February 2008 unrests in Cameroon:Lapiro returned to Mbanga prison

The prison transfer of the famed musician comes ahead of the resumption of his trial on 27 August over allegations that he incited youths to revolt during unrests last February

By Ntaryike Divine, Jr. in Douala

Incarcerated ace musician, Pierre Roger Lambo Sandjo alias Lapiro, has changed prisons. The traditional ruler and SDF scribe arrested and detained since April this year for inciting youths to revolt during unrests last February, has been moved from the Nkongsamba prison to another in his native Mbanga.

His lawyer, Maitre Mouanfo, told reporters in Nkongsama Wednesday, 20 August that the transfer was requested by his client. He, however, failed to advance reasons. Eyewitnesses said the musician was clad in white as he was led away amidst tight police security in the company of his spouse.

Soon after his arrest, Lapiro was briefly held at the Mbanga prison before being transferred to Nkongsamba at the behest of the state prosecutor. His trial, begun last 8 July at the Nkongsamba High Court, will resume on 27 August. It will be the third time the famed musician will mount the docks to defend charges that he instructed droves of protesters last February to raze banana plantations and some companies in the Mbanga area. Lapiro has refuted the accusations.

Meantime, his lawyers, led by the SDF’s Augustin Mbami, rated as sharply contradictory evidence emerging against their client at the last court hearing. During a lengthy 15-hour- cross examination last month, a total nine witnesses including the mayor and DO for Mbanga, heaved particularly incriminating evidence against the musician.

Pierre Monama, a staffer with the Societé des Plantations de Mbanga [SPM], which was razed during the February protests, said the company managers rang Lapiro, imploring him to pacify raging rioters who had besieged the company premises. The mayor of Mbanga, Jacques Mbonjo said from his office window, he spotted Lapiro emphatically dishing out instructions to rioters on structures to tear down. According to him, the musician had more than a hundred riot-ready youth at his beck and call between 25 and 28 February.

Mbanga DO, Simon Nkwenti, said Lapiro claimed to be the only one capable of calming the riotous youth, and so he gave him the authority to do so. But he said the musician never reported back to him, and he was scandalised that the man he considered an opinion leader attempted to extort money from the SPM managers for the purpose. He said Lapiro engaged a bargain, demanding an upfront payment of between 500.000 and 2 million FCFA to placate the rioters.