Chief Kuva Likenye was the founder of the Buea dynasty. He was the brain behind the Bakweri war of resistance in 1891-1894 against Gravenreuth, the German commander. King Kuva Likenye mobilized his troops to stand up in arms against German exploitation of the Bakweri people.

A large numbers of Cameroonians served in combat roles in the Second World War, many of which perished. Their heroic involvement showed to the world the contradiction between fighting for freedom for others and the lack of freedom back at home.

Emmanuel Mbela Lifafa Endeley was a Cameroonian politician who led Southern Cameroonian representatives out of the Eastern Nigerian House of Assembly in Enugu and negotiated the creation of the autonomous region of Southern Cameroons in 1954. In 1953, Endeley joined John Ngu Foncha and Solomon Tandeng Muna in breaking from the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) to form the Kamerun National Congress (KNC), which advocated autonomy for Southern Cameroons. However, Endley's political views changed, and he advocated greater integration of the territory with Nigeria. In 1957, Endeley became the first Prime Minister of Southern Cameroons.

Augustine Ngom Jua fut premier ministre du Cameroun occidental du 12 mai 1965 au 27 novembre 1967 Il faisait partie de l'élite gouvernementale du Cameroun anglophone formée par le KNDP de M. Foncha. A la suite de ce dernier auquel il succède, il s'applique à faire vivre l'Etat fédéré du Cameroun occidental. Il démissionnera du gouvernement fédéré le 27 novembre 1967.

This King Ibrahim Njoya was a distinguished ruler, intellectual, and inventor. He was 17th in a long dynasty of kings that ruled over the Bamum people in western Cameroon dating back to the 14th century. Under the french colonial rule, King Njoya relations with the French authorities would prove negative and he was forced to die far from his kingdom, in exile in Yaounde. His most important legacy was the development of the script spanned ideographic to syllabic systems, with the script’s final and most prominent form known as “A-ka-u-ku.” This is not to be confused with another of Njoya’s inventions, an artificial spoken language known as Shümom, which was devised after the script. The French colonials destroyed Njoya’s schools and forbade the teaching of the script.

Charles Assalé (4 November 1911 – Yaoundé, 10 December 1999) was a Cameroonian politician of the Union of the Peoples of Cameroon. He served as Finance Minister of French Cameroon from 1958 to 1960, and was the first Prime Minister of the federated state of East Cameroon from 15 May 1960 to 19 June 1965

He was a Cameroonian politician. He founded the Kamerun National Democratic Party (KNDP) in 1955 and became Premier of the British Cameroons on 1 February 1959. He held that position until 1 October 1961, when the region merged into a federation with Francophone Cameroon. From 1 October 1961 to 13 May 1965, Foncha concurrently served as Prime Minister of West Cameroon and Vice-President of the Federal Republic of Cameroon. He held the latter title until 1970. In 1994, he led a delegation of the secessionist Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC) to the United Nations to request its backing of the movement’s drive for greater autonomy in Cameroon’s two English-speaking provinces.

Ahmadou Babatoura Ahidjo (24 August 1924 – 30 November 1989) was the first President of Cameroon from 1960 until 1982. He was the first civil servant from northern Cameroun to work in the southern areas of the territory. In 1946, Ahidjo entered territorial politics. From January 28, 1957 to May 10, 1957, Ahidjo served as President of the Legislative Assembly of Cameroon. In the same year he became Deputy Prime Minister in de facto head of state André-Marie Mbida's government. Upon independence in 1960, Ahidjo, as leader of the Cameroon Union, was elected as President, and he persuaded part of British Cameroon to join his country. He was reelected in 1965, 1970, 1975 and 1980, gradually establishing the complete dominance of his own party and outlawing all others in 1976

Rudolf Duala Manga Bell (1873 – 8 August 1914) was a Duala king and resistance leader in the German colony of Kamerun. After being educated in both Kamerun and Europe, he succeeded his father, Manga Ndumbe Bell, on 2 September 1908. He was hanged for high treason against the German Empire in August 1914. His actions made him one of the first Cameroonian martyr.

Simon Pierre Tchoungui was a doctor who was appointed Prime Minister of East Cameroon from October 1965 until 20 May 1972, when the United Republic of Cameroon came into being. During World War II he enrolled as a soldier in the Free French Forces from 1942 to 1945. Tchoungui was elected first president of the Cameroon Red Cross Society on 30 April 1960, an honorary position.

Andre-Marie Mbida (1 January 1917 – 2 May 1980) was a Cameroonian statesman, nationalist, first Cameroonian to be elected Member of Parliament at the French National Assembly, Prime Minister of Cameroon, second African-born Prime Minister in Sub-Saharan Africa, first Head of State of French speaking autonomous Cameroon from 12 May to 16 February 1958 and first political prisoner of independent Cameroon from 29 June 1962 to 29 June 1965.

Felix Moumié was 34 years old at his death at the hands of a french secret services (SDECE) agent, William Bechtel, in Geneva. Swiss authorities knew the murderer, but under pressure of France, they never judged him. The judicial inquiry ended by a dismissal of charges. France dreaded a public procedure – for fear of revelations on its dirty war in Cameroon against independence and anti-imperialist fighters led by Dr. Moumié. It’s important to notice that this young politician had twice led delegations to New York to testify at the UN Trusteeship Council and, so, was well known to other African leaders, like Nasser of Egypt and especially Sekou Toure, whose country (Guinea – Conakry) was already independent since 1958. The young cameroonian doctor spent part of his time in exile in Guinea and in Egypt.

Mebenga M'Ebono was a Bulu military officer during the Imperial German colonial period of Cameroon. He was sent to Germany in 1891 to enter the German Military Academy and was baptised Martin-Paul Samba while abroad. Samba gave up his military career in 1902 and entered private business in Ebolowa. His admiration for the Germans eventually turned to hatred, and he began to plot an uprising against them. He secretly contacted British and French forces to secure arms, but one such letter was intercepted. German forces arrested him and charged him with high treason. Samba was executed on 8 August 1914. Today, many Cameroonian historians view Samba as one of Cameroon’s earliest heroes and nationalists.

Salomon Tandeng Muna (1912 – January 22, 2002) was a Cameroonian politician of the UNC. He served as the first Prime Minister of the federated state of West Cameroon from January 11, 1968 to June 2, 1972. He was President of the National Assembly of Cameroon from 1973 to 1988

Le 16 mai 1957, Vincent de Paul Ahanda est nommé Ministre de l’Education Nationale dans le gouvernement d’André-Marie MBIDA. Il sera successivement ambassadeur du Cameroun en RFA, au Royaume de Belgique, auprès du Grand-duché de Luxembourg, puis auprès du Royaume des Pays-Bas; et enfin il sera Représentant Permanent de la République Fédérale du Cameroun auprès de la Communauté Economique Européenne (dès le 24 juillet 1962). Le 19 juin 1965, il est nommé Premier Ministre, Chef du Gouvernement de l’Etat Fédéré du Cameroun Oriental. Il démissionne de ce poste le 18 novembre 1965.

Paul Biya is the second President of the State of Cameroon since 6 November 1982. He rose rapidly as a bureaucrat under President Ahmadou Ahidjo in the 1960s, serving as Secretary-General of the Presidency from 1968 to 1975 and then as Prime Minister of Cameroon from 1975 to 1982. Biya was brought into the CNU Central Committee and Political Bureau and was elected as the Vice-President of the CNU. In 1985, the CNU was transformed into the Cameroon People's Democratic Movement, in Bamenda and Biya was elected as its President. He introduced political reforms within the context of a single-party system in the 1980s. In the early 1990s, he accepted the introduction of multiparty politics.

Charles Atangana was the paramount chief of the Ewondo and Bane ethnic groups during much of the colonial period in Cameroon. He proved himself an intelligent and diplomatic administrator and an eager collaborator, and he was eventually named paramount chief of two Beti-Pahuin subgroups, the Ewondo and Bane peoples.His loyalty and acquiescence to the German Empire was unquestioning, and he even accompanied the Germans on their escape from Africa during the World War One. After the escape and a brief stay in Europe, Atangana returned to his homeland in Cameroon, which by then was a League of Nations mandate territory under the administration of the French Republic.

He was an anti-imperialist Cameroonian leader. He created on April 10, 1948 the Cameroon’s People Union (UPC), which used armed struggle to obtain independence. On 13 September 1958, he was assassinated by French forces in the outskirts of Boumnyebel in the Sanaga Maritime division. He was undoubtedly one of the most brilliant political thinkers and organizers to emerge after the Second World War in Africa.

Ernest Ouandié (1924 – 15 January 1971) was a leader of the struggle for independence of Cameroon in the 1950s who continued to resist the government of President Ahmadou Ahidjo after Cameroon became independent in 1960. In 1948 Ouandié became a member of UPC (Union des Populations du Cameroun), a left-wing pro-independence political party. He was elected vice president of the UPC four years later. He was captured in 1970, tried and found guilty of plotting to assassinate the President, and was publicly executed on 15 January 1971 in Bafoussam.