The S.D.F. , Ni Fru Ndi`s silence suspicious

In March 1990, there was euphoria in Cameroon. Why? An unknown name within the Cameroonian political landscape had taken the bull by the horns by daring to launch a political party to challenge the monolithic state structure.

Moreover, this was done in an era when a mere criticism of anything relating to State authority could earn the critic arbitrary imprisonment. This hitherto taciturn man now became a household name as many a Cameroonian admired his dauntless courage and saw in his act, a Moses come to deliver his people from political bondage.

Enter Speculation: In the heat of that euphoria, many shades of opinion were making the rounds in bars and chicken parlours. Some claimed that Ni Fru Ndi had been sent by God to free his people from autocratic rule.

Others believed that he was being sponsored by a neighbouring nation to destabilise the peace that reigned in Cameroon at the time. Still, another school of thought considered him “an enemy in the house”. Of all these speculations, there was a particular shade of opinion that somehow convinced this writer of its authenticity.

This school of thought asserted that some Cameroonians of Southern Cameroons extraction who happened either to be residing in England or on a visit to that country met with some British opinion leaders in London and complained to them about the marginalisation of “Anglophones” and the wanton devastation of our human and natural resources by La Republique du Cameroun who had surreptitiously recolonised our territory.

It was further alleged that these British men advised them to form a political party through which the aspirations of Southern Cameroonians could be articulated.

Founding of the S.D.F. Heeding to the advice from London, the founding fathers of the S.D.F. started holding secret consultations which culminated in the launching of the S.D.F. on May 26, 1990, a date that has become very memorable in the history of Cameroon.

Cameroonians in general and Southern Cameroonians in particular saw in the S.D.F. a panacea for their protracted suffering. Other people believe that the Bamilekes saw in the S.D.F. a leeway to grab political power which had eluded them since the “maqisard days” and so threw their financial weight behind it.

The launching of the S.D.F. now made the little known bookseller in Ntarikon a national and international political figure. Ni Fru Ndi realised that his launching of the S.D.F, had metamorphosed him from a sun bird to an ostrich and as such had to broaden the scope of the wisdom that influenced the founding of the S.D.F. It was no longer the welfare of Southern Cameroonians that preoccupied the S.D.F., but that of the entire Cameroonian nation.

Little did the founding fathers of the S.D.F. realise that the financial weight of the Bamilekes had derailed them from their original objective.

As it is commonly said that,” He who pays the piper calls the tune”, the Bamilekes were now those firing the shots in the S.D.F. knowing very well that “Anglophones”, Southern Cameroonians, are serving as a buffer between the Bamilekes and the Beti power base in Yaounde, would the Bamilekes have bought the idea of a separate state for Southern Cameroons leaving them at the mercy of the Betis?

Anglophones As Foreigners In Cameroon; I remember when the S.D.F. was launched in May 1990, the then Government Delegate of the Yaounde Urban Council, referred to “Anglophones” as, “ Les ennemies dans la maison”, i.e. enemies within the house. His Excellency, Ibrahim Mbombo Njoya at the time Minister of Territorial Administration declared that if “Anglophones” were not happy with their stay in Cameroon they should go and look for their own country elsewhere.

In the 1992 Presidential elections, the S.D.F. with Ni Fru Ndi as Presidential candidate won the election but their victory was seized from them for reasons only the Yaounde power brokers understood.

It was not until May 1993 on his return from a visit to Paris on the invitation of the French authorities that Ni Fru Ndi disclosed to some members of his N.E.C. at the Tiko Airport Hotel that he was advised by Francois Mitterrand of blessed memory to accept the post of Prime Minister because an “Anglophone can never be the President of a French Province”. Whether Ni Fru accepted the advice or not, subsequent elections in Cameroon were to prove Mitterrand correct.

Recently, after the proclamation of the 2011 Presidential election results, Ni John Fru Ndi, Edith Kah Walla, Hon. Ayah Paul and Barrister Bernard Muna all of them Southern Cameroonians planned a demonstration in Yaounde in solidarity with some three other Presidential candidates of La Republique du Cameroun to challenge the highly flawed election.

Of course, that demonstration never took place because it was proscribed by the prefect for Mfoundi in very strong terms that Yaounde is not a capital for foreigners and asked them to go and demonstrate in their own capital.

The Inability Of The S.D.F. To Pull The Strings; Having successfully established the fact that an “Anglophone” can never rule a French Province, the C.P.D.M. Government went on to progressively reduce the S.D.F. that had once enjoyed national representation to a regional party through massive electoral fraud as officially disclosed by the “magician of fake figures” , Marafa Hamidou Yaya.

Though reduced to a regional party, many Cameroonians still believed that Ni Fru Ndi was the one charting the political path of the nation. That is why during the February 2008 nationwide strike to protest against price hikes for petroleum products and other basic commodities, the same controversial Marafa Hamidou Yaya pointed an accusing finger at the National Chairman of the S.D.F. for inciting the youths to go on the rampage.

When President Biya visited Bamenda in December 2010 for celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of the Cameroonian armed forces, he shook hands with Ni Fru Ndi for the first time in 20 years of their political ping pong. Cameroon Tribune took a snapshot of that incident and inscribed under it; “The handshake that made a difference”.

That picture was enlarged and posted widely across the nation as a sign of reconciliation and prosperity for Cameroon. Till now this writer is still to feel the difference that handshake has made on the down trodden Cameroonian. On the contrary, the situation of Cameroonians is deteriorating on a daily basis.

Moreover, when the Government increased the prices of petroleum products in 2008, Ni Fru Ndi openly condemned the act and called on Cameroonians to fight against it, but today in the same circumstance, he has maintained a suspicious silence. Is this silence therefore a reflection of that handshake that made the difference?

Or is it a confirmation of the assertion that, “The mouth that has bitten to its full cannot speak out”? Further still, is it a confirmation of the Government’s boast that they have succeeded in containing the S.D.F. but their greatest headache remains the S.C.N.C.?

Oscar Wilde in, “The Importance of Being Ernest”, advises, “If you cannot beat your opponent, join him”. Is Ni Fru Ndi`s suspicious silence an indication that he has accepted defeat from Mr. Biya and as such has joined the invincible opponent?

Informed wisdom advises us to accept the available in the absence of the desirable. Papa Fru Ndi, if you cannot have La Republique du Cameroun which is the ostrich of your dream, then accept Southern Cameroons, the sun bird which is the wisdom that influenced the founding of the S.D.F.

If truly the S.D.F. was founded to articulate the aspirations of Southern Cameroonians, then I advise you like late Prof. Bernard Fonlon told President Ahmadou Ahidjo when he had derailed from the clauses that were the basis of the Federal Union between Southern Cameroons and La Republique du Cameroun to go back to the drawing board.

It is an undisputable fact that you have impacted on the Cameroonian political landscape and now find it difficult to narrow your scope but it is also an open truth that the Yaounde regime has reduced you to a Regional leader, even though through fraudulent means. I am sure that you are equally convinced that you can no longer pull half the crowds you used to pull in your hey days of the nineties.

You are a very great man when it comes to Cameroonian politics but I, Simon Fuh Ngwa, consider you a traitor to the Southern Cameroons course. As a book seller, I believe you must have read many African novels, so I wish to draw your attention to this proverb by the venerated Chinua Achebe in Arrow of God; “No man, no matter how great he may be can ever win judgment against his people.”

You may think you are comfortable with your popularity within the circles of La Republique du Cameroun but Southern Cameroonians will live to point an accusing finger at you and your posterity for betraying them for personal gain. I know you are a practising Christian of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon. May I remind you of John 8: 32 which says; “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free”.

Papa Fru, you know very well that there is no union treaty between Southern Cameroons and La Republique du Cameroun. What is keeping you there and why are you misleading God`s children of Southern Cameroons extraction? What name do you intend to leave for the Southern Cameroons posterity? God bless Southern Cameroons.