President Ahidjo explained the proposed changes in terms of a concern to promote the development of the nation. He considered that the cumbersome and costly federal structures of the Republic were clearly hampering the nation's development efforts. Moreover, agricultural production and urban development were being hindered by the inadequately rationalized and harmonized public and town planning policies resulting from the federal structures of the Republic. In practice, it was only at federal level that bilingualism and multiculturalism had been fostered; at the level of the federated states no such efforts had been made.

After enumerating the advantages that would accrue to the nation from a unitary system of government the President appealed to the nation for support and indicated the nature of both the question of the referendum and the draft constitution for which the electorate was to vote. He appealed to the voters to vote massively for the draft constitution which would immediately establish a Republic, 'one and indivisible,' with 'one Government and one Assembly'. The referendum question was to be, 'Do you approve, with a view to consolidating National Unity and accelerating the economic, social and cultural development of the Nation, the draft Constitution....instituting a Republic, one and indivisible, to be styled the United Republic of Cameroon?' The draft constitution made English and French the official languages of the nation but stated that, in case of any conflict of interpretation, the French version of the Constitution would be authentic. It also declared that no procedure to amend the Constitution, if it tended to impair the republican character, unity or territorial integrity of the state, or the democratic principle by which the Republic was governed, would be accepted.

The President's appeal was successful and members of the Fako, Manyu, Momo and Meme CNU Sections, the lecturers, students and workers of the Bambili College of Arts, Science and Technology (all of these from West Cameroon) and the members of the CNU Sections of Mifi, Nkam, Bamum, Lekie, Diamare, Adamawa and Mungo, as well as the Bafoussam administration and politicians (all of them from East Cameroon) congratulated the President for his courageous decision and pledged their wholehearted support. The reasons which all these groups gave for their support were an exact replica of the President's argument. Most of them even went as far as claiming that the President's decision to substitute a unitary state for the federal structure matched the aspirations of the Cameroonians.

Since, under Ahidjo, it was politically unwise and even unsafe to hold and express views different from those of the President on any issue, there was no public debate. There was, at this time, no press which cared to debate the details of the constitution: the habit of self-censorship had grown up next to official censorship. No one publicly opposed the creation of the unitary state. No one tried to examine the proposition that the unitary state would contribute greatly to the future political integration, unity and stability of Cameroon, or that bilingualism and multiculturalism were better served by it or raised the question as to why or whether federalism is inconsistent with national integration and stability. Or indeed to debate any of the principal issues involved in a long constitutional document.

Not surprisingly Cameroonians gave their President overwhelming support at the polls during the referendum. At the national level, 3,236,280 people registered for the referendum. Of these, 3,177,846 voted in favour of the unitary state, 176 voted against it, 1,612 ballots were declared null and void, and 56,646 voters abstained. At the level of the state of West Cameroon, 731,850 persons registered for the referendum, 716,774 of whom voted for the unitary state and 89 voted against it, and 13,934 registered voters abstained, 1,053 ballot papers were declared invalid. In the state of East Cameroon, there were 2,461,072 votes in favour of the unitary state, 87 against it, and 559 ballots declared null and void, out of a total of 2,504,430 registered voters. When the results of the referendum were declared, the President congratulated the electorate and remarked that it that it had just signed, in the presence of history, the birth certificate of the United Republic of Cameroon, the sacred pact that forever enshrined and expressed the profound unity of the nation.