Cameroon: CFM Reaffirms Federalism as the Only Path to Lasting Peace Ahead of 2025 Elections

By Adonis Byemelwa

Yaoundé — As Cameroon prepares for its presidential elections on October 12, 2025, the Cameroon Federalist Movement (CFM), the country’s largest federalist association, is renewing its call for a return to federalism as the only viable path toward peace, stability, and accountable governance.

Founded in 2018, CFM emerged from the conviction that federalism is not merely a political option, but a necessity born out of lived realities.

 For anglophones, this reality is one of long-standing discrimination, cultural subjugation, and the erosion of identity within a francophone-dominated system.

For the wider nation, however, the “Cameroon problem” reflects something even deeper: a political structure suffocated by hyper-centralization, where power in Yaoundé has too often translated into corruption, nepotism, and unaccountability.

“Federalism addresses both crises simultaneously,” said Dr. Wilson L. Eseme, Jr, President of CFM. “It restores dignity to the marginalized while creating a system where every Cameroonian has a voice in shaping their future.”

CFM’s advocacy has not gone unnoticed. In 2019, the movement was invited to the Major National Dialogue (MND) convened by President Paul Biya.

There, CFM presented its federalist blueprint—a detailed 20-point agenda designed to rebuild Cameroon on the foundation of shared power, justice, and equity.

At the heart of this blueprint lies a non-negotiable principle: the restoration of a federal system of government that guarantees full autonomy to the former British Southern Cameroons—the Northwest and Southwest regions.

CFM stresses that proposals such as decentralization or “special status” are inadequate half-measures that fail to meet the aspirations of the people.

Looking toward the 2025 elections, CFM is opening its doors to dialogue with all presidential candidates, including the incumbent, so long as they share a genuine commitment to federalism and the building of a more just and united Cameroon.

“This is not about politics as usual,” Dr. Eseme emphasized. “It is about correcting decades of imbalance and giving Cameroonians a system that reflects their diversity and respects their dignity. Federalism is not a slogan—it is the future.”