The Brigadier General was posthumously decorated Condor of the Cameroon Order of Merit last Friday.

The Military Headquarters in Yaounde, last Friday July 8, 2014 received a crowd that was not in any way in glee. It was gloom on almost all faces as the casket of the fallen Director of the International School of Security Forces (EIFORCES), Brigadier General Hamadou Hamadicko, made its entry into the courtyard of the Military Headquarters. From the government bench led by the Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of Defence, Edgard Alain Mebe Ngo’o, officers, family members and sympathizers, it was all sadness.

And the message-bearer, Major General Mambo Deffo, Inspector General of the National Gendarmerie said it all; “Brigadier General Hamadou Hamadicko has passed onto glory, and in spite of the health assistance he got, God decided to take him. It is painful, but he will be remembered for loyalty and commitment to his work,” he said. In service for 45 years and as first-ever Director of EIFORCES, a prestigious school, Major General Deffo reiterated Hamadicko’s relentless efforts to carry the training of peacekeeping staff to another level.

The affixing of the Medal of the Condor of the Cameroon Order of Merit on the on the casket of the deceased by the Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of Defence, Edgard Alain Mebe Ngo’o, added emotions to the cermony.  Hamadicko’s wife, Hamadicko Fadimatou, received the condolences of the Presidential Couple, Paul and Chantal Biya. “Sincere condolence from me and my wife Mrs Chantal Biya,” Colonel Tchouatat Joseph, delivered the message, adding that the deceased was faithful to State institutions and committed to his work.

Hamadou Hamadicko gained admission into the Cameroon Military Academy (EMIA), Yaounde in 1969 and upon graduation in 1972, the Gendarme Officer took higher command courses in peacekeeping, public security and diplomacy. These earned him promotion and on March 11, 2001, a Presidential Decree appointed him as the Director General of EIFORCES. Another Presidential Decree same day raised him to Brigadier General but before his appointment, he was Defence Attaché in Cameroon’s Embassy in Rabat, Morocco with the rank of colonel. He served in the military for 45 years and died at 64. His remains were buried in Garoua, North Region in strict Moslem canons same Friday, July 8, 2014.