He was talking to The Guardian Post newspaper in an exclusive interview, where he urged separatist leaders to stop deceiving the younger ones. Responding to the question on what can be done to put an end to the ongoing unrest in the Anglophone regions, he suggested that the state should be given a chance.

" My message is that our brothers should stop deceiving our younger brothers. There is no nation in this world where everybody is employed and any economy in this world where the state stands up as a giant employer. So, we shouldn't push the state to the walls. We should be creative", said the Mayor.

He further declared that the decision taken by Anglophone forefathers such as late Dr. John Ngu Foncha to join The Republic of Cameroon was a reasonable one, paying attention to cultural similarities between some ethnic groups.

" If you look at the people from Menoua division in the West region, they have an identical culture with the people of Mezam. If you look at the people of Noun, they have a link with the people of Ndu, and so on. So that is what binds us; we share same ancestors and our ancestors are pulling us to live and die together ", he claimed.

 The Mayor of Buea, has been very bitter about activities and ideologies of separatists, fighting all along to stop respect of ghost town in his municipality. However, activities of armed separatists had pushed the sanitation and hygiene company, HYSACAM to stop its cleaning mission, hence some areas of the city are littered. The Mayor said despite this, Buea remains the city of excellence and is clean.

" I want to say that we are trying our best. If you go to other towns that are going through what the nation is going through, you will realise that Buea has risen above water level...We are cleaning the city", said Mayor Ekema.
He said government paid 98% of HYSACAM dues and has a better stance to query the company to find out why it has stopped its activities.

Despite all odds, Mayor Ekema Patrick revealed that he would run for the next municipal elections