Cameroonian veteran journalist and TV host, Foly Dirane is allegedly struggling with mental health disorder and depression.

According to recent reports, the popular Cameroon Radio and Television (CRTV) TV host went missing three months ago after he never returned home from a wedding and was only discovered hidden in the house of one his children.

Henrietteslounge.com reports that:

“According to online sources, the veteran artist disappeared from his home  on 4th May, 2018 at about 11 a.m. He was to attend a wedding ceremony that day, and had left home for that purpose. He didn’t return, but there was no cause for alarm as his wife thought he was still in the prolongations of the ceremony.

The next day, his wife, Tatiana got worried, because in normal times, he would have called. Later in the day, she raised an alarm of his disappearance, and search among close relatives and friends showed no signs or traces of him.

Three months later, Tatiana got hints that her husband Foly Dirane was in the keeping of one of his sons from his two previous marriages, Steve Diran Tafe, a Physical Education Instructor at the Government Secondary School Nyom, in the Eastern Region of the country. A Warrant of Arrest was issued, and Steve was arrested during a Volleyball match.

Steve who was auditioned at SED yesterday Monday August 6th, acknowledged that he kidnapped his father to cure him of Alzeimer (mental disease) which his wife has been hiding from them, pretending it was stroke.

Foly’s wife, Tatiana had informed his relatives about his  deteriorating health, in a twenty page letter, that received no reply till date. 

Moreover, it is true that Foly Dirane was suffering from acute depression, but he is under medical supervision by Professor Nyamshi Alfred Kongnyu, a Neurologist, whom his wife says has an uptodate mastery of Foly’s health until he was abducted by his son.

His son Steve took upon himself to kidnap his father, withou any legal back-up, nor medical approval, and took her to one of his sisters called Mireille Nzepang resident in Diedo here in Douala, where he was locked up in isolation, and deprived of direct communication with his phone.

Some of his colleagues said they tried to reach him through his daughter Mireille, and were lucky to  have spoken to him, but their worries was that the the voice they got on phone, was that of a Foly Dirane in distress, talking off sense, and asking about his wife Tatiana and two daughters.

During his yesterday’s audition, Steve Dirane Tafen  confirmed that his father was getting better, but his lawyer said Foly could not travel from Douala to Yaounde in his present condition.

Steve’s action is condemned and tagged as biased, because even though it is not illegal to help a sick father, he is being accused of wanting to separate him from his wife and their two minor daughters. More especially, it is said that Steve blocked the bank accounts of his father, whereas he is still legally married to Tatiana his present wife, and is not in any divorce battle with his wife.”