Catalog

Probe Into MOPCOOP

Dear Sir,

I read with shock and dismay, the revelations made in your issue number 273 of April 20 – 26, 2006 concerning the Manyu Oil Palm Cooperative Society (MOPCOOP) by the former president of that cooperative society, Chief Bayen Michael Tabe.

It is a miracle that MOPCOOP is still on its feet after such massive embezzlement and fraud. That such malpractices have been going on for several years with no reaction from the supervisory authorities creates the impression that they too have been on the take. Or should I say cooperative societies are no longer audited in this country?

It is disheartening that whilst the ordinary farmers toil day and night to plant, nurse to maturity, harvest and feed the Nchang oil mill with the fruits that keep it going, a handful of individuals have been using MOPCOOP as a milking cow to the exclusion of the real owners of that cooperative society.

With the former MOPCOOP president speaking out at last, I think it is time government steps in to probe into the activities of that farmers’ organisation going back to at least ten years. I think the rape of MOPCOOP has continued unabated because hardly any of its rogue leaders has been punished over the years. Until something serious that would act as a deterrent to aspirant embezzlers within MOPCOOP is done, the rip-off would continue. Over to you government. Do something now!

AYUK ELIAS OBEN

KOSSALA QUARTER

KUMBA

Fight Against Corruption And Embezzlement:

4 Ministers, Several GMs To Be Arrested Soon!

By Our Yaounde Staff Correspondent

Since the cleansing campaign against embezzlement and corruption started with the arrest of three former General Managers of state corporations (Ondo Ndong of FEICOM, Joseph Edou of Credit Foncier and Gilles Roger Belinga of the Cameroon Housing Corporation), many Cameroonians have been asking what next. Many other high-ranking personalities in the country have since been arrested including a seating minister (Siyam Siwe of Mines) as well as many of their collaborators in high and low places.

Whilst most Cameroonians have been calling on government to ensure that the arrests don’t end only there but that the billions embezzled and deposited in foreign bank accounts be made to be returned to Cameroon, others have been asking whether the wave of arrests has ended.

The answer that the WEEKLY POST can give now is an emphatic NO! In fact, since the euphoria that swept the nation after the first arrests, more arrests have been made but this time in discretion.

“Government seems to have been advised that by making a lot of noise about the arrest of certain high-ranking individuals, they stood to jeopardise the chances of the cases against the said individuals succeeding in court. Most lawyers for the accused persons have been talking of pleading prejudice at the subsequent trials and government does not want to be embarrassed when the cases come up”, one knowledgeable source told the WEEKLY POST in Yaounde.

“The arrests have been going on quietly and in fact, as I speak to you, there are some very sensitive dossiers that have been deposited with the State Counsel in Yaounde concerning some members of government and other high-ranking officials of state corporations”, our source revealed.

The WEEKLY POST has learned that the dossiers concerning four seating ministers have already been handed over for prosecution and sooner or later the said four would be arrested and grilled on the offences against them.

Two of the ministers whose arrests are impending are accused of having embezzled highly indebted poor countries initiative funds. In the case of one, he is accused of having misappropriated about 2.1 billion FCFA. Yet another minister is accused of having misappropriated 3 billion FCFA HIPC funds.

“We have the names of the said ministers but would not dare mention them for fear of being sued for libel, especially as the cases have not yet come up in open court”, Chief Bisong Etahoben, Editor-in-Chief/Publisher of the WEEKLY POST told this Reporter.

Amongst the dossiers already with the State Counsel are those concerning some Board Chairmen of state corporations whose former general managers are now in detention. The Board Chairmen are also accused of having been accomplices to the embezzlement.

About 350 million FCFA is alleged to have been embezzled during the census operations that took place in the country some months ago, and some files that have been handed over to the State Counsel involve the census bureau.

Most of the information the government has been getting concerning embezzlement has been coming from some of the officials already in detention. One of the most garrulous detainee is Ondo Ndong, former General Manager of FEICOM who has been pointing accusing fingers all over the place.

“He has even pointed accusing fingers at some former high-ranking officials of the CRTV whom he says collected over 300 million FCFA from him in order to do publicity stints on the councils in Cameroon but which publicity was never made.

“The General Managers of at least three state corporations would be targeted during the future wave of arrests”, our source revealed.

About 34 billion FCFA is said to have disappeared from CRTV’s coffers over the last several years up to 2004 and over 20 billion FCFA is said to have been unaccounted for in the Rural Electrification Corporation.

There are other persistent allegations that some money involving the Nsam disaster did not reach the intended quarters and government is surely not going to close its eyes to this.

If all these hints given to the WEEKLY POST end up being true, then several heads would roll any time soon. Already there are very strong indications that some members of government might not be at the Unity Palace dinner on May 20.

“Rumours of a cabinet reshuffle have been rife and always ended up being just rumours. However, should prosecution on the dossiers now with the state counsel start, then the ministers involved would surely be asked to vacate their posts pending the end of the investigations. This would surely lead to a cabinet shake-up”, a very reliable source close to Unity Palace told this Reporter.

There are surely very many people having sleepless nights these days.

Former Manyu Oil Palm Coop President Unearths Massive Embezzlement

The former President of the Manyu Oil Palm Cooperative Society (MOPCOOP) Chief Bayen Tabe Michael has in a rejoinder to media allegations of improprieties during his tenure, made public the massive misappropriation and mismanagement that has visited the cooperative society with the arrival of a new management team at MOPCOOP.

To avoid any misinterpretation that may result from analysing the contents of Chief Bayen’s letter, we publish hereunder the full text of the said letter:

Dear Sir,

Chief Otun Etta's recent pronouncements over the Voice of Manyu, in a programme, "The Moment of Truth", relative to WEEKLY POST publication Vol. 12 No. 0247 of June 3 - 9, 2004, prompts me to comment in a matter I had earlier, out of maturity, decided to ignore.

The catching words or parts of that publication remain, and I quote: "misappropriation"; "impropriety"; Embezzlement"; "fraud"; “incompetence"; "mismanagement"; disappearance of 25.558.274 FCFA in MOPCOOP Ltd". And "The endorsement of a move to write off the entire amount of 25.558.274 FCFA, some of it clearly stolen”.

My position here is not defensive over the malicious defamatory and libellous allegations imputed on my person and the Manager of MOPOOP Ltd by Mr. Echu Samuel Ayuk who took over from me as President in 2002. I should rather focus on why the repeated trumpeting of the allegations by Chief Otun Etta.

As an insider in the oil palm cooperative, I know Chief Otun Etta has been a long time ally to Mr. Echu Samuel Ayuk and Mill Engineer, Mr. Besong, for the supply of mill spare parts.

THE TRIO

Chief Otun Etta has supplied mill spares for 18 years; Mr. Echu Samuel Ayuk has been in the cooperative for 21 years, either as President, Vice President, Management Committee Member or Delegate. Mr. Besong has served for 27 years and was promoted from category 4 to category 8 to become Mill Engineer by Mr. Echu Samuel Ayuk.

The Engineer advices for the purchase of parts while Mr. Echu gives support at the Board or the General Assembly for Otun Etta Enterprise to supply at excruciating prices, particularly during the times of non-technical managers like Messers Abane, Agbor and Tabot Ayuk Johnson, all of late.

In 1993 Chief Otun Etta started getting into trouble following the advent of the supervisory committee, with me as Secretary. Besides exorbitant prices, he often took advances before supplying. An example is 600.000 francs on payment voucher N^o23 of 17/12/94 for the supply of test weights. That amount he failed to deduct from his final bill of 2.750.000 francs paid on voucher N^o07 of 3/4/95. He supplied tractor tyres at 600.000 frs instead of 350.000 frs.

Things came to a head with the employment of a mechanical engineer as manager in 1996. Chief Otun Etta fell in to disfavour, particularly with the supply of an elevator chain in 1997. The Mill Engineer instigated the urgency for the purchase of the chain. Mr. Echu Samuel Ayuk, as Vice President, influenced its supply by Chief Otun Etta instead of direct importation of the chain and 2 sprockets by MOPCOOP Manager at the cost of 3.6 million francs. Chief Otun Etta lied that the chain was already at Lagos wharf pending collection and got an advance of 2.5 million francs promising to supply it by 5/1/97. It took three months for the chain to be supplied on 1/4/97 and despite protest; he bagged a total sum of 8.3 million francs for the chain by 14/4/97. That chain, when put into use, did not last two years for MOPCOOP to go back to the old chain that was earlier rejected by the Mill Engineer.

Outside cheating Mopcoop Ltd in his spare parts supply deals, Chief Otun Etta is neither a member of the cooperative nor an oil palm farmer supplying fruit to MOPCOOP Ltd. Yet he wrote, calling himself an insider, in confirmation of Mr. Echu Samuel Ayuk's wanton blackmailing allegations of embezzlement even though Chief Otun knew that:

His friend, Mr. Echu, had converted debts owed by some customers and detailed in Mopcoop Accounts to embezzlement just to blackmail the Manager and me.

Mr. Echu contracted in 1985 for the payment of 147 million francs to the Catholic Mission in 10 years for the Oil Mill. From 1985 to 1995 (10 years) only 13 million francs was paid compared to 31 million francs paid from 1996 - 2002, the 6 years period in which I was also involved. Incidentally, my period recorded the highest single yearly amount ever paid of 10 million francs.

In 1995, Mr. Echu Samuel Ayuk, without authorization, dug 47 palm trees belonging to MOPCOOP and paid 10.000 francs to the cashier. When I questioned, the Board asked him to pay an additional 13.500 francs to resolve the matter, which up to date has not been paid.

In 1999, as Vice President, Mr. Echu, against MOPCOOP rules, took a loan of 500.000 francs repayable in 10 months. After 14 months, when nothing was repaid, I intervened and he grudgingly repaid the loan in 20 monthly instalments.

Mr. Echu took over from me as President in December 2002 and immediately contracted to himself the completion of the Board Room, initiated by me on direct MOPCOOP labour by collecting 200.000 francs from the cashier for a start. The colossal expenditure of 671.000 francs made by him cannot be considered reasonable or in the interest of MOPCOOP.

As can be seen on page 2 of Mr. Echu's address presenting the Accounts of 2003, he had in one year squandered 10 million francs from the 27.874.656 francs I handed over to him.

Mr. Echu, despite the serious drop in production and the fall in price of oil, increased the number of Delegates from 28 to 40 and Board Members from 5 to 7 all involving additional costs on the society.

Mr. Echu negotiated the supply of engine oil at 47.000 frs instead of 35.000 frs by the Manager.

Mr. Echu raised his daughter from learner to a cashier so as to readily get access to MOPCOOP funds.

With the Manager on leave, Mr. Echu, with the complicity of EBOT'S WELDING METAL WORKS, urged the Board to pay an exaggerated bill of 1.9 million francs that should have totalled 1.4 million francs. After scrutiny later by the Manager, 770.000 francs was then approved by the Board for payment. Over 1.2 million francs would have gone in to thin air following Mr. Echu's diabolic plan.

In one year, as President, Mr. Echu took 330.000 francs on I.O.U., as indicated in the accounts of 2003, contrary to MOPCOOP rules.

When the in-law's son died at Bafoussam, Mr. Echu went with MOPCOOP vehicle duly fuelled from the oil mill and collected out-station allowance and hotel bills when he returned.

But for the Manager's refusal to sign for Mr. Echu's out-station allowance and hotel bills in the trip the sister's son got married at Konye and later Kumba, MOPCOOP would have spent just as in the journey to Bafoussam.

The above is the backdrop of the stewardship of the Board President, Mr. Echu Samuel Ayuk, whom Chief Otun Etta in total connivance, must back and misled the public to see as having MOPCOOP interests, at heart. With Mr. Echu back as President, Chief Otun Etta saw a chance to stage a come back to resume his swindling deals at MOPCOOP Ltd.

That is, per quote, the "prominent traditional ruler in Manyu Division, Chief Otun Etta" who with his collaborators have realistic sympathy for the survival of MOPCOOP at heart;

That is the "prominent traditional ruler" who blind to reason in the bid for vengeance over losing supply deals, cannot see the danger faced by MOPCOOP, including those he says, "have fallen short of expectation", in defamatory suits that could have resulted from Mr. Echu Samuel Ayuk's allegations;

Here you are with that "prominent traditional ruler" who borrows from his struggling village Group Meeting and for years cannot repay despite intervention by the State Counsel.

It is true that crooks or fraudulent people think every other person must be like them. Without self-praise, I stand tall in the face of who matter to MOPCOOP as a forerunner for correcting many ills in that Society.

I challenge Chief Otun Etta to reply, for his mentor, Mr. Echu Samuel Ayuk, to my letter of 12^th March, 2004 on the subject of: "Presentation of The 2003 Final Accounts" addressed to Mr. Echu Samuel Ayuk. I challenge frustrated Chief Otun Etta and his collaborators to go to court for any shortcomings or misappropriation on my part during my tenure of Office at MOPCOOP Ltd instead of resorting to blackmail and character assassination.

Kindly publish this rejoinder in its entirety.

Chief Bayen Tabe Michael

Former MOPCOOP President

Meme SCNC County Chairman Says At This Stage Of Struggle There Is No Going Back

One aspect of the “SCNC’s fight for independence” that has been putting water into its wine is its factionalisation and the contradictory pronouncements made by some of its operatives. Sometimes, their statements are so outlandish that they have no bearing with truths on the ground. The Meme County Chairman of the SCNC, Mr. Henry Bovala Nganje recently spoke to WEEKLY POST’s Sama George and some of his declarations may not be as helpful to the cause of the SCNC as one would have expected. He also seems a stranger to the names of some United Nations arms and specialised agencies, which he claims are fighting the cause of the SCNC. We publish exactly what he said and leave the names as such, with only a little editing for clarification.

Excerpts of the conversation:

WEEKLY POST : You are the Meme County Chairman of the Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC). Can you tell us what problems your county has been facing?

BOVALA NGANJE: Our main problem has been that of constant arrests, detentions and torture.

WEEKLY POST: What does the SCNC really want, at this point in time?

BOVALA NGANJE: We want to restore the independence of Southern Cameroons since the government of La Republique du Cameroun does not want and is not ready to dialogue with us through our leaders Chief Otun Ayamba and Dr. Nfor Nfor. The government also ignores the fact that there is an international organisation known as OMPO (it fights for the rights of marginalized peoples), which has been handling our affairs at the international level so it is not by lobbying opposition leaders like Ni John Fru Ndi to stay quiet that would solve the problem of the SCNC or the Anglophone problem for that matter.

WEEKLY POST: If the government were to call you people for dialogue, would the SCNC problem be resolved?

BOVALA NGANJE: I can’t say here and now that if government called us for dialogue the SCNC/Anglophone problem would be over since I am not one of the main leaders of the SCNC. I am just a county chairman.

WEEKLY POST: Are you sure Southern Cameroons would attain independence soon?

BOVALA NGANJE: Ours is a peaceful struggle. We don’t want to achieve independence through war. In any case, we don’t have the means with which to go to war. Our struggle is being supervised and supported by the United Nations International Security Council and the human rights organisation, as such, it would be successful by God’s mercy.

WEEKLY POST: The SCNC has several factions. Have these factions been reconciled? If not, which of the factions do you belong to?

BOVALA NGANJE: I thank you for this important question. The truth is that those who are the real leaders of the SCNC are Chief Atun Ayamba, who is the National Chairman and Dr. Nfor Nfor and others who actually took the matter to an Abuja High Court. From Abuja, they went to the African Human Rights Court in Banjul, The Gambia. The government of La Republique du Cameroun is aware of all these movements. The SCNC won their cases in all these instances and even at the United Nations. What we have been waiting for is just the final verdict and La Republique has not been showing up at court sessions and this question of government not being ready for dialogue is what has been prolonging the matter.

Concerning the faction I belong to, I would say I belong to the Ayamba faction which is the authentic faction and this is why I am the Meme County Chairman. My position here in Meme is like the position of the SCNC Senior Divisional Officer for Meme. I am also a member of the National Executive Council of the SCNC so any other faction which has not been to court in Banjul or is not dealing with OMPO is not a legitimate faction. You cannot be crying someone else’s death when you are not the principal actor. The other factions are the ones which go to government and deceive it that they are going to end the matter and they give them huge sums of money without solving the matter.

WEEKLY POST: Which are some of the SCNC factions which are not authentic, according to you?

BOVALA NGANJE: Ambassador Fossung’s faction is one of them. Fossung is one of those who has duped government. He is just a noise-maker and has no following whatsoever, neither does he have a base. There are also Chief Isaac Oben of Muyuka and Theodore Leke who have been deceiving the government that they would do everything to end the SCNC imbroglio. These are the people the government dialogues with and claims to be dialoguing with the SCNC.

Our county has 13 divisions and we have our representatives in these divisions. We even have representatives abroad.

QUESTION: What can government do in order to put this SCNC matter to rest?

BOVALA NGANJE: Thank you very much for this question. However, it can only be answered by my leaders. As far as I am concerned, having reached the level where we are today, I think there can be no turning back. What has been aggravating things is the constant arrest, detention and torture of SCNC militants, which government thinks is the best way to dialogue with us. What this government is doing to us is in the same line with what the apartheid government in South Africa did to Nelson Mandela. We all know what happened in South Africa, and today, apartheid is history.

WEEKLY POST: Have you ever been arrested and tortured yourself?

BOVALA NGANJE: I have never been arrested and detained, but they have always been threatening to arrest me and each time, I have always succeeded in outsmarting them. Besides, I am not a radical so I always try to solve all problems I come fact-to-face with in a peaceful way.

In 2002, I went in for parliamentary elections under the banner of the CDU of Dr. Adamu Ndam Njoya. We have tried in so many ways to convince the Biya government to listen to us but to no avail, so we are bent on going all the way to the independence of Southern Cameroons.

WEEKLY POST: Who is Henry Bovala Nganje?

BOVALA NGANJE: I am born and bred in the Southwest province but my parents are from Balikumbat in the Northwest province. My father was once a Secretary of State in the West Cameroon government.

WEEKLY POST: Your last word?

BOVALA NGANJE: I want to tell you the truth: Some Southern Cameroonians are married to daughters and sons of La Republique du Cameroun and vice versa. When our country had two states, things were moving very well and Anglophones felt fine, but today the Anglophone is looked upon as a second class citizen in La Republique du Cameroun. I am asking all Southern Cameroonians to keep on praying and to stay calm as God shall one day answer their prayers.

IS NNOKO MBELE COVETING THE BAFAW PARAMOUNT STOOL?

                                By Our Cultural Affairs Correspondent

The recent meeting called by the Paramount Ruler of the Bafaws, HRH Nfon V.E Mukete to discuss very pertinent issues affecting the Bafaw tribe has come and gone, but the echoes of this meeting continue to make headline news in some news organs. Despite the attempts by a handful of some disgruntled so-called elites to sabotage this important gathering, the meeting, nevertheless, recorded a huge attendance and success never experienced in the history of the Bafaw tribe.

The success of this meeting clearly demonstrates the popularity the Paramount Ruler of the Bafaws enjoys amongst his kinsmen despite all the smear campaigns against his person and immediate family over the years orchestrated by those who covet the stool of the Bafaw paramount chiefdom.

It is therefore not surprising that despite the success of this meeting, a handful of so-called Bafaw elites led by Caven Nnoko Mbele, Government Delegate to the Kumba Urban Council, Akwo John Eyoh, Divisional Delegate of Secondary Education for Ndian and a certain Aduma an impostor who refers to himself as the Chief of Mambanda village decided to sponsor the publication of a Kumba-based tabloid to play down the success of this meeting and give the impression that there was a succession problem facing the Bafaw Paramount Chiefdom.

From the declarations of these individuals, one might be tempted to think that there is a chieftaincy problem in Kumba and that there is likely going to be a succession problem after HRH Nfon V.E Mukete. This is a very wrong perception that could only be believed by those who are ignorant of the history of the Bafaw tribe.

The present Bafaw Chiefdom of Kumba was founded and inhabited by over 8 different families with each of these families operating independently. It therefore required the intervention of the German colonial administration in the mid 19^th century to organise the various families of the Bafaws in Kumba into a single chiefdom that Kumba is today.

History has it that it was late Nfon Abel Mukete who was chosen by his own Bafaw kinsmen to become the first-ever chief of Kumba. After he was chosen by his kinsmen in absentia, on his way back from the farm, he was informed by his kinsmen. He rejected the offer twice on grounds that it was going to disturb his large scale agricultural activities and business since he was already representing a German firm in Cameroon at that time. It required the pleading of the German colonial administrator (who even advised him that he could appoint a regent) for him to reluctantly accept the chieftaincy throne. Any doubting Thomas can consult the German Colonial report of 1872 known as the Donder’s Report.

Since then, the Bafaw chiefdom has evolved to embody all the other Bafaw villages out of Kumba into a Paramount Chiefdom with the Nfon of Kumba assuming the throne as Paramount Ruler of the Bafaws.

We are all aware of the fact that since the reorganisation of the Bafaw chiefdom during the German colonial era, this chieftaincy institution was inherited by the British colonial administration which later on introduced the indirect rule through the Native Authorities ( NA). To further demonstrate their trust in the Paramount Ruler of the Bafaws, Nfon Abel Mukete, the British Colonial authorities gave him more powers by making him the head of the Native Authority in the then Kumba Division which extended right up to the present day Kupe Maneguba and Ndian Divisions. The Kumba chieftaincy has, since its inception, always rotated within the Mukete dynasty and this status quo, right up to this present date, has never been challenged by any of the eight founding families of Kumba.

Where then is all this propaganda about the end of the Mukete dynasty coming from? Who are these individuals challenging the chieftaincy institution of the Bafaw people? What moral authority have they got to challenge the chieftaincy institution of the Bafaw people? Are we sure that some of them even have Bafaw blood flowing in their veins? Since when did they become king-makers to decide how the succession to the Bafaw throne should be?

We cannot attempt to give answers to some of these questions if we do not unmask some of the faces behind this attempt to destabilise the traditional institution of the Bafaw people and the selfish reasons for such behaviour.

Our investigations so far have identified some individuals behind these destabilisation attempts against the Bafaw Paramount chieftaincy. They include Caven Nnoko Mbele, Akwo John Eyoh and Aduma.

As concerns the Government Delegate to the Kumba Urban Council, he claims to be a descendant of Ebako Dibo, one of the eight founding fathers of Kumba. However his claim as a descendant of Ebako Dibo family is being challenged by his fellow kinsmen because his so-called late father had disavowed him as his legitimate son and there are documents such as the late man’s affidavit in the Kumba High Court attesting to the fact that Caven Nnoko Mbele is not his son. Nfon Mukete’s only sin against Nnoko Mbele is the fact that he presided over the said meeting in which Nnoko Mbele was disavowed by his father and is still in keeping of the minutes of that meeting. Secondly, when his stepmother Lillian Nnoko challenged his claim to be heir to late Pa Nnoko in the Kumba High Court, Nfon Mukete and late Barrister Eseme were called up by the widow as her witnesses to the fact that Caven Nnoko Mbele was not her late husband’s son and therefore could not claim to be the rightful heir of her late husband. Even though the matter was later on adjoined till further notice, the court went ahead and recommended that both parties should sort their differences out of court because of the damage the said case was causing to the personality of Caven Nnoko Mbele.

Since then Caven Nnoko Mbele has never forgiven Nfon V.E Mukete for protecting the interest of a poor widow. Sources close to the Government Delegate say he covets the Bafaw Royal throne ostensibly as a descendant of Ebako Dibo.

To this end, when Nnoko Mbele was informed of one of the resolutions of the General Bafaw meeting (Mbom Bafaw ) in which all the eight founding fathers of Kumba, all Bafaw chiefs and notables unanimously declared their allegiance to the Mukete dynasty and further signed an undertaking that no other person out of the Mukete Dynasty can contest the throne, he saw his ambitions slipping through his fingers.

The Eseme murder trial has come and gone as such, honour and decorum demands that Nnoko and his cohorts make peace with their ruler, HRH Nfon V.E. Mukete. Anything outside this would be a threat to public peace.

By declaring that the Nfon wanted him to go to jail over the Eseme murder trial and giving this as an excuse for not attending such an important Bafaw general assembly is a clear indication of intolerance and immaturity on his part. If there is anybody who should still bear any grudge against that trial, it should be the Nfon for all the ordeals he went through during that trial despite his age. Yet, he still had the fatherly mind to extend an invitation to all his subjects to express their minds on very important issues affecting the chiefdom. Even those who had opinions different from those of the Nfon were given the opportunity to express themselves. That should have been the right forum for Caven Nnoko Mbele to air his grievances and extend a hand of reconciliation to his Nfon like any other matured politician would have done. Yet he turned his back on his Nfon and kinsmen by passing judgement against his people.

He should be reminded by what Chinua Achebe says in his novel “Arrow of God” that “no one man, no matter how great can ever win judgement against his people” and that “a child who wrestles with his father risks being blinded by the old man’s loin cloth”.

The recent disclaimer of his declarations by his own Ebako Dibo family heads is an indication to Nnoko Mbele that no matter how long a toad stays in the water it can never turn into a crocodile.

AKWO EYOH, A DISGRUNTLED LOSER

His recent declarations against the Bafaw General Assembly do not come as a surprise to many Bafaw people. He is most often described within the Bafaw community as an epitome of ungratefulness. Most Bafaw elites have attested to the fact that his ungratefulness knows no bounds. As a matter of fact, it is said that Akwo Eyoh owes everything to Nfon V.E Mukete who did everything to have him recruited into the civil service as a secondary school teacher. The generosity of the Nfon towards him did not only end there as the Nfon personally appointed him as the Head of the Bafaw Linguistic Programme intended to teach Bafaw children their language. Despite several discrepancies in his management of the said programme, the Nfon still went out of his way to confer on him the title of “Kwo” which is the most coveted title in the Bafaw tradition.

Akwo Eyoh’s is angry with Nfon V.E Mukete because the Nfon did not back his candidature to take over from late Chief Eseme as chief of Kokoboma. It should be noted that the kingmakers of Kokoboma placed their choice on the son of the late Chief Eseme and Nfon Mukete being a very principled man decided to respect the choice of the kingmakers of Kokoboma to the disenchantment of Akwo Eyoh who petitioned in vain. Since then Akwo Eyoh has remained one of those destabilising factors trying to incite other Bafaw elites and subjects against Nfon V.E Mukete. In fact, the question one may be tempted to ask here is: why should a man who has no royal blood in his veins get up one morning to contest a royal throne with a royal prince? Is chieftaincies in the Bafaw tribe for sale?

ADUMA, AN IMPOSTOR?

Unlike Akwo Eyoh who does not have royal blood in his veins, the case of this young man who wrongfully arrogates himself the title of a chief is quite regrettable. This is because the chieftaincy stool in Mambannda unlike that of Kokoboma rotates amongst the royal families of that village and is not hereditary. As such, after the death of the late Chief Aduma of Mambanda, the kingmakers with the instruction from the administration decided to carry out consultations to select a new chief. The self-proclaimed chief never showed any interest and did not, at anytime, challenge the decision of the kingmakers. The young Aduma who is a driver to a prominent cocoa dealer (whose names we are withholding and who has a vested interest in the succession process being a native of Mambanda) only surfaced after one of the Mambanda elites failed to be selected by the kingmakers. As such, their plan was to have this young Aduma appointed by the administration after which the cocoa dealer would send him abroad and Mr Matuke will be appointed as a regent. When the administration got wind of their plans, the Paramount Ruler of the Bafaws HRH Nfon V.E Mukete was consulted and he endorsed the decision of the kingmakers appointing Mr Akama, a railway engineer as the legitimate Chief of Mambanda.

I would like to praise the bravery of HRH Nfon V.E Mukete to prepare a smooth transition after his rein. It is very rare today to find people with such principles and vision. When finally you are gone to meet your ancestors, you would not only be remembered for your generosity towards your subjects, most especially towards your detractors but you will equally be remembered as a man who worked tirelessly for the unity and success of this country and who in his last days did everything possible to preserve the unity of the Bafaw people.