A senior official at the UK consular service in Yaounde, has described as “misleading, utterly irresponsible and malicious”, media reports that the Lord Mayor of the Buea City Council, Ekema Patrick Esunge, was recently refused a visa to travel to London for the Commonwealth Sustainable Cities Network Conference.

The source who sued for anonymity because he was not authorized by the UK consular service to make any public pronouncement on the issue, said the scandalous and misleading media reports were all in his words “mud splashing and misdirected fire” aimed at the mayor not Her Majesty’s Government.

Our chief intelligence officer gathered that the UK consular officials in the nation’s capital, Yaoundé were shocked and scandalized by the report published by The Post newspaper.  Cameroon Intelligence Report was informed that Mayor Ekema did not travel with the other Cameroon government delegates and mayors for the conference even though his visa was effectively issued on July 12, 2016 because he needed to secure a service passport from the Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralization.

Our source at the UK consulate hinted that the misleading newspaper reports that Mayor Ekema was refused a visa for the CSCN in London was intended to spark a diplomatic row between the United Kingdom and Cameroon. Mayor Ekema was actually issued a six-month UK visa for the trip and when contacted to comment on the development, he observed that his lawyers were already ‘handling the matter so that those behind the story can face justice”.

Cham Victor Bama (Cameroon Intelligence Report)