Ayaba Cho Lucas (born August 1972) is an

Ambazonia Ambazonia, officially the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, also referred to as Amba Land, is an unrecognised breakaway state in West Africa which claims the Northwest Region and Southwest Region of Cameroon, though it currently controls almost ...

n activist. He is the former Secretary General of the

Southern Cameroons Youth League The Southern Cameroons Youth League (SCYL) was an Ambazonian independence movement, led by Ayaba Cho Lucas and Ebenezer Akwanga. While Ayaba went on to become the leader of the Ambazonia Governing Council, Akwanga saw SCYL transform into the Afric ...

(SCYL) and is the current leader of

Ambazonia Governing Council The Ambazonia Governing Council (AGovC) is an Ambazonian independence movement. The movement has been known as "hardline" compared to other major Ambazonian separatist movements, and unwilling to engage with federalists. Starting off with a compl ...

, a separatist organization in

Southern Cameroons The Southern Cameroons was the southern part of the British Empire, British League of Nations mandate territory of the British Cameroons in West Africa. Since 1961, it has been part of the Republic of Cameroon, where it makes up the Northwest Re ...

.
Ayaba was expelled from the University of Buea in 1993 because he had led a one-man demonstration against tuition increases; he has been in exile from

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

since then. He eventually ended up in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

, where he studied

human rights and development Development is a human right that belongs to everyone, individually and collectively. Everyone is “entitled to participate in, contribute to, and enjoy economic, social, cultural and political development, in which all human rights and fundamenta ...

at the

Norwegian University of Life Sciences The Norwegian University of Life Sciences ( no, Norges miljø- og biovitenskapelige universitet, NMBU) is a public university located in Ås, Norway. It is located at Ås in Viken, near Oslo, and at Adamstuen in Oslo and has around 5,200 stude ...

, and from where he has based his activism ever since. In January 2017, Ayaba was allegedly targeted for assassination in Brussels, Belgium.

Anglophone Crisis

As leader of the Ambazonia Governing Council, Ayaba and Chairman Benedict Kuah oversaw the creation of the

Ambazonia Defence Forces The Ambazonia Defence Forces (ADF) are a military organization that fights for the independence of Ambazonia, a self-declared independent state in the Anglophone regions of the former Southern Cameroons, Cameroon. It was formally established by th ...

, which carried out its first guerilla action on September 9, 2017. This was the first armed action by Ambazonian separatists in what would become known as the

Anglophone Crisis The Anglophone Crisis (), also known as the Ambazonia War or the Cameroonian Civil War, is an ongoing civil war in the Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon, part of the long-standing Anglophone problem. Following the suppression of the 2 ...

.ADF Lands Ground Troops in Southern Cameroons, Declares War on LRC
Cameroon Journal, Sept 10, 2017. Accessed Apr 19, 2018. This happened seven weeks before the

Interim Government of Ambazonia The Interim Government of Ambazonia is the provisional government in exile of the internationally unrecognized Federal Republic of Ambazonia. History Ayuk Tabe cabinet (2017–18) The Interim Government of Ambazonia was formed from the Sou ...

was established, and months before it endorsed an armed struggle. The AGC's relationship with the Interim Government was oftentimes strained. In March 2019, Ayaba refused to attend the All Southern Cameroons People’s General Conference in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, calling some of the attendants "enablers". The AGC did thus not become part of the

Southern Cameroons Liberation Council The Southern Cameroons Liberation Council (SCLC) is an Ambazonian umbrella movement, aiming to unite all Anglophone groups on a common front. As of April 2019, it consists of seven movements. Foundation The SCLC was established at the All South ...

. During the 2019 Ambazonian leadership crisis, Ayaba supported

Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe is an Ambazonian separatist leader, and is the disputed first president of the unrecognized Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

against

Samuel Ikome Sako Samuel Ikome Sako is an Ambazonian politician and incumbent president of the internationally unrecognized proto-state of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. He was elected president of the Interim Government a month after Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe ...

"out of principle". Ayaba argued that it was wrong to attack Ayuk Tabe, who had been under detention since January 2018. In July 2019, Ayaba claimed that Cameroon had practically lost the war, and that separatist forces controlled 80 percent of the Anglophone regions. On April 9, 2021, Ayaba held a joint press conference with

Nnamdi Kanu Nnamdi Okwu Kanu (born 25 September 1967) is a British-Nigerian political activist who advocates for the secession and independence of Biafra from Nigeria. He is the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), which he founded in 2014. ...

, leader of the

Indigenous People of Biafra The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) is a nationalist separatist group in Nigeria that aims to restore the Republic of Biafra, a country which seceded from Nigeria prior to the Nigerian Civil War (1967-1970) and later rejoined Nigeria after i ...

(IPOB), where they declared an alliance between Biafra and Ambazonia. Ayaba has also proposed an alliance with democratic forces within Cameroon, proposing that Ambazonia should help overthrow

Paul Biya Paul Biya (born Paul Barthélemy Biya'a bi Mvondo; 13 February 1933) is a Cameroonian politician who has served as the president of Cameroon since 6 November 1982.

. In March 2022, Ayaba Lucas Cho presented himself, on his Twitter page, as the sponsor of the terrorist attack of Ekondo Titi, which caused the death of seven people, including the sub-prefect and the mayor of this city. in the South West region of Cameroon.

Publication

Ayaba Cho Lucas, published the book ''"Not Guilty" An African Refugee Experience'', which is the journey of a black refugee through the complex and restrictive economic centre of fortress Europe as seen through the eyes of one person.

References

External links

Book Presentation "Not Guilty" An African Refugee Experience
thevoiceforum.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Lucas, Ayaba Cho 1972 births 20th-century English people 21st-century English people Living people Ambazonian independence activists People from Northwest Region (Cameroon)