The Head of State told the people of the vote-rich Far North Region during his maiden campaign rally in Maroua yesterday that he understands their challenges and is relentlessly working towards addressing them. The CPDM flagbearer expressed gratitude to the region for choosing to stand with him despite what he termed attempts by the opposition to blackmail him in a bid to boost their chances in next Sunday’s election.
The Head of State, Paul Biya has expressed his gratitude to the population of the Far North Region for standing with him in the leadup to the forthcoming 2025 presidential election despite the odds. The 92-year-old leader has promised to continue addressing the challenges of the population as a show of gratitude and compensation for the prolonged trust and love that the vote-rich region has shown him over the years whilst he holds the nation’s biggest office. Biya made the declarations in Maroua, capital of the Far North Region yesterday.
This was during his campaign rally in the Far North Region chief town in the preparation for next Sunday’s presidential election where he will be on the starting lineup seeking to secure a seven-year mandate that will extend his stay in the Unity Palace top office to 50 years. “I am deeply touched to see that so many of you have come to meet me.
Thank you for the support you have continued to show me, year in, year out, despite the daily challenges, despite the false omens, the slander, the fabrications,” the flagbearer of the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement, CPDM party stated amidst thunderous applauses from the thousands of his supporters and sympathizers. The Head of State said he is not surprised by the love that the population has shown him, insisting that it simply further demonstrates the courage and commitment that the population has towards him and his vision for the country. “I know your sincerity.
I know your loyalty. I feel good among you. You are aware of my sensitivity to the problems you face. You are aware of my frankness and my sincerity,” the president further stated. The president said he is strongly attached to the population of the region while going further to count some of the major projects that he has executed to directly and indirectly over the years to satisfy the needs of the region. Biya said he will build on the groundbreaking projects as he continues working tirelessly to meet the expectation of the people in full demonstration of the special warmth that he has for the region. “I am well aware of the problems that are of concern to you.
I am aware of the unfilled expectations that make you doubt the future. Based on my own experience, I can assure you that these problems are not impossible to overcome,” President Biya said.
Biya vows to introduce new projects
President Biya in the speech, went beyond counting his gains in the region to dishing out renewed promises of renewed hope to the population of the Far North Region and the country at large. He notably promised to put in place incentives that will further boost the socio-economic fiber of the nation and enhance self-entrepreneurship for young Cameroonians. The Head of State also vowed to boost efforts in educating and empowering more women at all levels.
Concerning the youth, the Head of State particularly promised to restructure the National Employment Fund to ensure that young people have the opportunities to find or create jobs despite their academic qualifications. “I made a commitment that the situation of women and young people would be at the heart off my concerns during the next seven-year term.
My goal, dear compatriots, is that every young person, wherever they may be, should have opportunities to easily find a job or become an entrepreneur. No young person, whether or not a certificate holder, will be left behind,” President Biya said. The president also announced that the state will make key adjustments in the areas of education, promising to further improve the professionalization of education while pledging similar strides in the sectors of vocational training and in information and communications technology, ICT.
“We will optimize the many programmes dedicated to young people and make the most of existing training centres and business incubators. We will also, at the same time, develop specific financing mechanisms or projects initiated by young people,” the CPDM said. On his project concern women, the Head of State was clear. He emphasized that “We should step up efforts to educate and empower women, as we need more women at all levels of responsibility.
We will ensure, more than in the past, that their rights are respected and that they are protected against all kinds of violence,” the Head of State stated while touching on the place of women on his agenda for the next seven years if he is given the chance to lead the nation for another mandate.
Biya’s Far North outing softening grounds amidst rising threat from opposition
Biya’s outings in the Far North Region is believed to be a well-calculated move from his end as he seeks to soften the grounds amidst the rising threats that he has been facing from his challengers in the ongoing presidential election race. Although Biya has been noted over the years for always opting to hold campaign rallies in the Far North Region ahead of presidential elections, yesterday’s outing is strongly believed to have been tailored to calm down the relatively speeding wind of change that had been caused by candidates like Issa Tchiroma Bakary of the Cameroon National Salvation Front, FSNC.
Tchiroma, a longtime ally of President Biya, has over the last months, emerged as Biya’s biggest challenger. The 75-year-ol’s prominence as the incumbent’s lead challenge particularly gained prominence in the last two weeks after he held multiple groundbreaking pre-campaign and campaign rallies in several parts of the country.
The outings saw Tchiroma strongly connecting with the Cameroonian people, especially the younger demographic who are believed to have identified in the former Communications Minister, a man who can anchor the nation’s ship pass the storm that it has been going through over the last few decades. Among them, rising economic hardship, youth unemployment, the lack of proper healthcare facilities, poor road networks among others.
House Speaker steals show in Maroua
Biya’s rally in Maroua was not only punctuated by his multiple promises about a better life for the population of the Far North Region which retains its strategic position heading into next Sunday’s election as the region with the second highest number of registered voters with over a million voters. The gathering was also animated by a rather strange performance by the Speaker of the National Assembly, Honorable Cavaye Yeguie Djibril.
The CPDM strongman for the Far North Region left a greater section of the thousands of CPDM supporters and sympathizers who turned out at the ceremonial ground stunned after he relatively had a mix up while delivering his speech, an error that resulted to him having him difficult to put together his ideas as he addressed the population ex tempo.
Despite the multiple mix ups, the members of parliament did just enough in finally getting his messages through as he notably used his rich political experience to, in the simplest of manners possible, vote for Biya during next Sunday’s election. “I know you have to vote. Of course, you need to vote. But while vote, choose the white ballot and slot it into the ballot box and tear down the other ballot papers,” the House Speaker stated.
He also touched on several issues affecting the region. Notable among them issues in the areas of education where he frowned against the phenomenon of teachers abandoning their places of placements in interiors and preferring to stay in urban areas while learners suffer in interiors. The House Speaker however failed to clear the spirit of concern that has been raised among Cameroonians by his blunders in the speech with many blaming the errors to his old age as an 85-year-old.
Multiple videos of the blunders quickly flooded social media platforms with many using his errors to point accusing fingers at the ageing leadership that the country has had in place over the last years.
