Thread by @africatechie

1/ I want to share the tragic story of one of Africa’s most brilliant minds in tech.

A thread.

2/ By the time he was 25, he had already obtained a doctorate in Electronic Engineering from City University in London. He was then recruited by a top tech firm in California. So many people, Americans, Europeans, asked me if I knew this Cameroonian genius. I was so intrigued.

3/ Back then, there weren’t that many of us that were successful in IT in America. I finally met him through my cousin, another genius, who worked with him and they were simply stars.

4/ I was a consultant at Oracle back then and even at HQ in Redwood Shores, the dynamic Cameroonian duo was famous. If it couldn’t be done, you could give it to the duo and they would make it happen.

5/ In 1999, wanting to take their talent back to Africa, he and my cousin founded Quanteq in Nigeria which grew to be a multimillion dollar company with over 150 employees.

6/ I later found out that Africa’s most well-known business angel, Tomi Davies, @TomiDee was an early investor in this business

@TomiDee 7/ In 2012, my genius friend joined the faculty at the American University of Nigeria, teaching courses in Computer Science.

As a proven business leader, he was also the Board Chair of @Afrinvest.

@TomiDee @Afrinvest 8/ Alongside his business and educational efforts, he also became known for his philanthropic and humanitarian work. He set up the STEM Wizkid program in Nigeria’s Adamawa State, supporting over 3,000 students in 40 schools.

@TomiDee @Afrinvest 9/ He also set up free ICT training programs targeted at vulnerable youths in marginalized communities and provided free ICT training to over 15,000 beneficiaries over 6 years

@TomiDee @Afrinvest 10/ But his philanthropic efforts weren’t limited to tech. He was a @prawa_ngo board member for many years, an organization promoting social justice and judicial reform.

@TomiDee @Afrinvest @prawa_ngo 11/ He was a member of the Adamawa Peace initiative, an organization “Obsessed with Peace” which supported over 270,000 people displaced by the Boko Haram conflict.

@TomiDee @Afrinvest @prawa_ngo 12/ When Cameroon’s #anglophonecrisis led to the displacement of tens of thousands of refugees to Nigeria, he provided support to the IDPs through organizations like Southern Cameroonians in Nigeria (SCINGA).

@TomiDee @Afrinvest @prawa_ngo 13/ This tech genius and humanitarian’s name Dr. Fidelis Nde-Che (@fnche).

So why did I start this thread by saying that this was a tragic story?

@TomiDee @Afrinvest @prawa_ngo @fnche 14/ On January 5, 2018, he and others were meeting at Nera Hotel in Abuja to discuss the refugee crisis the surge in violence in Cameroon when they were arrested by Nigerian intelligence officers. #Nera10

@TomiDee @Afrinvest @prawa_ngo @fnche 5/ Even though he himself was a registered asylum-seeker, they were taken to Cameroon, tried by a French speaking military tribunal and sentenced to life imprisonment and fined around $500 million dollars.

@TomiDee @Afrinvest @prawa_ngo @fnche 16/ This week, the government organized #CmrDialogue as a means to find solutions to the ongoing crisis. Neither @fnche nor any of those arrested and convicted with him, including the leaders of the Southern Cameroons, Ambazonia movement, were invited to these talks.

@TomiDee @Afrinvest @prawa_ngo @fnche 17/ As Cameroon’s President announced the release of 333 detainees held for misdemeanors, neither @fnche nor the others are eligible for this prison release. So, at least for now, this tragedy for #africatech continues.

@TomiDee @Afrinvest @prawa_ngo @fnche 18/ I remain hopeful that he and others will get the justice they deserve. We have a tendency to dehumanize those arrested in this crisis, war even without knowing who they are. @fnche is an asset to Africa. And he is my friend.

End of thread.

I'm getting a lot of questions on what he was convicted of. There's not much I know. The trial in Aug 2019 in front of a Military Tribunal started at midnight and by dawn he and 9 others had been convicted of terrorism and sentenced to life in prison and a near $500 million fine.

What can you do? Bring this to the attention of media, the international community. Trying civilians before a military tribunal denies them due process. We want justice for Dr. Fidelis and all those convicted under similar circumstances.

Share his story, and use #FreeFidelis