Cameroon | “History Is Watching You”: Eric Chinje’s Defiant Challenge to the Constitutional Council

In an open message titled “L’histoire vous observe” (“History is Watching You”), Chinje — speaking through the civic movement Project C — reminds council members of the enormous historical and constitutional weight now resting on their shoulders. His letter arrives amid a nationwide crisis of legitimacy, as mounting evidence and witness reports suggest widespread manipulation of results from the October 12 presidential election, which, according to independent tabulations, was won by Issa Tchiroma Bakary.

A Constitutional Appeal with the Weight of History

Citing Article 47 of Cameroon’s Constitution, Chinje reminds the Council that it alone holds “the supreme authority to rule on the regularity of presidential elections and to proclaim the results.” He argues this power is neither ceremonial nor procedural, but a sacred duty — one that places the Council as “the final guardians of the Republic’s legitimacy and the people’s sovereignty.”

In a country where institutions have long been hollowed out by political obedience, Chinje’s message is less an appeal than a test: Will the Constitutional Council serve the people — or the presidency?

He continues, invoking Article 113 of the Electoral Code, which obliges election officials to publish polling-station results immediately after counting — a safeguard designed to ensure transparency.
But this law, Chinje warns, has been systematically violated. Citizens across the country documented results via photos and videos — many now circulating widely online — that contradict the totals currently being compiled in Yaoundé.

“These discrepancies are not administrative errors,” Chinje writes. “They are fundamental violations of the law. In principle and in law, any result born of an illegal process is itself illegal.”

The Anatomy of a Familiar Fraud

For election observers, Chinje’s letter exposes what many already know: that Cameroon’s electoral apparatus has long been engineered to preserve Paul Biya’s extended rule through manipulation dressed in legality.

The tactics are well rehearsed — and this year, more brazen than ever:

• Ballot substitutions and falsified tallies, particularly in regions under tight administrative control;

• Compromised “election observers,” often funded or coordinated by regime-linked entities;

• Selective invalidation of polling stations where the opposition scored large victories;

• Police and gendarme intimidation, targeting opposition monitors and voters;

• And, as seen this week, internet disruptions designed to paralyze communication and slow the flow of evidence.

For over four decades, this machinery has sustained a fragile illusion of democracy — one where the ritual of voting is permitted, but its outcome predetermined. Yet, in 2025, that illusion is cracking.

A People Awakened

Across the country, the evidence is no longer confined to rumor or whispers.
Cameroonians have filmed, photographed, and uploaded thousands of polling-station tallies. From Garoua to Kaélé, Ngaoundéré to Guider, Maroua to Mokolo, and throughout the diaspora, one result stands out unmistakably: Issa Tchiroma Bakary secured the majority of the vote — over 54% by independently verified tallies.

Chinje’s appeal resonates because it names what millions already feel — that the regime is attempting to manufacture consent after the people have clearly withdrawn it.

“Your oath does not bind you to an individual or an institution,” Chinje reminds the Council.
“It binds you to the Republic, the Constitution, and the Cameroonian people.”

The Legal and Moral Imperative

Chinje lays out a clear, lawful roadmap for the Council to reclaim credibility:

1. Compare official tallies with public evidence from polling stations.

2. Order an independent audit, preferably with international observers.

3. Reject unverifiable or contradictory figures.

4. Delay any proclamation until discrepancies are transparently resolved.

If the results are legitimate, transparency will confirm it.
If they are not, the Council’s duty is to declare so.

Failing that, Chinje dares them to act with integrity: issue a dissenting opinion, resign in protest, or refuse to validate fraud.

“Such acts of conscience,” he writes, “would be recognized as courageous and honorable.”

It is a line that carries the moral gravity of history’s mirror — not just to the judges in Yaoundé, but to every official who has traded duty for silence.

A Regime Cornered

For the embattled Biya government, Chinje’s letter represents more than a moral rebuke; it is an existential threat to the entire architecture of control.
Biya’s longevity — over 40 years in power — has depended on an elaborate choreography: handpicked electoral commissions, pliant courts, and state-sponsored observers whose statements are pre-written before the polls even close.

The pattern is predictable. Each election ends with:

• A hastily convened proclamation ceremony in Yaoundé;

• An announcement confirming the incumbent’s victory;

• A brief wave of international “concern” followed by quiet normalization.

But this year’s dynamic has changed. The streets of the Grand North are defiant, the diaspora is vocal, and the digital footprint of truth is indelible.

Even elements within the state — security forces, civil servants, and local administrators — are reportedly showing cracks of hesitation.

Cameroon’s Moment of Reckoning

Chinje’s words echo across a nation at the edge of transformation.

“Your silence or acquiescence in the face of manifest irregularities will not be forgotten. The legacy you leave will be carried by your children and written in the history of our nation.”

As protests continue in the north, internet access remains disrupted, and diplomatic eyes turn toward Yaoundé, the Constitutional Council’s next move could determine whether Cameroon steps into the light of democratic accountability — or sinks further into institutional decay.

In the end, Project C’s letter is less a document than a mirror.
It reflects a truth that can no longer be denied: Cameroon’s democracy has been kidnapped — and its people are demanding its release.

When history asks what the Council did at this defining hour, the question will linger long after the ink dries:
Did they defend democracy — or validate its subversion?