Why INONI May be Freed

Arrested alongside Marafa Hamidou Yaya, former Prime Minister, Head of Government apparently seem no to have any case to answer in connection to the failed purchase of the Presidential Plane. Prime Minister Ephraim Inoni whom no Cameroonian doubts his degree of honesty and his fight while in government against embezzlement and corrupt practices seem to have been arrested in error or merely to justify the arrest of Marafa. Since arrested and detained alongside Marafa and about the whole dossier on the Albatross affaire completed, neither Marafa nor Fotso is mentioning Inoni’s name even in a remote sense. At the time of his arrest, it was highly rumoured that his connection came about as Chairman of a leasing company. During the last hearing at the Mfoundi High court the state Council rather revealed that the company was Fotso’s creation and that Fotso owned 80 percent of shares in that company while Marafa owned 20%. The debates over the Albatross affair have so far vindicated Chief Ephraim Inoni who during his tenure as Assistant Secretary General was never even remotely connected to this juicy dossier. As an Anglophone, Marafa did not estime that Inoni could be part of a critical and delicate mission as that of the purchase of  a Presidential Plane. Thinking that as ASG he would have been involved his detractors ordered for his arrest against the wish of President Biya. Today, they find it practically difficult linking him to this dossier. On the contrary, it is becoming clear that Marafa and Fotso remain the main culprits in the Albatross affair. During hearings in court last August 27, the State Council revealed that it was Marafa not Meva’a Meboutou who ordered for the disbursement of the $29 out of the $31 million and that the money ended up in the bank account of GIA, an American company contacted by Fotso and that the same amount finally found its way back into CBC bank where Fotso has created a special account for it. Of the 29 US dollars, some $1.150 000 million went into Marafa’s account. Although Marafa claimed he never knew the source of that money the State council faulted him on grounds that his bank account number could not have been in the possession of Fotso Victor without him know what business they had. The court even debunked Marafa’s earlier arguments that he never knew Fotso. In all, Inoni’s name does not appear and this is clear evidence that he was never even remotely connected to this business. In the earlier judgements where Atangana Mebara was accused and discharged in connection to the same Albatross affair, Kevin Wells who was earlier presented as having worked on the APM board with Chief Inoni Ephraim was equally discharged and acquitted on grounds that they had no case to answer. If today Inoni is being kept under detention and under such despicable conditions, it can only mean that his enemies are at work. Knowing who President Biya is and knowing his yearning for justice, he would soon find out the truth and set INONI and others free. It will not be long before the whole truth comes out. Also knowing that he is not guilty, Inoni has maintained his calm and has not gone into writing letters and sueing Biya in foreign courts like others. As we adopt the attitude of wait and see, it is very imperative that we salute Chief Ephraim Inoni’s steadfastness to state institutions and his belief in the justice system that will soon find hin ‘not guilty as charged’ as the evidence is collapsing like a pack of cards.