Bamenda: Armed Men Abduct Widower At Wife's Wake Keep

 By Raymond Dingana

Armed men last friday 12 March 2021, stormed a week keep in Nkwen and abducted the widower.

Acording to some of the mourners that were at the wake,the gun men stormed the compound and took the old man away despite pleas from them.

He said, they pleaded with the boys to consider the fact that the family was mourning and were in pains. 

He added that, the boys paid a deaf ear and insisited on taking the old man away which they finally did.

He was only released Saturday march 13, after a ransome had been paid with signs of torture written all over him reason why he was immediately rushed to a health facility for medical attention. 

As if that wasn't enough, the wife's mortal remains were blocked from entering her compund Saturday by an injuction order said to have come from the palace of Nkwen. 

The body would later be conveyed to the palace for the bereaved family to answer some questions.

We later gathered that, the reason for the injunction was because the family wanted to lay to rest their loved one on a 'traditional holiday' or 'contry sunday' which was being observed by the people of Nkwen on that saturday.

 Mama Helen as she was popularly called was interred saturday at about 5PM after the palace finally realeased the body.

 It is alledged a huge sum was handed to the palace before the family was allow to take the body for burial.

The quater head of Ndamukong and his collaborators have all come under fire from some inhabitants for not warning the bereaved family when they came to put them in the know about the burial arrangements.

They indicated that, they were supposed to have warned the family of Mama Helen and only purnish them if and only if they went against the warnings.

A school of thought holds that, not warning the family was a delibrate act to extort them. They said they would have told them about saturday being a 'contry sunday' in Nkwen and that, it was prohibited to dig the soil for any reason.

The bereaved family has also had its own share of the blames. According to sources closed to the family, they have lived in Nkwen for about 35 years and should not have been the ones to suffer such in the hands of a traditional institution they know too well.

To the abductors, this old woman from Bali Nyonga was categorical in her warning to them. she said'' if this is how they want to be doing it, they will not leave long, they will perish like flies, the curses they have been inviting upon themselves will hunt them for ever,'' she said.

Others have also reacted with bitterness asking the question as to how people will kidnap an old man whose deceased wife was still in the mortuary, torture him and still collect monies from the family.

Mama Helen was a popular roasted fish vendor at the mile 2 junction neighborhood in Nkwen.

Bird Eye View Of Bamenda