Emmanuel Kemende was a figure of the SDF, the opposition party founded by John Fru Ndi. His killers have disappeared in the wild, but for the police there is no doubt that the perpetrators of this assassination are to be found in the ranks of the separatist fighters.
With our correspondent in Yaoundé, Polycarp Essomba
According to an internal source to the homeless, Senator Emmanuel Kemende, also a lawyer at the Cameroon Bar, had left his home to drop a visitor.
Shortly after 7 p.m., while on his way home, he was intercepted by a group of armed men who ordered him to get out of the vehicle. No sooner has he put his feet on the ground than one of the men shoots him at point blank range. One bullet to the heart and another to the head.
His attackers immediately disappear and leave him dying on the road. A motorcycle taximan passing by, comes to his aid. The senator, who is not yet deceased, will have just enough time to give him his wife’s phone number before giving up the ghost.
For the police authorities, there is no doubt that Emmanuel Kemende was shot dead by Ambazonian fighters. His party comrade, the deputy Jean-Michel Nitcheu, speaks of assassination and does not exclude any hypothesis in this war zone where the regular army and separatist forces have been fighting each other for many months.
One thing is certain, this incident in the middle of the African Cup of Nations is likely to put Yaoundé on the teeth.