Amadou Ali, armed forces in war of words over Kolofata attack

It has emerged that Amadou Ali, Vice Prime Minister, told President Biya that the head of the armed forces be blamed for the deadly attack the Nigerian Boko Haram terrorist group carried out in his native Kolofata town, an attack that killed his family members and saw his wife napped.

We gathered that Biya received Ali on July 30, at the Unity Palace before leaving for the US’ Africa Leaders’ Summit.

Ali, it is said, told the President he had nothing to do with the incident but cited Edgar Mebe Ngo’o, Minister of Defense as one of those responsible for the insecurity in the Far North region where the attacks took place.

Ali is reported to have told the president that Mebe Ngo’o was aware of what was going to happen, but did not do anything to preempt it.

He nitpicked that one week before the incident, Ngo’o, who is Minister of Defense, decided to withdraw the planes monitoring the area back to Yaounde.

Reports say Ali also pointed accusing fingers at Cavaye Yegue Djibril, Speaker of the National Assembly, suggesting that the House Speaker was merely accusing himself when he bluffed at the house that some of those funding insecurity in the Far North are among them.

He reportedly pleaded with the Head of State to reappoint him once again to the Ministry of Defense, assuring the President his ability to tackle the rising insecurity from Boko Haram.

The Minister of Defence and other high ranking officers of the Cameroon Armed Forces have refuted Ali’s allegations. They have rather turned accusing fingers towards the Vice Prime Minister, they accused him of telling his wife to travel to Kolofata alone while he spent the night in Maroua- when they were supposed to be travelling together.

The defence officials are blaming Ali for the attack, suggesting that he knew Boko Haram was going to hit Kolofata but kept the information from the army.

Information which could have helped security forces to prepare for the confrontation and overwhelm Boko Haram, they said.

They also said that Ali’s looks appeared suspicious at a July 25 meeting which took place at the presidency; two days before the attack. They are asking that Ali look for his enemies among his collaborators who knew he was going to travel to Kolofata.