Wokaka villagers warn gov’t of chief’s highhandedness

The people of Wokaka Village in Buea Subdivision, Southwest Region, have resolved to confront the Prime Minister the Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation, the Minister of Justice, the Chairman of the National Anti-Corruption Commission, CONAC, and also officials of Transparency International, over what they termed the highhandedness of Chief Johnson Njombe Njoke.

The villagers took the decision in Buea, during a press conference dubbed the Conference of Change.

According to them, for 13 years, Wokaka indigenes have been subjected to untold suffering under Chief Njombe, whom they said is not even a bona fide native of Wokaka Village.

“Njombe is not a Wokaka man, he is a Lysoka man. His father, Thomas NjokeMbome is a Lysoka man, living in Lysoka and Chairman of the Lysoka Traditional Council. His grandfather, Mbome Ewanda is buried in Lysoka…Njombe’s lineage has no link in Wokaka and has never owned property in Wokaka,” they stated.

The Secretary of the Wokaka Community Council, Robert Embola, said Njombe, who came to Wokaka village as a fugitive, hiding from the police for some atrocities he purportedly committed in Yaounde, was handpicked by the former Senior Divisional Officer, SDO, for Fako, Robert Ngambi Dikoume, with the help of Chief David Molinge, and imposed on Wokaka.

According to Embola, Ngambi Dikoume hurriedly signed a Prefectural Order overnight, appointing Njombe as Chief of Wokaka, after his transfer from Fako was aired over the national station days before he made the appointment.

The SDO’s action, the Secretary of the Wokaka Community Council said, was based on a concocted consultative talks spearheaded by Chief Molinge in 2000 and endorsed by the then DO of Buea, Aboubakar Njikam.

“But because of the irregularities that marred the consultative talks, they were annulled and fresh consultative talks organised on February 25, 2003, attended by 10 Bakweri Chiefs led by retired Chief Justice Endeley, the Paramount Chief of Buea, Wokaka village kingmakers, notables and the entire population. At the end of the talks, Mathias Monika Ilome, was declared Chief of Wokaka, since he is the only surviving direct descendant of late Chief Monika Eku of Wokaka village,” he said.

Embola asserted that, by solely designating Njombe as the Chief of Wokaka, Ngambi Dikoume did not only contravenePresidential decree No. 77/245 of 15th July, 1977, organising chiefdoms in Cameroon, but also undermined the laws of the country.

According to him, the erstwhile Fako SDO appointed Njombe as Chief; when he (Njombe) had not compiled any legal documents that qualify him as Chief, as prescribed by the law.

“Njombe only struggled to obtain a morality report four months after he was appointed Chief, which is contrary to the law,” Embola said.

Njombe’s Misdemeanors

According to the natives of Wokaka, since the enthronement of Njombe, the locals of Wokaka have experienced the worse form of humiliation and dehumanisation.

To them, life in Wokaka today can only be compared to that of the Ugandans under Idi Amin and what was witnessed in the Nazi concentration camps under Hitler.

The Wokaka natives said after Njombe was enthroned, he contracted thugs and drug addicts that he constantly uses to enforce his traditional authority.

His henchmen, thevillagers went on; constantly flogthose who are opposed tohiscruel leadership,irrespective of their ages. One Hans Ekumbe Mondoa, the Wokaka villagers asserted, was beaten to death by Njombe’s thugs, in one of the numerous public lashings. Chief Njombe is said to have confiscated Ekumbe’s property and has constructed his palace on the deceased’s parcel of land.

Embola said the mayhem perpetrated by Njombe and his thugs has forced most Wokaka natives to flee their ancestral land and are now leaving like refugees in villages such as Muea, Bomaka, Molyko and Wonya-Mavio.

Southwest Administration Backing Njombe

According to the villagers, Southwest authorities have remained silent to the several complaints lodged against Njombe.

Embola said, when the Government, via the CDC, ceded 60 hectares of land to Wokaka, some unscrupulous Government officials started backing Njombe to plunder the people’s communal land.

“After CDC surrendered land to Wokaka, the Muea Police Commissioner, senior State Counsel of Buea, other Judges and top military officers started providing Njombe with policemen which he uses to intimidate us. Most of them have acquired parcels of land in Wokaka, given to them by Njombe.

We, the villagers, know that we still have our 60 hectares of land worth FCFA 2.7 billion and we are ready to reclaim our land when the time comes,” the villagers stated. They said they are determined to take their plight to the highest authority in Cameroon, until a lasting solution is sought.

The villagers do not only want Chief Njombe to be dethroned and the heir, Mathias Monika Ilome, crowned as their Chief; they also want all the parcels of land that has been sold by Njombe recovered and handed back to the Wokaka indigenes.

Meanwhile, all attempts to get Chief Njombe to comment on the issue were futile.