Etoudi: What Awaits Joshua Osih Against Paul Biya

In the presidential election of October 2018, the candidate of the Democratic Rally of the Cameroonian People (CPDM), Paul Biya, will face him Joshua Osih, 49, of the Social Democratic Front (SDF) party founded by John Fru Ndi.

So decided the last congress of the party held this weekend. So if on the side of power, the "king Biya" does not envisage, in any case for the moment, to give up the place he occupies in the palace of Etoudi for 35 years, to someone else, he The situation is different in the main opposition party.

This can be called a makeover for the SDF, in a context where presidents-founders, in general, only have the vision of governing their political parties for life. It is true, on the eve of the appointment of the businessman from the English-speaking Southwest as challenger of the CPDM candidate, the SDF had renewed its charismatic leader, John Fru Ndi. John Fru Ndi remains at the head of the party and Joshua Osih positions himself as a candidate of the SDF in the next presidential election.

Etoudi: What Awaits Joshua Osih Against Paul Biya

Even in this configuration, it is already a fact that after having failed several presidential elections, Fru Ndi agrees to draw all the conclusions leaving room for another activist who, moreover, is not not of his biological lineage, to "continue" the fight.

This is a political paradigm shift that must be commended, for a party that has experienced resignations, and cascading exclusions of activists whose only fault was to have wanted, at some point, replace John Fru Ndi at the head of the SDF.

That said, we can think that the renewal of the man at the head of the party, is intended, among other things, to bring together the different clans and to channel the currents of thought that cross the party towards the same goal which is the safeguard unity and cohesion.

Indeed, the major problem that arises today is to know what will happen to the presidential candidacy of Joshua Osih, in a context marked by the Anglophone crisis. Clearly, whether it is the "outgoing president," "not released," to paraphrase Prof. Joseph Ki-Zerbo or the nominee, Joshua Osih, both are in the strategic and political obligation to wet the jersey to hope upset the current political configuration in Yaoundé.

Because, the doors of the Palace of Etoudi do not open as easily as those of the market of Douala. Taken between the hammer of the English-speaking separatists who refuse that their reference party, the SDF, participates in an election organized by the central Cameroonian government, and the anvil of the natural adversary that is the RDPC, Osih has a lot to do.

He must know how to maneuver like a cyclist in the middle of two precipices, to achieve his presidential ambitions. In any case, the near future will tell us if, during his "reign," John Fru Ndi sowed the good seed to ensure a winning succession to the homeless or if Cameroonians, for the most part, agree to drink at source of the Fountain of Youth of the Anglophone Party.

Source -- Etoudi: What Awaits Joshua Osih Against Paul Biya