The heavy-duty equipment were torched by still-to-be-identified arsonists on the night of Wednesday, breaking Thursday, August 6.

Emmanuel Engamba Ledoux, Senior Divisional Officer, SDO, for Fako Division and his entourage visited the Technical Services Department of the Limbe City Council at Mile 2, Thursday to evaluate the extent of the damage.

It emerged that the engine compartments and other operating units of the three heavy-duty machines were completely damaged.

It is believed that the machines were set on fire as the three night-watchmen were asleep. The trio was taken into police custody Thursday.

Although the intention behind the arson attack on the heavy-duty equipment remains unknown, it may not be unconnected to the recent demolition drive undertaken by the City Mayor, Motanga Andrew Monjimba as part of efforts to clean Limbe.

Last month, the Limbe City Council embarked on demolishing makeshift structures along major streets within the city. The demolition of roadside structures, call boxes and other small kiosks started Wednesday under the supervision of municipal, administrative, and security officials.

The demolition of semi-permanent and makeshift structures in the town of Limbe first started in 2016 as the city prepared to host the 2016 African Women’s Football Cup of Nations.

The exercise soon went comatose and has now resumed four years after. Authorities say the delay was aimed at giving enough time for owners and operators of these structures to seek alternatives.

Suffice to mention that the 2016 demolitions had attracted a lot of bashing from the masses, including from the political and religious class. The former Bishop of the Diocese of Buea, Monsignor Immanuel Banlanjo Bushu had expressed fear the demolitions had been intended to settle political scores.

But in the wake of the unresolved Anglophone conflict and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the repressive action of the Limbe authorities has taken many by surprise.

Although those affected are pained and in anguish following the demolitions, others acknowledge the fact that they had been notified and sensitized long enough but did not know when the exercise was going to start.

Observers however think that some of the victims of the demolition exercise might have masterminded the arson.

Many of the victims had openly expressed discontent on grounds the throes of the three-year-long Anglophone Crisis, coupled with the economic effects of the coronavirus, had rendered many a person desperate. Thus, the clean-up campaign where thousands of petty traders and a lot of already aggrieved commoners got tossed off the streets only further aggravated the troubles of many.

The burning of the bulldozer and graders comes to add to parts of the old and new markets that were burnt some two years back by suspected separatist fighters.