Cameroon: I'm Prisoner Without a Crime - Lapiro De Mbanga

Cameroon: I'm Prisoner Without a Crime - Lapiro De Mbanga

The Post (Buea)

18 April 2008
Posted to the web 18 April 2008

Olive Ejang Tebug Ngoh
Buea

Cameroon musical maestro, Pierre Roger Lambo Sandjo aka Lapiro de Mbanga, incarcerated at the Mbanga Principal Prison for a week now, says he has been locked up for no good reason; a prisoner without a crime as it were.

"Etonde Ekoto who embezzled billions of taxpayers' money was never detained while awaiting trial. I never committed any crime but have been imprisoned for a week without trial. I shall close my dirty mouth only after death," Lapiro told The Post on April 15.

The satirical musician was arrested and detained on April 9 following instructions from the Procureur General of the Littoral Province.Mbanga gendarme officers accused him of mobilising rioters who burned private and public property in the town during the February 25 to 29 strike.

The officers also indicted the musician for extorting money from officials of the Societe de Plantation de Mbanga, SPM, during the riot. It was on this basis that he was sent to await trial.

But Lapiro retorted that if he is accused of mobilising youths to burn property in Mbanga, it means he mobilised nationally. He laughed that the blame is being shifted from Fru Ndi to him and questioned why the Minister of Justice, through his agents in courts, bothered to sentence victims accused of orchestrating the strike in other towns.

Lapiro said they would have joined all the sanctions and heaped on him. The musician who is Quarter Head of "Quartier Douze" in Mbanga said all accusations levelled against him are false because he even prevented the burning of some buildings in Mbanga.

"I saved the Government High School, Mbanga, Total Filling Station, the town hall, among others from the rioters' fire. The administration lauded me. Why should they turn around a month after to implicate me?" he questioned.

He said suspected victims of the strike were arrested immediately, tried and sentenced, but he was never interrogated, though he was available.According to Lapiro, the government was in panic after adopting the constitution to give Biya life presidency, which he is against. He said he has been very vocal about the issue because he fears nobody when criticising issues of the nation because it is for posterity.

He told The Post that this detention is the only he has suffered in life, unlike before when the said forces of law and order used to interrogate, detain and release him just after a few hours.

Lapiro also recalled that last March 24, he was detained at the Yaounde Military Camp for eight hours still on his vocal criticism to bring the nation to order. He lamented that he would only wait, depend on God and see what government wants to do to him.

He said he hasn't got a lawyer and would not look for one because he has not committed any crime worth imprisonment.Lapiro said both his wife and children have been in confusion confused since his arrest. He cried that his aunt immediately collapsed and is still hospitalised after receiving the news of his arrest.

However, he said he is physically fit, having lots of rest and working on what music to give Cameroonians.Lapiro's wife told The Post at their residence that her husband is detained out of jealousy. She joined her husband in refuting allegations levelled against him and insisted that her husband has actively participated in the development of Mbanga.

The woman said since his arrest, she has gone through psychological trauma alongside their four children. She urged government to release her husband because he is innocent.

The population of Mbanga described Lapiro as a man of the people and said if his detention is prolonged they would demonstrate.

At the Mbanga Magistrate Court, The Post tried in vain to get the state prosecutor on the trial of strike suspects, Magistrate Nkamgue, to comment on the issue.The presiding judge in the matter, Suahibou, was equally absent.