Breaking: Agbor Balla Endorses Issa Tchiroma

The announcement, delivered from Garoua, follows Tchiroma’s public apology to Anglophones for the suffering inflicted during years of crisis. It is the most symbolic endorsement yet from the civil society wing of Cameroon’s long-running national debate — and a direct challenge to the legacy of the Biya regime that once jailed Agbor Balla himself.

THE ENDORSEMENT THAT SHOCKED THE ESTABLISHMENT

Agbor Balla, who rose to international prominence after being arrested in 2017 during the lawyers’ and teachers’ protests that triggered the Anglophone conflict, described his decision as “a choice for reconciliation, not for politics.”

He praised Tchiroma’s apology as “a courageous act of humility and moral leadership” and endorsed his proposal for a transitional government, arguing that Cameroon must first heal before it can truly govern itself again.

The symbolism is striking: a man once jailed by the same ruling system that Tchiroma served as minister now publicly embracing him as a potential bridge-builder.

“Tchiroma’s apology to Anglophones was not political theatre — it was a moment of reckoning,” Agbor Balla said. “If we cannot forgive, we cannot rebuild.”

FROM PRISONER TO POWER BROKER

Agbor Balla’s endorsement carries deep emotional weight. He spent eight months in detention at Kondengui Central Prison after being charged with “terrorism” and “hostilities against the fatherland” — charges later dropped after domestic and international pressure.
His arrest was emblematic of the CPDM government’s broader crackdown on dissent during the early stages of the Anglophone crisis, when peaceful protests over legal and educational reforms were met with force.

Released in August 2017 by presidential decree, Agbor Balla returned to advocacy, founding the Center for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa (CHRDA), which has since documented extrajudicial killings, school burnings, and mass detentions in both English-speaking regions.

Today, his voice still carries moral credibility among Anglophones and international partners alike. His choice to back Tchiroma — a former regime insider — is therefore seen as a strategic gamble for peace.

TCHIROMA’S APOLOGY: A POLITICAL OLIVE BRANCH

When Issa Tchiroma Bakary stood before a crowd in Bamenda last week and asked forgiveness “from every Anglophone who has suffered from injustice or neglect,” few expected the words to resonate beyond the rally grounds.
But the moment went viral, amplified by videos showing tears, chants, and even disbelief from locals unaccustomed to hearing contrition from Yaoundé politicians.

For many, it marked the first time a leading Francophone politician had acknowledged state failures in managing the crisis that erupted in 2016 — a conflict that has displaced more than a million people and left over 6,000 dead, according to humanitarian monitors.

Tchiroma’s campaign team describes the apology as “an olive branch to rebuild trust.” His promise of a limited transitional mandate — focused on peace, devolution, and institutional reform — mirrors Agbor Balla’s own vision of restorative politics.

Still, skepticism runs deep. Some view the gesture as opportunism from a former Biya loyalist seeking redemption. Others see a calculated step by Paris-aligned elites to reset relations after Robert Bourgi’s recent denunciation of Biya as a “political corpse.”

Either way, the symbolism has altered the tone of the campaign’s final days.

THE PRISONERS WHO DEFINE THE CRISIS

Cameroon’s political and moral fault line runs through the prison walls of Yaoundé’s Kondengui Central Prison.

Inside are men whose names have become shorthand for both resistance and repression:

Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe, self-proclaimed leader of the Ambazonian interim government, sentenced to life in 2019 alongside nine others.
Tassang Wilfred, unionist and activist, also serving a life sentence after military trial.
Mancho Bibixy (“Mancho BBC”), journalist and initiator of the 2016 “coffin revolution,” serving 15 years under the 2014 anti-terror law.

Their imprisonment — widely condemned by human rights groups — remains one of the most emotive barriers to peace.

Agbor Balla’s endorsement implicitly reopens this question: if Tchiroma wins, what becomes of the detainees whose fate has come to symbolise state cruelty and moral inertia?

THE FIVE IMPERATIVES FOR CREDIBLE RECONCILIATION

Analysts consulted by Cameroon Concord outline five actions a Tchiroma presidency would need to take immediately to turn apology into policy:

End military trials for civilians. Return all civilian political cases to ordinary courts to restore legality.
Publish a verified detainee list. Transparency would signal seriousness and prevent ongoing disappearances.
Order targeted releases and amnesties. Starting with non-violent activists and journalists.
Announce a structured ceasefire corridor. Protect schools, markets, and hospitals from both sides’ hostilities.
Launch a truth and reconciliation commission with a 12-month mandate, empowered to document violations by all sides.

None of these require constitutional reform — only political will and courage.

A WAGER ON HUMILITY

For many observers, the Agbor Balla–Tchiroma alignment is as psychological as it is political.
It confronts two unspoken truths: that the Biya era’s reflexes of denial are exhausted, and that the Anglophone struggle has outgrown both fear and secessionist absolutism.

“Humility is the new politics,” says a Douala-based sociologist. “Cameroonians are no longer impressed by command. They are listening for who can say ‘we failed.’”

If that diagnosis is correct, Tchiroma’s apology and Agbor Balla’s endorsement form a narrative bridge — one that neither the ruling CPDM nor the hardline rebel factions can easily control.

COULD TCHIROMA WIN — AND WHAT WOULD IT MEAN?

The numbers remain uncertain, but momentum in the Far North suggests that Tchiroma’s campaign has broken through traditional barriers. His deep regional roots, coupled with endorsements from prominent civil society figures like Agbor Balla, have turned him into a credible challenger rather than a token oppositionist.

If he were to win, the implications would be historic. For Anglophones, it could mean the first real chance in decades for political rehabilitation and institutional listening.
For Francophone elites, it would signal the end of an era where the presidency was a fortress of silence.
And for Biya’s inner circle — long accused of governing on autopilot — it would mark the collapse of the last mythology of permanence.

A LONG ROAD TO TRUST

Skeptics caution that apologies and endorsements will not erase memories of the government’s own excesses, many of which were committed while Tchiroma himself served as Minister of Communication and government spokesman.
For victims of military raids, arbitrary arrests, and village burnings, the burden of proof is heavy.

Yet, for the first time in nearly a decade, the national conversation includes words like “forgiveness,” “transitional justice,” and “national rebuilding.”
If these concepts survive the election cycle, they may outlast the candidates themselves.

AGBOR BALLA’S STRATEGIC WISDOM

For Agbor Balla, this endorsement is less about aligning with a politician and more about forcing the system to confront its own contradictions.
By supporting a former minister who has apologised, he is testing whether Cameroon is ready to value humility over hierarchy.

His credibility — as a former detainee, academic, and advocate — ensures that Tchiroma cannot easily backtrack. Every step of a future reconciliation process will now be watched by civil society figures empowered to hold the new leadership to its promises.

In effect, Agbor Balla has created a moral insurance policy for the Anglophone cause: if Tchiroma delivers, the country heals; if he betrays, history will mark it.

THE FINAL VERDICT

Cameroon has known endurance, not renewal. Its leaders have ruled by inertia, not imagination.
With Agbor Balla’s endorsement of Issa Tchiroma, a different script is unfolding — one in which apology is power, and contrition may yet become policy.

Whether it succeeds or collapses under the weight of history will depend on the sincerity of tomorrow’s actions: justice for the imprisoned, truth for the silenced, and a presidency that dares to heal what it once helped break.

Read the full investigation and follow post-election coverage on Cameroon Concord.