The man who facilitated the killing of hundreds of French Cameroon service men and women of Hausa extraction after the 1984 April 6 coup has died in the nation’s capital, Yaoundé.

Minister Amadou Ali, leader of the Fulani CPDM mafia was a staunch supporter and acolyte of President Paul Biya.

Cameroon Radio and Television confirmed his death a few hours ago but did not say what he died from.

Minister Amadou Ali reportedly collapsed in a flight from Geneva to Yaoundé and died some few hours later.

Since then scores of gendarmerie officers have stood guard outside his Yaoundé residence. Cameroon’s leading independent newspaper Cameroon Intelligence Report said last year that he had cancer and had shown signs of disorientation and rapid weight loss.

His trademarks were silent violence against political opponents and Fulani Beti Ewondo hegemony. Correspondents say his death is a severe blow to President Biya’s ruling CPDM party. The Biya regime is already reeling from the recent deaths of three ministers from Covid 19.

Amadou Ali was born in 1943 in Kolofata, in the Far North region of the country and has been appointed minister several times in the Biya Francophone regime. Since 2011, he has served as Minister in charge of Relations with the Assemblies.

Ali had a meteoric rise in the corrupt system in French Cameroun. He was First Deputy Prefect of Ngaoundéré (1971-1972), Director at the Ministry of Territorial Administration (1972-1974), Secretary General Ministry of Public Service (1974-1982), General Delegate for Tourism ( 1982-1983), Head of the National Gendarmerie (1983-1985) and was again Secretary of State for Defense in charge of the National Gendarmerie from 1985 to 1996.

In 1996, he was appointed Secretary General of the Presidency of the Republic in a move that was aimed at annoying Professor Titus Edzoa. He held the portfolio concurrently with his duties as Secretary of State for Defense. He was Minister-Delegate at the Presidency in charge of Defense from 1997 to 2001. He was also appointed Minister of State, in charge of Justice and Keeper of the Seals from 2001 to 2004.

By Chi Prudence Asong