The firing squad I watched

It`s funny – isn`t it – the unpredictable manner in which thought waves flash through a person`s mind and in the process, bring back memories of past events, some sweet; yet others, bitter.

Today, while going past what used to be known as The Bamenda Highland Hotel along the Commercial Avenue in Cameroon`s North West Regional capital, memories of a firing squad I witnessed in the vicinity many years ago flooded my mind. At the time I was in Form Three at Sacred Heart College in Mankon-Bamenda.

The location of the execution

News of the impending firing squad spread like wildfire and before the accused was brought in the strongly guarded truck from detention in Up-Station Bamenda, a mammoth crowd had gathered at the scene of the execution. If you know the edifice of the now defunct Bamenda Highland Hotel, you will remember that it is on a fairly high escarpment along and above the Commercial Avenue, about a minute`s walk from the City Chemist Roundabout. I was made to understand that the spot was chosen because there was a zero risk of stray bullets reaching anyone.

It was in the reign of Ahmadou Ahidjo, Cameroon`s first President. What happened was that – as far as I can recall – a man called Peter Chi – was publicly executed in front of the Bamenda Highland Hotel on the instructions of the president of the Republic.

The story was that Peter Chi was one of several “international” armed robbers who were tracked down and finally apprehended, tried and sentenced to death. Apparently, each of them was to be shot dead in his own place of origin. So, Peter Chi being a native of Mankon Town had to be executed on Mankon soil.

Last moments of a condemned man

At the time the truck arrived, the stakes had already been firmly erected and there was a coffin ready and waiting by it. Peter Chi emerged from the back of the truck with both hands and feet bound. He was frog-marched to the stakes but before he made the move, he stopped for one moment and contemplated both the stakes and the coffin. I wonder what he must have been told before being brought to the place. Nonetheless, he put on a face that looked expressionless. He was led to the stakes and made to stand with his back against its erected poles. Then he was bound by military men. He offered no resistance.

Shortly afterwards, a priest moved over to him and heard his last confession. After that, about seven armed officers were lined up facing him. At the command of their officer, they raised their guns and took aim. At the next command, they all fired bullets at their target. I saw Peter Chi slump. Even so, he did not die at once. His body was still moving. Realizing that, the commanding officer removed a pistol from his own waist and fired a few finishing shots at the dying man. That was when he finally gave up the ghost. He was untied, I think by prisoners in uniforms – in those days prisoners wore uniforms – and placed in the coffin. If I still remember correctly, there was some blood about the place which prisoners were made to clean up.

The audacity of robbers

Something happened during the execution and something happened after it. While it took place, thieves who were part of the crowd were still able to steal from the pockets of unsuspecting onlookers. Away from Cameroon, President Ahidjo was widely criticized for violating human rights. It would appear he heeded those criticisms because right up to the point where he handed over power to Paul Biya as president of the Republic, no such public firing squad appeared to have taken place.

Snapshot of a regime

Although news that someone was going to be executed publicly took some people by surprise, those who knew the man Ahmadou Ahidjo were not so surprised because at the time of the civil war that pitted the UPC party against Ahidjo`s regime, he had been known to have opponents executed.

Ahidjo was a no-nonsense and ruthless president whose mere presence made people tremble. A typical example was when he was once in London on a visit and met with Cameroonians. The Section President of the then single party, the CNU, started reading his welcome speech. When he got to a certain point, he got stuck for no apparent reason. He restarted the phrase but still stuttered and stumbled. Finally he gave up and sat down, without the usual hackneyed speech endings of “Long live!” He was sweating profusely.

Another Ahidjo-related incident was recounted to me by the late Dr. John Monie Nkengong, a former Transport Minister and later Ambassador of Cameroon to China. He said he once succeeded in arranging reconciliation talks between President Ahidjo and another Cameroonian who had been loudly opposed to the president`s regime.

President Ahidjo told Dr. Monie after the meeting that when he brought the man before him and asked him to say what the problem he had with him or his regime was, the man could not talk. He was shivering. Dr. Monie quoted President Ahidjo as saying about the guest: “Votre ami-là est un lâche! Votre ami-là est un lâche!”, as he roared with laughter. The expression means: “That friend of yours is a coward! That friend of yours is a coward!”

Dr. John Monie Nkengong recounted this incident when he was Chairman of the Board of Governors of Nacho Bilingual Comprehensive College in Bamenda – an avant garde educational intuitions set up by the late legendary educationist and entrepreneur, Mr. Albert Cho Ngafor. At the time, I was principal of the college.

Ahmadou Ahidjo was so authoritative that once when students of the then University of Yaounde staged a strike and it became evident that authorities right up to the minister of National Education could not arrest the situation, the president stepped in. He simply issued a radio threat to students that said: “L`ordre règnera à l`université par tous les moyens!”, which means, “Order shall prevail at the university by all means!”.

The spot of the execution today

Today, The Bamenda Highland Hotel has gone, Peter Chi has gone, and President Ahidjo has gone. But the hotel building still stands tall. It has since been used for a number of different purposes, including offices and even a church. The spot on which Peter Chi was tied and shot and taken away is still there. It remains to hunt eyewitnesses like me when we pass by or think about the incident.

FOOTNOTE

Background to this story

This article is part of current research I am carrying out on a relatively new and exciting discipline known as Literary Journalism. Nordquist (2014) describes it as “a form of nonfiction that combines factual reporting with some of the narrative techniques and stylistic strategies traditionally associated with fiction.” Nordquist quoting Sims (2008) states : "Among the shared characteristics of literary journalism are immersion reporting, complicated structures, character development, symbolism, voice, a focus on ordinary people . . ., and accuracy. Literary journalists recognize the need for a consciousness on the page through which the objects in view are filtered.”

Myers (2012) posits: “Most of what gets referred to as “literary journalism” is some combination of history and travel writing — history because it undertakes to determine what happened in a past, travel writing because it depends upon first-hand observation in addition to documented evidence. Those who object that journalism (of any kind) is not history are doing little beyond disclosing their own prejudices and assumptions.

'The question in history,` Michael Oakeshott wrote, `is never what must, or what might have taken place, but solely what the evidence obliges us to conclude did take place.` Thus the historian and the journalist share the same obligation — an obligation to the evidence. What did take place might have taken place five minutes or five centuries ago, but as long as it belongs to the past, historian and journalist share the same interest in it.”

`Literary Journalism` is a form of `creative nonfiction`, the latter also being called `literary nonfiction` and `narrative nonfiction`. Other creative nonfiction types include biography, autobiography, memoir, diary, travel writing, food writing, literary journalism, chronicle, and personal essays. However, the term, `Literary Journalism` is also used interchangeably with `creative nonfiction`.

You are invited to consult my published works on Literary Journalism:

- Azonga, T.M. `Literary Journalism: Challenges and Perspectives for Cameroon`. African Journal of Social Sciences, University of Buea, March 2012.

- Azonga, T.M. `Literary Journalism and Travel Writing: Symmetry and Asymmetry`. African Journal of Social Sciences, University of Buea, November 2012.