepened our wounds?
The truth is clear. The absence of our voice in 2018 left us voiceless in 2019, 2020, and all the years since. Markets destroyed, towns under curfew, schools closed, and communities left behind. Boycott gave us paradoxical results—it silenced the very people it was meant to empower.
Now is the time to break the chain of mistakes. Participation in the 2025 elections is not a betrayal of the struggle; it is a strategy for survival, dignity, and influence. If an Anglophone candidate rises, it will be a step—maybe not the final step—but a step toward correcting decades of exclusion.
We appeal to the fighters: lift the ban, end the curfews, and allow your people to speak with their votes. Real strength is not only in the gun but in the ability to let your people choose their leaders without fear.
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Conclusion
We must listen to the cry of the people. We must learn from our history. We must be courageous enough to change course. Boycott in 2018 weakened us; boycott in 2025 will destroy us. Participation is the low-hanging fruit that can open new doors.
Let us stand united in one voice: Anglophones will not be silent in 2025.
We shall vote, we shall be counted, and we shall shape the transition.
For the Leadership of Na Wa Future Political Movement
Fabrice Lena
