Recruited by a man who went by the nom de guerre "General Divine",[2] Ivo Mbah was one of the first Ambazonia Defence Forces members,[3] and was popular among his fellow separatists.[4] His followers reportedly believed that he possessed "mystical powers", and Mbah worked with these beliefs, stating in propaganda videos that "no man born of a woman could kill him".[5] According to the Cameroonian military, he commanded more than 30 ADF camps throughout the Anglophone region by 2018.[3] He mainly operated at Matoh and Teke in Meme department.[6]
In the morning on December 21, 2018, Ivo went to Teke, a locality in Kumba, to be present during his driver's wedding. According to the Cameroonian military, his attendance was leaked to the Cameroonian Army, and special forces moved in to assassinate the general. Dressed in civilian clothing, the soldiers moved in to with the intent of capturing the general alive, but a firefight broke out when separatist fighters recognized the soldiers. Ivo took refuge inside a building, where the soldiers pursued him. After an intense fight that involved close combat, the general was killed. Minutes after his death, pictures and videos of his dead body were published on social media.[5] Other sources have stated that Mbah was killed by a local anti-separatist vigilante group[3] or by a rival separatist force.[5]
Ambazonia