The Archbishop of  the Bamenda Diocese His Lordship Cornelius Fontem Esua has said that the hypothesis of suicide should to be ruled out in the Bishop Balla affair. Correspondingly, the national opinion is also not yet settled on the death of Bishop Jean-Marie Benoît Bala whose body was found on the 2^nd of June 2017 in the Sanaga River.

The much respected Archbishop Esua stated that the statement found in the late Bishop’s car “I am in the water” is plain fiction.  Cornelius Esua Fontem said “We are expecting serious inquiries from the Government. We need to go deeper, to find out what happened to him, how he was able to find himself there. A bishop of the fabric of Bishop Jean-Marie Benoît Bala does not commit suicide.’

Archbishop Esua further pointed out that “As a bishop you are here to bring comfort to those who suffer, who doubt. We cannot be the first to kill ourselves. Bishop Bala did not seem to us as much troubled as that. And then this is a rare case in the history of the church. Bishops do not commit suicide.”

Archbishop Esua had known the Bishop of Bafia for many years.  He was the co-consecrator of his Episcopal ordination when he was appointed bishop and both religious leaders remained connected, both within the Episcopal Conference, where they worked in synergy and in the pastoral leadership of their respective dioceses.

By Soter Agbaw-Ebai

Cameroon Intelligence Report