Last week, we published a report detailing the happenings in Bamenda on August 18, at the launching of Prof. Asonganyi’s book “difficult choices in a failed democracy.”
In the story titled; “Fru Ndi Confronts Asonganyi, refuses to shake hands,” we detailed how Fru Ndi, national Chairman of the SDF party when given opportunity to unveil the book seized on it to berate and belittle Asonganyi, and his family in front of the more than a hundred VIPs who had shown up for the book launch.
Fru Ndi, instead of choosing to use his time and remarks to make a profitable critique of Asonganyi’s book, digressed and went personal, sneering, he referred to Asonganyi as one who had no following in the SDF to which he was Secretary General.
Mr. Ndi bolstered his point by making references to the funeral of Asonganyi’s sister whom he submitted was buried like a dog – to sort of paraphrase him. When the story went viral, Asonganyi wrote a rebuttal in an attempt to set the record straight of not only what transpired between him and Chairman Ndi in Bamenda, but equally circumstances at the funeral of his sister.
“When Fru Ndi took the microphone at my book launch,” wrote Asonganyi, “he said the following among other things: ‘I left Bamenda and went with a delegation to the funeral of Asonganyi’s mad sister and waited for over 45 minutes without seeing him. When I asked they told me he had gone to buy drinks.
When I went to see him he was drinking a bottle of beer while the sister was lying on a bamboo bed and I asked Asonganyi if he found no SDF militant who could handle those errands for him.”
As it is now general knowledge, Fru Ndi told a series of lies in this statement; 1) that he met the corpse of Asonganyi’s sister lying on a bamboo bed; 2) that he went to see Asonganyi and met him drinking beer, and 3) that he found no SDF militant assisting Asonganyi.
The Cameroon Journal reminds John Fru Ndi that some 25 years ago, he launched the SDF because of lies and condescensions such as these from the CPDM elite –remember “zero mort” when there were actually “beaucoup mort?” (Pardon our French).
Throughout his political career, Fru Ndi has depended entirely on lies telling and bullying to outsmart his contemporaries to remain at the helm of the party. The cases of Ben Muna and Siga Asanga are still very fresh.
When Muna walked away from the party in the early days of its founding, rally after rally in Bamenda, Fru Ndi told the population how that Muna had become an agent of the CPDM within the party, including allegations that Muna was bought over by Paul Biya for a ministerial position.
And the plan appears to have worked just so well because even today, there are still many who truly believe Ben Muna at a point betrayed the SDF. But these are just the least among the despicable things that Fru Ndi has done.
Fru Ndi descended so low to have referred to Asonganyi’s sister as “his mad sister.
“Who in his right senses say such a thing referring to a sick person? How arrogant will Fru Ndi go before he is overthrown from this party? And this is the man who wants to be President of Cameroon? No wonder he has been in the fringes for 25 years and won no election.
Such a great thing that Fru Ndi honored Asonganyi to be at his book launch. But what happened to Mr. Ndi’s morality, common sense and statesmanship? If Asonganyi’s sister was mad as Fru Ndi said, was Asonganyi responsible? Across Cameroon as in any other place, families abound with members who are mentally challenged. Is this how President Fru Ndi would stand in the public to disparate them?
We at the Cameroon Journal think that Fru Ndi’s old age is now telling on him – he is losing his good sense of judgement and is no longer fit to lead the SDF, talk less of leading Cameroon.
If the SDF was made up of true democrats, not sycophants as Ngam Chia puts it, Fru Ndi would have been asked to resign immediately after he made those insensitive statements on Asonganyi’s family, regardless whether Asonganyi is a member of the SDF or not.
The SDF should know that as long a Fru Ndi remains in charge, they’re never going to win a single election in Cameroon. Fru Ndi has outlived his usefulness, of course, just like Paul Biya.
