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| Barrister Felix Agbor Nkongho |
Even though the Anglophone
crisis ,which erupted in late October 2016,is on-going and is a topical issue -both nationally and
internationally, the Cameroon government now seems to consider the topic a taboo for University
of Buea community.
The Minister of State for Higher Education and Chancellor of Cameroon’s
universities, Professor Jacques Fame
Ndongo,has reportedly instructed the
Vice-Chancellor of University of Buea ,Professor Horace Manga to suspend all
on-campus activities of Barrister
Felix Agbor Nkongho (alias Balla) ,rights acitivist and instructor in the Faculty of Law and Political
Science of same varsity, deemed to be
violating the apolitical and ethical nature of the University of
Buea,which is state-owned.
Athough the minister’s purported letter, dated April 20,2020, has not cited any such activities already carried out by the lawyer/instructor,watchers of the
University of Buea strongly hold that the minister might have been angered that
Barrister Nkongho [ and others] set a 2020 first semester
examination question on the Anglophone crisis, in which he had played a
coordinating role when it erupted in 2016 and is yet to end.
Following is the exam question on the course ,titled "Political & Constitutional History of Cameroon (Course Code:Law 243) circulated on social
media, which is said to have angered the minister: “The Anglophone crisis since 2016 was caused by lawyers’ and teachers’
strikes. Assess the validity of this statement.(4O marks).
If the minister’s worry is
about university students and teachers discussing the Anglophone crisis, pundits
argue, then he has instructed the very Vice-Chancellor of University
of Buea(UB), who in September last year chaired
the launching, on campus, of a new book titled “ Anglophone Lawyers and
Teachers strikes (2016 -2017):A Multidimensional Perspective” co-edited by Emeritus Professor of Literature
, Kashim Ibrahim Tala (retired from the University of Buea,UB) and Dr. Kingsly
L.Ngange,head of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication,
University of Buea.
At the book launch, which Prof. Manga patronized in his capacity as Vice-Chancellor of University of Buea- and is now reportedly under pressure to slam
Barrister Felix Agbor Nkongho, he had described the publication as “very topical and relevant” to the Anglophone Crisis.
Then, the Anglophone
crisis had resulted to the deaths of over 2000 people, the
destruction of public and private property worth billions of FCFA and the
internal displacement of over half-million people (IDPs) ,with over thirty
thousand seeking refugees in Nigeria.
The Vice Chancellor had commended the book authors and
editors, noting that the book was so
timely and historic that if it were going to be written some ten years later it
could register some inaccuracies. He bought a number of copies for the university.
Speakers at the book launch
including the Vice-chancellor had recommended that everybody wishing to know the facts of the Anglophone Crisis,should buy the book.
That propelled University of Buea
students to rush for copies for keeps.
In the Minister’s alleged
letter to the Vice Chancellor,wriiten in French and titled,”Violation of the ethical and apolitical nature of the University”(my translation), the Chancellor of Cameroon universities recalled that, he had earlier written to Prof
Manga to put an end to the irregular activities of Barrister Agbor Nkongho which
could jeopardise the smooth functioning of the varsity and keep him informed.
The minister reiterated
his instruction to the Vice-Chancellor to act accordingly and let him know the
measures so far taken,so that he(the minister
) should also inform hierarchy .
Contacted yesterday morning for
his reaction, Barrister Nkongho told this reporter that he was yet to be invited or served by the Administration
of the University of Buea.
“My only reaction is that
I have not been served .I have not received
any official [communication on the subject] from the university. I only
saw [the minister’s alleged letter] on social media”, he said,adding that”I have never been accused by the University
authorties of politicizing my lectures or any activity there as a lecturer.”
It would be recalled that
Barrister Nkongho was President of Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society
Consortium(CACSC),which coordinated civil disobedience and peaceful anti-government protests in 2016
and early 2017 as a way of forcing the Cameoon government grant and protect the
rights of minority English-speaking Cameroonians,who ceaslessly complained of gross
marginalization for decades.
In a desperate effort to quell the wide-spread
protests,the Government banned CACSC on January 17,2017,arrested Barrister Nkongho same day and jailed him in Yaounde
for eight months as the Anglophone Crisis escalated.
The minority rights
campaigner was charged, among others, for promoting
terrorism, a crime that is punished, maximally, with death.
But the Anglophone community
rather hailed him and described him as their Nelson Mandela.
International and national
pressure mounted on the Biya government
to release Barrister Nkongho.
It
was on August 30, 2017 that President Biya ordered, through the
Secretary-General at the Presidency Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, “ the discontinuance
of proceedings pending before the Yaounde Military Court against
Messrs Nkongho Felix Agbor,Fontem Aforteta’a, Paul Ayah
Abine…”
Since then public
statements made on national issues by
Barrister Nkongho,who is also founder of the Center for Human Rights and
Democracy in Africa(CHRDA),are scrutinized by Government- apparently for fear
that they could instigate a mass protest against the leadership of President Paul Biya,aged 87,
who has ruled Cameroon since 1982.
After CHRDA investigated the Feburary 14 ,2020 Ngarbu
Massacre and issued a statement affirming that
Cameroon’s regular forces perpetrated the crime, which the NGO qualified as a crime against humanity, the
Governement was shaken by the findings
from the NGO and then slammed Barrister
Nkongho for such declarations.
But inspite of “ the
multiple denials by the government, through a series of press releases by the
Minister of Defense and Minister of Communication, we welcome the final report
of the commission in which the government acknowledges that the act was
committed by government forces”, wrote CHRDA on its website, reacting to the recent admission
by the Government that State’s forces were responsible for the Ngarbu
Massacre,where several people including children
lost their lives.
“We equally appreciate the fact that the
perpetrators shall be tried for justice to be served and the fact that no one
should be placed above the law. We hope that this conclusion signifies an end
to impunity by government actors who commit such abuses going forward,” CHRDA further wrote.
Critical watchers of the
socio- economic and political sitituations of the country since the eruption of
the Anglphone Crisis,which has badly shaken the Government,suspect that the
Yaounde establishment may be working towards re-arresting Barrister Agbor Nkongho who has not relented
in his human rights advocacy and condemnation of human rights abuses nation-wide.
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