The Secretary General of the Union des Populations du Cameroun, UPC, Augustin Frederic Kodock, has pledged he would take legal actions against rival party militants and detractors.

The UPC Scribe, who was speaking to the media in Yaounde, August 22, was reacting to press reports that challenged the legality and legitimacy of the UPC in favour of the Mack-Kit faction of the party which he said was "illegal" and "rival".

On July 17, the Mack-Kit faction of the UPC sought an administrative authorisation at the Divisional Office of Douala I to hold an ordinary congress. But, the DO, Pascal Mbozo'o Nnomengon, who initially authorised the congress to hold, later suspended it.

French Daily, Mutations, reported that DO Pascal Mbozo'o besides asking the President of the Directors' Committee of the Mack-Kit UPC faction to strike a reconciliation deal with dissidents of the party (Kodock) both Mack-Kit and Kodock, in view of resolving their differences regarding the withdrawal of the authorisation, met the DO of Douala I and Senior Prefect of Wouri, in Douala.

The newspaper also reported that the Senior Prefect had disclosed that Frederic Kodock had earlier declared to his office that the holding of such a congress would breed turbulence and public disorder.

Speaking to the press at the party's headquarters in Yaounde, Kodock dismissed the report as faulty, unverified and unfounded. It is in line with this that the UPC Scribe warned that journalists who publish misleading information would be prosecuted. While reacting to the newspaper report, Kodock said his UPC has never been dissident but Mack-Kit's, given that the Territorial Administration and Decentralisation Ministry had officially recognised his UPC as legal.

"Since a number of years, the UPC is, in one part, at the centre of permanent controversy and, in the other, victim of all sorts of infighting and abuse of diverse origins. Despite this the Secretary General has always opted for silence for the simple reason that it must wade off attacks by detractors and other adversaries.

My party and I are going to exhaust national or international legal means to instil justice and stability in the UPC," Kodock said.The UPC boss said he was taking the matter to the knowledge of the Cameroon Union of Journalists, CUJ, and Reporters Sans Frontiere before proceeding with legal actions.

Meanwhile, the UPC SG saluted DO Mbozo'o's Order that banned the organisation of the Mack-Kit UPC congress.Kodock emphasised that his announced legal battle does not only target journalists but also his rivals. He alluded to Mack-Kit and Henri Hogbe Nlend as violators of the legal rights of the UPC party, adding that a lawsuit would be brought against them in national or international courts.

Worthy to note that with the wave of dissidence in the UPC, two factions were born in protest of the attitude of the party's SG. Following the legal battle to restore legitimacy and legality of the UPC, Kodock foiled the plans of his rival factions' mastermind, Henri Hogbe Nlend and Mac-Kit, who respectively ran separate factions of the UPC.

The Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation, Marafa Hamidou Yaya, decided in favour of the Kodock UPC.