Donga Mantong Division: Humanitarian crisis hits Nwa subdivision!.

According to trusted sources, heavily armed Fulanis with knives, batons and munitions raged onslaught on the community, setting ablaze homes and properties in Upper Mbat on Friday, February 13, 2026.  

The same group of persons whom locals said were speaking the Fulani language, later attacked the Lower Mbat on Saturday, February 14.

The group, with reported roots to neighbouring Nigeria, looted properties, carted away cattle and destroyed hundreds of houses, including public structures like schools and churches.

The incident provoked fear and chaos, with hundreds of residents escaping into the bushes. Confirming the tragic incident, the National President of Mbat Development and Cultural Association, Young Pius Sobe, blamed the incident on Fulanis. 

He said it was the third time the Fulanis were carrying out such attacks in Mbat village.

Sobe stated that while in search of Amba fighters during the first Fulani attack, six innocent youths were killed.

According to the community leader, the Fulanis, together with the fellows from areas in Ndu Subdivision, have taken their cattle to Mbat village against a Prefectoral Order.

He noted that the former Senior Division Officer, SDO, of Donga Mantung, Dr Nkwenti Simon had signed an order banning grazing activities in the Mbaw plain, including Mbat.

In the May 26, 2023 Prefectoral Order, he said the Head of State’s representative had given a 15-day ultimatum for grazers already on the Mbaw plain to vacate the area. He added that traditional rulers of the nomadic communities and local administrative authorities were charged with strict implementation of the decision. 

The decision, Sobe stated, was taken in a bid to stop recurrent disputes between indigenes and grazers over destruction of properties.  Sobe noted that the exact reason behind the recent Fulani attack is yet to be established.

Detailing casualties 

According to Sobe, over 205 houses have so far been burnt, with at least 850 persons in Mbat displaced. In addition, he said Government School Mbat and Baptist Church in Upper Mbat, have been raised to ashes as well as 155 maize bans destroyed.

He equally counted six motorcycles and 38 goats that were taken away with 15 provision stores looted.

Growing humanitarian needs

Since the incident, some heart-wrenching videos have emerged on the internet, showing hundreds of villagers taking refuge in the bushes. The people lack shelter, food or basic needs, especially women and girls, community leaders stated.

As at the time we went to press, no statement had been issued by government with regards to the displaced persons or the barbaric attack.

Meanwhile, The Guardian Post gathered that elite of Nwa Subdivision are mobilising together with the municipal authority, to get basic necessities to assist those in the bushes.

In the meantime, the village development committee leader has plead with the powers that be to see into the matter urgently. Sobe said if the rainy season sets in without those displaced assisted, the situations of the Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, could worsen.

Sobe has also called on government to “urgently” create a military post in Upper Mbat, which is the gateway to Mfumte Clan in Nwa Subdivision. This, he said, will contribute greatly in controlling the situation.

“An urgent reconstruction scheme should be carried out in Mbat village to solve the problem of lack of shelter for the displaced population,” he stated, adding that: “The access road from Ntamru in Ndu Subdivision, to Mbat village in Nwa Subdivision, should be opened so as to improve accessibility to this area in case of any emergency as the road is the gate way to Mfumte Clan in Nwa Sub Division; right down to Lus village at the border to Nigeria,” he further explained.

He also pleaded for the reconstruction of the destroyed Government School Mbat and Baptist Church in Upper Mbat, to accommodate pupils and Christians respectively. He equally called for a thorough investigation to be carried out to bring the perpetrators to book. 

Epicentre of kidnappings for ransom

Since the Anglophone crisis morphed into an armed conflict, the rate of kidnappings for ransom has become rampant in Nwa Subdivision. 

A trusted source confirmed to The Guardian Post that between January and February 2026, there have been 15 kidnappings for ransom orchestrated by the armed Fulanis in Mbat village alone!

Three passengers out of five, were recently kidnapped along the road linking the Nwa Subdivision to the West Region. The hostages, all male, were reportedly required to pay huge sums of money in exchange for their freedom, our source stated.

Last Monday, a Sub Chief in the area was also napped and taken to an unknown destination by men believed to be Fulanis, despite the resistance from a few villagers. 

MP condemns vile attack on constituents

Meanwhile, the Member of Parliament, MP, for Nwa Subdivision, Hon Edward Adamu Lambe, has condemned in the strongest terms the attacks on Mbat village, which he has described as one too many.

“We condemn this with the highest energy that one can imagine,” he told The Guardian Post. 

He said his people feel betrayed by their Fulani “brothers,” who instead of confronting separatist fighters, are rather plundering the innocent communities and wreaking havoc on the people who unconditionally welcomed them into their communities several decades ago.

“If the attackers were out for separatists, we would have given them 100% support. But they went burning houses, luckily, a good number of the people in the village got the information and ran out for their lives before they [Fulanis] could get to some of the homes. If not, the casualties would have been terrible,” he added. 

The lawmaker also mentioned that the Fulanis have also been terrorising the population in other parts of the Subdivision unperturbedly.

Despite efforts to get government authorities to stop them, he said very little has been done by government to arrest the situation.

“We are like orphans who do not have who to take care of them. It's true that the State has sent in some military people to Nwa but the number is so minimal that they can't meet up to the security demands,” he said. He added that he has been to the Minister of Defence and the Gendarmerie boss to lay complaints on several occasions without any results.

According to him, the same scenario reigns in other parts of the Subdivision. He cited Gom, Nkot, Ntamru, Ntarba villages and the Mbaw Plain. Hon Adamu also accused the Fulanis of haven besieged his constituents with the business of ransom-takings.

“They kidnap a person today and the next day they are releasing the person to kidnap the next person…they're asking for ransom; 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8 million. My people are farmers. When you ask for this sum of money from farmers, how will you have it?” he worried.

“They sell their homes, lands, farmlands or properties in order to pay ransoms just to survive. For how long should this go on in Nwa Subdivision?” he questioned. 

Bigger threat to nation

Nwa Subdivision is strategically positioned in the North West Region. The Subdivision shares a long and porous border with Nigeria. The Subdivision also shares a border with Magba in the West Region and Bankim in Adamawa Region. It further shares borders with Ndu Subdivision, Nkambe Subdivision, Ako Subdivision and Mbven Subdivision under Bui Division in the North West Region.

According to the MP, the porous nature of the terrain, coupled with the recent Fulanis activities, pose a serious security concern, not only to Nwa Subdivision, but the entire nation as a whole. 

“If you don't rescue our Subdivision, the situation will deteriorate and when it deteriorates, the entire nation will be at risk because it's an entrance and exit through Nigeria. We know that the proliferation of arms from Nigeria into Cameroon is very common,” he added. 

 This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3708 of Thursday February 19, 2026