NOWEFU transformed into beggars’ union!

By Chinje Hopeson and Tamfu Harrison Bawe in Yaounde 

The North West Fons’ Union, NOWEFU, which represents the pride of the region’s traditional institutions, has seemingly been transformed into a beggars’ union.

The collective disgrace that has been brought on the entire population of the North West region, The Guardian Post has been made to understand is being coordinated by the president of the North West Fons’ Union, Senator Fon Teche Njei and a handful of some fons whose ‘villages’ number less than 500 subjects .

After several visits which some prominent North West fons have qualified as royal begging sprees, two other unsealing permanent scars were inflicted on the collective psyche and pride of the North West region by the traditional rulers at the instance of Senator Fon Teche Njei last week.

First, Senator Fon Teche and a handful of traditional rulers from the North West paid a courtesy visit to the senate president, last Thursday, under the guise of extending their unconditional ‘support’ and ‘encouragement’ to President Paul Biya for his fight against Boko Haram. Claims that such a trip would only have been intended to beg for money from the senate president have been emboldened by the understanding that any such support and encouragement declarations to the head of state, if genuine, would have simply been a sealed message sent through the secretariat of the presidency without the fons taking the ‘pains’ to make the trip to Yaounde.

And as if that was not enough, Senator Teche and his delegation of selected fons paid another courtesy visit to finance minister, last Friday, to ‘thank’ him for appointing a son of the region to the position of assistant general manager of the Debt Relief Fund known by its French acronym CAA.

While it cannot be ascertained that the finance minister gave the fons money, it remains also to be seen who is that government official in Cameroon who would receive such ‘high  delegation’ of traditional rulers without reimbursing their transport fares and taking care of their lodging.    

Explaining the motive for both trips to Yaounde, the NOWEFU president general, Senator Teche Njei told The Guardian Post that he has no apologies for selecting just a few fons to what he qualified as ‘a thank you trip’.

 Hear him: “We did not go to the senate president and the minister of finance to beg but simply to express our gratitude to the head of state through them. I am a politician who knows what appreciation means...”

On why he sidelined his secretary general and paramount fons of the region while making such an important trip, Senator Teche thundered: “Don’t use that word big or paramount fons again...no fon in the North West is bigger than the other...and besides, all the villages in the North West are autonomous. As president general of NOWEFU, I reserve the right to determine which fons accompany me to any ceremony...”

Enter the humiliation suffered by Senator Teche & delegation at funeral of Chantal’s mother in Mvomeka’a

Not only last week’s courtesy visits to Yaounde by Senator Teche and his group of selected fons are receiving boos, jeers and cat calls from their subjects in the North West and beyond.  Despite customary norms that North West traditional rulers are not supposed to view corpses, the NOWEFU president general and his team of loyalists recently showed up uninvited in Mvomeka’a  under the guise of attending the funeral ceremony of Chantal Biya’s mother; Rosette Marie Mboutchouang.

As expected, the unwanted ‘mourners’ were served the humiliation of their lives by no-nonsense state protocol officers commissioned to keep gate-crashers to the funeral far off from the scene of action. The fons were not only denied access into the main funeral ground but were ordered to stay away from the main entrance of Biya’s private residence.

The fons, dressed in gigantic traditional attires with no ‘nchindas’, trekked for over 90 meters before getting the big embarrassment. Sources say they had been told by the director of civil cabinet at the presidency not to come to Mvomeka’a.

Also reacting to the Mvomeka’a funeral trip, Senator Teche told The Guardian Post yesterday that contrary to reports: “We were duly invited to the funeral by President Biya who later visited us where we were asked to be...I have pictures we took during the funeral in Mvomeka’a with President Biya.’’

Asked why they had to defy the region’s tradition to see the corpse of a woman for that matter, Senator Teche retorted: “Who told you we saw the corpse of Chantal Biya’s mother? We saw only her casket...”

Reminded that their South West counterparts were not in Mvomeka’a for the funeral of Chantal’s mother or do not undertake trips to Yaounde to ‘encourage’ and ‘thank’ the authorities when their subjects are appointed even to more senior positions, Senator Teche had a ready response: “That is the business of South West chiefs if they don’t know how to express gratitude...”

50^th reunification celebration of disgrace 

This year’s February visit of North West fons to Buea; under the umbrella of NOWEFU; to take part in activities marking the 50th anniversary of reunification might have been the most disgraceful outing that has ever been staged by the custodians of North West tradition.

To begin with, the fons did not only go in dispersed ranks; prominent rulers like Fon Senator Doh Ganyonga III of Bali and Fon Chafah Isaac of Bangolan apparently already aware of the disgrace that awaited them in Buea opted to stay away from the ceremony; even though invited by the presidency.

Even right at the ceremonial ground in Buea, the fons were seen in a bitter exchange. This atmosphere of animosity reached its apogee when it was time for them to present a gift to the presidential couple.

At this juncture, NOWEFU president general, Senator Teche Njei was seen giving orders to those fons who were not supposed to join him and others in handing the gift, to stay where they were. Particularly, the union’s secretary general and the fon of Bafut were ordered to regain their seats when they tried to defy Fon Teche’s instructions.      

Scene two of the disgrace that was suffered by North West fons in Buea showed its ugly head when the “gift” to the presidential couple was unveiled. And the “gift”, a statue of the head of state without legs! Even though speaking while handing over the statue to the presidential couple, Fon Teche told President Biya that it was made with precious stones ; collected from all the over 250 palaces in the North West, his own secretary general, Fon Zofoa Ndofoa of Babungo rang The Guardian Post  later to denounce and expose his president !

Said Fon Zofoa: ‘’How could Fon Teche tell a fat lie even to the head of state that the statue he presented to him at the reunification celebration in Buea was made out of precious stones that were collected from all the palaces in the North West; whereas it is an open secret among the fons that the statue was done in Dschang ; in the West region with black beads ?’’

Fon Zofoa said the problem with the “gift” was not only that it was made with black beads which symbolise ill-luck but wondered aloud how a statue could be made for somebody who is still alive. Fon Zofoa said as if the disgrace brought on the North West fons and their elite was not enough, the Fon Teche-single-handedly- conceived statue of the head of state was without legs. He gave to understanding that the gift though received in public spelled doom for the presidential couple.  Even the speaker of the national assembly, Hon. Cavaye Yeguie Djibril who sat by Biya was quoted as joking to the president that: ‘’the fons of the North West have cut off your legs’’. 

As if the disgrace suffered at the ceremonial ground was not enough, Fon Teche later led a delegation of 30 fons who waited under biting cold and blistering sun for two days in order to be received by President Biya. President Biya, apparently informed of the intention behind the audience, turned the fons away after keeping them waiting for two days.

Reacting to these developments and more, a North West elite identified as Che Edison Ndeh told The Guardian Post yesterday : “When I read the novel, “Royal Beggars’’, I felt seriously offended, considering it a malicious joke in very bad taste. But each passing day has proven the author of that novel, Kebila Hilary, right, as a handful of North West fons are actually below royal beggars; for they beg with no royalty. In fact, they are bare-face mendicants, ever ready to remove their royal caps for the tingling and jingling of red coins. As I talk to you now, my heart still aches and bleeds from the disgrace, which incidentally have been unfolding in front of my own eyes. In fact, I am numbed, confused, confounded and dumbfounded at what our fons are doing”.

In yet another outburst, Shey Evaristus Mainsa, a North West elite based in Yaounde sustained that: “I have painfully come to realize that the current NOWEFU executive is the worst accident that ever happened to the region and if nothing is collectively done speedily, they will auction the North West tradition even for a pittance. All their moves are driven by greed and the quest for personal recognition at the detriment of the region and even their betters...The current NOWEFU executive is not doing any good to the North West tradition. Their frequent visits to ministers and senior state officials in Yaounde and Douala have so seriously damaged the reputation of the region. And this is coming on the heels of another controversial gift to the sectary general of the presidency of the republic, an event that pushed the NOWEFU Council of Elders to disown their own president, Fon Teche.