No fewer than 2,000 Nigerian fishermen flee Cameroun as a result of violence and extortion by gendarmes and local tribes, LEADERSHIP reports.
The leader of the fishermen, Mr James Audi, who led a team of the fleeing fishermen made the revelation at the Correspondents’ Chapel in Yola. He said that despite being in possession of residents permits, they were subjected to constant harassment, incarceration and extortion by gendarmes who seems not to accord recognition to the residency permit in their possession.
We are always inundated by constant harassment, unjustifiable incarceration, intimidation and extortion in the hands of gendarmes. Our women are worst affected by this onslaught because of the manner their fundamental rights are being abused with impunity. They are constantly being harassed especially on market days whenever they take their wares to the market.
Audi added that apart from the constant harassment they face from security operatives, the local Banana and Musku tribes with whom they have cohabited for decades are threatening them with unfathomable level of discrimination and violence.
He said the attack by the locals started in 2004 when the local tribes launched an attack on them and killed one of their men called Bambur which led his pregnant wife to have a miscarriage.
2013 Leadership Newspapers Group, Abuja