Gov’t probes Fako-land grabbing allegation

Great fear is said to have gripped some administrators in the South West region, following government’s impending probe into the incessant land-grabbing imbroglio by certain ‘land-hungry’ administrators in Fako division.

A no-nonsense team from the National Anti-Corruption Commission, CONAC, has also been announced in Fako in the days ahead to open investigations into alleged illegal land-grabbing by administrators. Meanwhile, it is widely believed that the indefinite suspension of the highly rated interactive CRTV Buea programme, Press Club, has been orchestrated by the administrators implicated in the Fako land-grabbing scandal. Those suspected of causing the suspension of the programme, The Guardian Post gathered, were not comfortable with several issues dissected, especially the one that exposed land-grabbing administrators in Fako division.

Last week, news of the indefinite suspension of the programme circulated in the South West region just days after the Fako land crisis was critically discussed. In an interview with The Guardian Post on Wednesday, Head of Programmes for CRTV Buea, Teke Julius, confirmed the indefinite suspension of the programme. He disclosed that the decision to suspend the programme was signed yesterday by CRTV South West regional boss, David Chuye Bunyui.

Even though Teke refused to put responsibility for the suspension of the programme at the doorsteps of some administrators, the South West regional coordinator for the National Commission on Human Rights and Freedoms, Christopher Tambe Tiku, told The Guardian Post that the South West Governor, Bernard Okalia Bilai was behind the mask.

He accused the governor of instigating gullible Fako chiefs to write a petition against him (Tambe Tiku) for orchestrating “xenophobia, social unrest and genocide’’. To recall, the Saturday July 12, 2014 episode of the programme focused on the Fako land crisis with guests, Christopher Tambe Tiku and Barrister Ngongi Ikome, a native of Fako.

During the programme, both men noted strongly that the land surrendered to Fako villages by the CDC and the state had been acquired illegally by some top government officials in the division. Though Tambe Tiku who is equally an ELECAM board member felt-short of calling names, he said on air that one of such government officials owns as many as ten hectares of land with titles in Fako.

It was during the same programme that Christopher Tiku revealed that Prime Minister Philemon Yang had received them (Tambe Tiku and Barrister Ngongi) in audience for hours to discuss the Fako land crisis issue. The Guardian Post has it on good authority that the CRTV Buea regional boss, David Chuye Bunyui, was summoned by South West governor at the close of last week and was directed to suspend the programme on claims that it was detrimental to social peace.

Meanwhile during last night’s telephone conversation with The Guardian Post, the out-spoken Tambe Tiku cited the SDO for Fako, Zang III as a major Fako land-grabber. He wondered how the senior civil administrator could grab as much as one hectare of land in a tiny village like Ngeme in the outskirt of Limbe. The rights crusader equally faulted Governor Okala Bilai for having what he described as a mischievious interest in the parcels of land ceded to the indigenes of Fako by the Cameroon Development Corporation, CDC.

He further named officials of the South West regional delegation of state property and land tenure as also involved in the Fako Land grabbing deal. He announced that the prime minister has within two weeks met with him and Barrister Ngongi three times over the Fako Land-grabbing scandal. The Guardian Post has meanwhile independently gathered that some senior officials at the presidency also owned large portions of the land that was handed to Fako villagers by the CDC.

The Fako land crisis saga, to note, has left many Fako chiefs divided. The lives of many have been threatened, including the moderator of the CRTV Buea Press Club programme, “Mola” Matute Menyoli whose home is now heavily guarded by police officers.