Opponents Issa Tchiroma Bakary of Cameroon and Succès Masra of Chad invite their respective fellow citizens to fast for freedom, national cohesion, justice, or peace.
The simultaneous start of Christian Lent and the fast of the month of Ramadan for Muslims prompts politicians to seize the opportunity of these great spiritual moments to address the people. Issa Tchiroma Bakary, national president of the Front for National Salvation of Cameroon (Fnsc), sends a message to the Christian and Muslim communities of Cameroon who enter into penance this Wednesday. The opponent of the Yaoundé regime declares that fasting “is a school of freedom. Voluntarily abstaining is learning not to be deceived by ephemeral things (…) It is choosing that our nations be guided by enlightened consciences and a living spirituality”.
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The former minister indicates that Lent and the fast of the month of Ramadan are periods that should strengthen inter-community relations. “It is the time to resume together the path towards our national cohesion, which has been put to the test in recent times,” adds the politician, who invites the faithful of both communities to live in a spirit of reflection, solidarity, and mutual respect.
In the same vein, the opponent of the N’Djamena regime sent a message to the Christian and Muslim communities of Chad, who are also beginning the period of penance at the same time. The president of Les Transformateurs sees this time of shared spirituality as “a sign of destiny” for a “common future, in justice and equality, and therefore peace and unity”. For the former Chadian Prime Minister, “justice is the mother of peace and equality is the mother of unity”. His prayer for his country during this time of Lent is that God “bless all those who work actively for the advent of this Chad united in justice and equality,” the politician wrote on the evening of February 17, 2026.
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The two politicians, opponents of their countries’ regimes, do not miss the opportunity to make themselves heard and to be followed by their activists, sympathizers, and other supporters. The president of the FSNC, in exile in Gambia, left his country, Cameroon, at the height of the post-election tensions in October 2025. His goal was to shield himself from repression or legal proceedings and a possible conviction after calling for marches to claim his victory in the presidential election of October 12, 2025.
Succès Masra of Chad had taken a similar path into exile before returning to the country to accept the position of Prime Minister to work with the regime. He was subsequently dismissed from his duties and sentenced to 20 years in prison and one billion FCFA to be paid to the Chadian state as damages and interest, following the inter-community violence that occurred in Mandakao in southern Chad.
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