He was probably one of the most violent in the armed conflict between secessionists and government forces in the English-speaking part of Cameroon
Even on several occasions when the government military pronounced him dead, Field Marshall resurfaced in social media videos declaring he was alive and strong
Lekeaka Oliver, popularly known as Field Marshall, was first a Cameroonian army soldier
In the wake of the Cameroon Anglophone crisis, the retired soldier switched sides to becoming an Ambazonian commander and the leader of the Red Dragon militia, a group he commanded until his death
In Lebialem Division of the South West Region, he crowned himself ‘ruler’ and declared he owned the entire territory.
But on several occasions Field Marshall and his Red Dragons knocked horns with the government military
The red dragons militia
In 2017 Field Marshall founded the Red Dragon militia.
With the Red Dragons, multiple videos emerged of him training hundreds of young boys in a military-like camp in the bushes
December 31, 2018, it was the first of three instances when the Cameroonian army claimed to have killed Field Marshal
Marshall resurfaced in a video a week later, proving that reports of his death were indeed false. This led to several more attacks and deadly clashes.
On several counts he reportedly caused havoc on the military either in gun confrontations, planned bombs or ambush on patrol troops
And to the traditional rulers who didn’t obey him, Marshall masterminded their kidnap and/or torture
Not long in March 2019, the Cameroonian Army in search of Marshall killed “General Ayekeah” and two other fighters who fought on the Red Dragons
Back from the dead again
In 2019, ten months after the news of his ‘second death’ went viral, the mysterious Field Marshall resurfaced and proclaimed himself traditional chief of Essoh-Attah, in southwest Cameroon
That was on October 1, 2019, the day of celebration of the “independence” of Ambazonia.
A man wearing a military fatigues with the insignia of the Cameroonian army appeared on the esplanade of the Royal Palace of Essoh-Attah. His green beret barely concealed his face: it was Field Marshall, the commander of the Lebialem Red Dragons militia.
Killed at last
On Tuesday July 12, 2022, thousands ran to a scene at Bicec Junction in Kumba, where his body was first displayed once it was airlifted from Menji, the village where he was killed
The dreaded Field Marshall had been proclaimed dead and this time it was real
The Cameroon military announced he was captured in his camp July 12, by an armed to the teeth mixed patrol team which including the BIR
Oliver was buried by elements of the BIR on July 15 in Kumba.
On his killing, there are still arguments whether he was killed by Cameroonian forces or in an incident of separatist infighting
Chamberlin Ntouou Ndong, the highest-ranking government official in Meme, an administrative unit in Kumba, said Cameroon’s government asked the military to display the corpse.
It was meant to be a gruesome warning to Anglophone separatists fighting to carve out an independent state from Cameroon and its French-speaking majority.
Oliver was the brother of Chris Anu, former Secretary for Communications of the Interim Government.
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