Peterkins Manyong
5 September 2005
Sule Buh, one of the key actors in the macabre Wum Farmer/Grazier conflict, was on Friday, September 2, given a snake beating by the police."They all belonged to the Mobile Intervention Unit, GMI. There were 10 of them," Sule told The Post by phone, Saturday, September 3.
The policemen, he continued, arrived in his tailoring workshop at about 8:00 pm on Friday, September 2 and without asking any questions, fell on him with batons. "They beat me all over my body, but especially on the sole of my feet," he said. After that, he said, they went away and have not been back since then.
"I am just from hospital where I have spent fabulous sums buying drugs," Sule said. He did not rule out the possibility of his assailants coming back to complete what they had started if nothing was done to deter them. "It was thanks to God's will that I was not killed," an embittered Sule told The Post.
Sule said he acquainted the Menchum Senior Divisional Officer, SDO, about the brutality meted out on him, but was told that action could be taken if only he could identify his assailants. "I don't know them since they do not reside in Wum," he said he told the SDO
The SDF District Chairman was particularly bitter that the uniformed officials paid no regard to the fact that he was an official of the country's foremost political party. Given that Wum is an SDF fief, Sule said the policemen were lucky that they carried out their act at night.
"If it happened during the day, there would have been an entirely different story to tell as the population would have lynched them," he said.
Asked if he suspected anybody of masterminding the act, he said he knew his political enemies were behind it. He said the informants who directed the police to his workshop were not graziers whose adversaries he is supposed to be since he is on the side of farmers. He was sure that those who connived with the police were fellow SDF militants, possibly Wum Council officials who wanted to terrorise him.
Sule, however, avoided naming names, saying he was still investigating the matter.
Alexandre Njoya, Menchum SDO, whom The Post also contacted by phone, said he was too busy to comment on Sule's allegation that the police had tortured him.
Sule, a tailor and newspaper vendor by occupation, has been an outspoken critic of the militarisation of Wum.
During the meeting that preceded troop deployment in the town, Sule openly challenged claims by Edward Cheng Muwah, Wum Council Mayor, that his (Cheng's) life was in danger.
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