The public funeral took place at the centenary stadium in Limbe, Fako Division of the South West region on Wednesday August 9, 2023.
Thousands of people gathered at the Centenary Stadium to pay their last respect to five of the six delegates who had been slain and buried by Separatists. One of them whose body was discovered in 2021 shortly after the kidnap had been burried. The rest of the delegates were murdered and buried in June 2021 by an Amba group commanded by a self-proclaimed general named ‘ten kobo’. The bodies of five of them were exhumed in August 2023.
At the stadium during the public funeral, an ecumenical service was held in their honor. The mourners were all in black clothing.
The South West Region Governor presided over the funeral service. The Governor of the South West Region, Bernard Okalia Bilai told reporters that, “These Are Trophies Of Amba Terrorism,” referring to the caskets and bodies of the slain delegates.
Present at the event was the representative of the Prime Minister and Head of Government, Chief of cabinet at the PM’s office, Balungeli Confiance Ebune, and the Minister delegate to the Minister of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development, Paul Tasong, Senator Mbella Moki Charles among others.
Senator Mbella Moki Charles frowned at the constant kidnap and killings sayings it is time “we rise up against such act of violence”.
The population were all unanimous that the time to end the crisis is now, calling on the fighters still in the bushes to down their arms and be reintegrated into the society.
The funeral was also attended by traditional authorities.
