Fru Ndi, who dominated the opposition in the Central African country for a generation and was arrested and kidnapped for his politics, had suffered from a long illness before dying last month, aged 81.
An English-speaking businessman from Cameroon’s northwest region, Fru Ndi formed the Social Democratic Front, the first opposition party in the bilingual Central African country, which is dominated by its French-speaking majority. He ran for president several times, unsuccessfully, against Biya.
Mourner Grace Ngwafor called Fru Ndi the country’s “hero”, saying he brought democracy to Cameroon. “He has some virtues that he has left behind for us to follow: the virtue of patience, the virtue of always being honest, and the virtue to be truthful in whatever thing you do. And I hope that we are going to keep that,” she said.
Biya has not publicly reacted to Fru Ndi’s passing.
