Why JB Ndeh dumped ambition for Fecafoot presidency

Wondering why after threatening to hijack FECAFOOT presidency John B. Ndeh suddenly made an about turn?

The Cameroon Journal has it on good authority that the presidency dispatched Special Duties Minister, Paul Atanga Nji to Bamenda last week to meet one on one with JB Ndeh and coerce him to withdraw the declarations which they found detrimental to Cameroon’s football.

Ndeh had threatened to challenge a decision the minister of sports and physical education, Ishamael Bidoung Mkpatt took on November 18, cancelling a decision of the Conciliation and Arbitration Chamber of the Cameroon National Sports and Olympic Committee, which had annulled the election of Tombi a Roko as FECAFOOT president.

The chamber was seemingly paving the way for him (Ndeh) to run the affairs of the federation before organizing fresh elections.

We gathered that Paul Atanga Nji, in a bid to blackmail Ndeh, a onetime minister of transport, currently director general of MEDINO, presented corruption files to him which they could be used to imprison him if he, like Iya Mohamed, refuses to hands-off FECAFOOT presidency. Ndeh has been MEDINO general manager for over 20-years and has never been indicted for embezzlement.

Contacted by phone for insights to his encounter with Atanga, Ndeh said “This FECAFOOT issue will kill me. My blood pressure has risen.” He avoided saying anything about the meeting and stated repeatedly that “I am busy. I cannot talk about that now, besides I am no longer interested in being FECAFOOT president.”

The sudden change of position has Cameroonians wondering why JB Ndeh has become so controversial.

He first resurfaced in the FECAFOOT saga on November 12, when the Conciliation and Arbitration Chamber of the Cameroon National Sports and Olympic Committee annulled the election of Tombi a Roko as FECAFOOT president.

His first reaction was that he was no longer interested in being FECAFOOT president. Backpedaling from this initial stance, he later declared he made the statement without keenly studying the facts on the ground.

Ndeh afterwards made up his mind to take the bull by the horn. Even when the prime minister decided to intervene by summoning him and Abdouraman Hamadou Baba to the Star Building to plead that the duo back off the struggle for FECAFOOT presidency, Ndeh remained indifferent.

Speaking under condition of anonymity, a source close to Ndeh, revealed that the man who had become the only competent and legally-recognised personality to temporarily take over the management of football affairs in Cameroon, after the decision of the football ‘supreme court’, had told the PM he would go to every length to make sure that the Conciliation and Arbitration Chamber’s decision is respected.

Ndeh equally granted an exclusive interview to the French Language daily newspaper, Le Jour, in which he declared that: “all decisions taken by Tombi a Roko are null and void”.

Ndeh was categorical that: “we will write a petition to FIFA, CAF, Conciliation and Arbitration Chamber of the Cameroon National Sports and Olympic Committee and ask them to suspend all transactions with FECAFOOT until further notice.” Ndeh added that they will not only write to FECAFOOT sponsors to suspend all dealings with the FA but will equally hire the services of lawyers to block all FECAFOOT accounts.

However, after his reported meeting with Atanga Nji, Ndeh came out and made contradictory declarations in a seemingly concocted brief four-question interview with state-run daily Cameroon Tribune. All four questions had the same answer put in similar words.

Hear him “After consultations with certain personalities, I think Minister Bidoung Mkpatt’s communiqué is legal and in conformity with the law”.

Answering the second question, Ndeh said “I say the communiqué of the sports and physical education minister conforms to the law and thus, all actions taken by FECAFOOT president and members of his bureau are legal”; to the third he stated: “I reiterate that the communiqué of Minister Bidoung Mpkatt is clear and unequivocal. We can no longer challenge decisions taken by the president of the federation, who to me, should be considered legal as regards the law.

Reports say by the time Ndeh made a u-turn to declare Tombi a Roko’s reign at FECAFOOT “legal”, he had already hired a bailiff to serve FIFA, CAF, banks and other partners of the federation as he had threatened.