The Ambazonia People’s Liberation Authority (APLA) has endorsed a call for residents across Southern Cameroons to stay at home on Thursday 19 November, in solidarity with Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe and nine fellow detainees known as the NERA 10.
In a statement dated 10 November 2026, APLA Secretary General Ntube Francis Eseme said APLC Communications had announced the proposed one-day lockdown earlier that day. APLA said the date coincides with the group’s next court hearing in Cameroun. BaretaNews could not independently confirm the date from a court notice.
What the call means for residents
APLA called for a peaceful stay-at-home observance, asking shops and schools to close for the day and residents to suspend non-essential travel. It explicitly opposed demonstrations and barricades and said routes should remain open for emergency transport and for people seeking medical care, food, water or humanitarian assistance.
Why APLA is pressing for release
APLA demanded the immediate and unconditional release of all ten detainees and criticised what it described as repeated adjournments in their case.
The case spans two countries. The men were arrested in Nigeria and transferred to Cameroun, where they were detained. In Opinion No. 59/2022, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found that the detention of Ayuk Tabe and the other nine men was arbitrary. The finding is recorded in the working group’s report to the UN Human Rights Council.
APLA said its Freedom of Ambazonia Prisoners Initiative extends beyond the NERA 10. The organisation said it was documenting allegations of abductions, unlawful transfers and politically motivated imprisonment over the past decade. It said it would seek the release of detainees and compensation for those affected, while protecting the families whose cases it documents.
