NOWEFU Elections: Fon of Mbot to contest for Presidency

One of the clan heads of the Mbum tribe in Donga Mantung Division, Fon Shey Barnabas Mbunwe II of mbot village has declared his intentions to run as president of the North West fon’s Union-NOWEFU.

His declaration comes at the heels of heightened tension generated by intrigue, manipulation of the constitution, treachery, bad blood and the refusal of the current leadership to convene an elective convention after the expiration of its mandate some months back.

He made the declaration to The Times Journal’s Ngah Benjamin in a special interview here in Bamenda on Wednesday 22nd of April, 2015.

Referring to the wobbly and inopportune condition in which Senator Fon Teche, the current sit tied president of NOWEFU has placed the union; the Fon of Mbot declared, “The fons of Donga Mantung are not docile and would not accept anything less than having their turn at the helm of NOWEFU which is a right and not a privileged.”

According to him, the non respect of the NOWEFU constitution and the rotary arrangement written or verbal as the case may be would face a very stiff resistance not only from the fons of Donga Mantung Division, but from other fons across the region.

Accusing the current president of manipulation and the misuse of traditional power, he said, “The current president has his intentions and wants to lobby for an extension of his mandate. This is something we would not accept. We want the traditional rulers of this region to regain the respect they had and to remain apolitical.”

He went further to reveal that the governor on several counts has asked for the total respect of the NOWEFU constitution by the present president who has been adamant. “Momo was given the chance after Wum, now is the turn of Donga Mantung and he should destroy this union.” “And if the union’s constitution were to be amended,” the fon of Mbot said, “it must only be when Donga Mantung and Boyo have had their turns.”

The 16th of December, according to him will be a decisive date for NOWEFU. “Though the place where the meeting has been billed is known only by the president as his clique, I as one of the beleaguered Exco members will come to know. On that day, the lone agenda must be to fix a date for election into the executive bureau of the union.

His first priority when he takes over NOWEFU would be to make sure the Fon’s secretariat located in Nkwen is completed. According to him, millions of FCFA offered to the union by some elite of the region destined for completion of the complex have been embezzled.

His second priority would be to put sanity in the way the union is run and to restore the dignity and culture of the North West Region which has been rubbished by the present leadership of NOWEFU.