Streets Reject Biya’s “Victory” Amid Western Media Whitewash

The announcement — delivered inside a hall filled with regime loyalists — gave Biya 53.66 percent against Issa Tchiroma Bakary’s 35.19 percent. Yet the declaration has sparked outrage, disbelief, and widespread violence from Douala to Garoua, with many calling it “a state-manufactured verdict.”

The anger grew not only from the ruling itself but also from the Western media’s complicity. Within hours of the announcement, several international outlets rushed to report that “Cameroon re-elected Paul Biya,” echoing Yaoundé’s narrative without even acknowledging the mountain of evidence shared publicly by the opposition. Issa Tchiroma’s campaign had published original polling station results—photographed, tabulated, and verified by independent monitors—on a public Google Drive, showing his clear victory. None of the Western reports mentioned these files or sought comment from his team.

Cameroon Concord’s analysis of the original PVs confirms that Tchiroma led in nine of ten regions, including a sweeping margin across the Grand North. Observers on the ground, many with identical copies of the tally sheets on their phones, validated those results. In contrast, Biya’s 92-year-old regime relied on opaque recounts handled by appointees of the ruling party within the Constitutional Council—a body chaired by his long-time ally Clement Atangana.

In Yaoundé, protests broke out around the Madagascar neighborhood and near the Palais des Sports, where anti-riot units used water cannons to disperse demonstrators. Residents described loud gunfire and clouds of tear gas. Shops around Mokolo Market shut down as security trucks encircled key junctions.

Douala saw scenes of urban warfare. Protesters burned tires across Texaco, New Bell, and Bonaberi, shouting “We voted for Tchiroma!” while gendarmes fled under a storm of stones. One young man was confirmed dead at Non Glacé after police opened fire. At Carrefour BIR, protesters raised banners reading “Biya Must Go — Power to the People.”

In Garoua, Tchiroma’s hometown, residents formed a human shield around his residence to prevent what they described as a planned night raid by security forces. Local reports indicate soldiers fired live rounds, killing several and injuring many. Meanwhile, the school of Yerima Dewa, accused of hosting regime snipers, was set ablaze by enraged citizens.

Similar uprisings spread across Bertoua, Guider, Ngaoundéré, and Bafang, where violence intensified after confirmed civilian deaths. In Bertoua, protesters torched a police truck after security forces opened fire on crowds.

As night fell, markets were shuttered by government order, and power outages darkened entire neighborhoods. Citizens warned telecom operators Orange and MTN not to collaborate in a state-ordered internet shutdown.

In a defiant address from his Garoua residence, President-elect Issa Tchiroma Bakary saluted those killed during the protests and called for calm, discipline, and solidarity. He also called for a nationwide peaceful march to Etoudi, the presidential palace, if the regime continues to suppress the truth of the ballots.

“We will not respond with violence,” Tchiroma said. “But we will not yield to fear either. The people’s will cannot be buried by decrees. We shall march to Etoudi, peacefully, to reclaim what belongs to the nation.”

Tchiroma’s legal team has demanded an international inquiry into the killings, accusing the Biya regime of crimes against humanity. Lawyers said the crackdown shows “a government on its last breath, clinging to power through force and deceit.”

Across the diaspora — from Berlin to Paris, Johannesburg to Toronto — Cameroonians rallied at embassies and public squares, rejecting both the official results and the global silence surrounding the violence. Many lamented that the same international press quick to praise the regime’s “stability” remains mute on its killings.

Political analysts say the Western narrative mirrors a long history of selective neutrality: protecting an aging strongman for geopolitical comfort while ignoring a people’s cry for democracy.

As Cameroon enters the night of October 27, it is clear that the streets have spoken — and their message is defiant. “We voted. Respect our choice.”