Bakweri village Chief jailed for fraud

HRH Thomas Elinge Ndotoh Ekinde of Bakweri village in Buea sub-division has been sentenced to two years imprisonment by the Buea Court of First Instance for processing false land documents for one Dr. Emmanuel Apande.

The case began on the March 20, 2015 when the complainant, Dr. Emmanuel Apande took to the witness box and stated that sometime in January 2014, Ndotoh collected FCFA five million from him promising to allocate him one hectare of land supposedly situated at the Ewili new layout in Molyko Banana.

However, after several fruitless attempts to take possession of the land, Dr. Apande was told by the villagers in the Bwiteva village that the new layout in question belonged to their village and not to Ewili adding that the land was covered by a land certificate.

They stated that Ewili village was never a beneficiary of land submission because their application for land had been suspended by the SDO on the April 5, 2013.

Brought before the Buea judge on April 10, 2015, Ndotoh with the assistance of his lawyers admitted that he effectively collected FCFA 5,000,000 from Dr. Apande as the first payment for one hectare of land in the new layout situated at Molyko Banana.

He claimed that the money was meant to help the village council to follow-up on their file at the Ministry of State Property and Land Tenure in Yaoundé. The Chief further stated that Dr. Apande had to pay a balance of FCFA 10,000,000 before taking possession of the land.

HRH Ndotoh pleaded with the court to give him some time to go through with his file at the department of lands, saying he was unable to allocate the land to Dr. Apande immediately because the minister had suspended all land submissions in Fako division.

Apart from the money he collected from Dr. Apande, it emerged that Chief Thomas Elinge Ndotoh was also charged for possession of fake documents and several identities. He had also deceived many other people and collected money and other valuables from them promising to give them land. Many of these other victims have also been pursuing him for their money.

During the cross examination by Barrister Njifack, Ndotoh admitted that his real names are Ndzie Thomas Ekinde and the names of his biological father are Ndzie Simon Edoh.

It therefore emerged that the man who was posing as the chief of Ewili village had changed his names several times and is in possession of several identity cards.

It also occurred that he is not the beneficiary of any surrendered land because his application for land was rejected by the SDO and that he had been using a forged cadastral plan drawn from the Bwiteva cadastral site plan to extort money from people.

A witness in the matter, Mbake Javis Mbell who is chairman of the Ewili village council told the court that he was present with one Kulu Mondoa when Ndotoh collected money from Dr. Apande for the land. He however stated that the money was meant to sponsor the processing of their land surrender documents at the lands department.

He also stated that he gave a copy of the SDO’s suspension letter to Dr. Apande when they met in court and told him the said suspension was as a result of a boundary dispute with Lower Muea and did not concern their land renunciation application.

On the June 5, 2015 Ndotoh was present in court fully dressed in his traditional regalia when the court session began with the reading of the judgment. The Magistrate began by reading a lengthy summary of the entire trial in court and the report from the locus.

The magistrate then read the sentence by first of all stating that “chieftaincy is an important institution and that chiefs should uphold exemplary conduct in their community”.

She went on to state that Ndotoh by his actions has dragged the chieftaincy institution to mud but however, while taking into consideration his lawyer’s plea, she sentenced him to two years in prison and that failure to pay the court cost and the civil claim, he will serve another twelve months and two years respectively.

The sentence was pronounced in the presence of two other chiefs who also had criminal matters in court.

Immediately after the pronouncement of the sentence, Ndotoh was called again to the dock for two other cases in which he was charged with false pretenses. His lawyer pleaded ill health and the mental state of his client who has just been sentenced to secure an adjournment.

A reporter caught up with Mr. Molua Patrick, Dr. Apande’s friend and representative who has a Power of Attorney to execute the civil claim and he had this to say: “On behalf of Dr. Apande who happens to have gone back to the USA, I wish to thank the Magistrate and the two Deputy State Counsels for their steadfastness and courage and to Barristers Ikomi Ngongi and Njifack Justin for their professionalism during this trial".

"I equally wish to extend my gratitude to the Chief of Bwiteva for his cooperation and exemplarity. As a Bakwerian, I feel much dishonoured to see that a notorious criminal like Ndotoh was made a chief and that for the past three years; he has been using the cover of this very noble institution to commit heinous crimes unperturbed despite all the complaints. His imprisonment does not only render justice to Dr. Apande and his other victims, but also to the millions of Bakwerians who still believe in the nobility of the chieftaincy institution. From the fore-going, I wish to urge the SDO to dethrone him without delay”.