*But
grandiose celebration of his life billed for next year!
By Christopher Ambe
Renowned minority rights leader, Mola Njoh Litumbe who died, aged 93 plus, on May 26 in a hospital in Douala, was Thursday June 11, accorded a strictly family burial in his native Bokwaongo Village,Buea ,despite his national and international popularity.
The low-keyed funeral/ burial of the Cameroonian nonagenarian were blamed on the covid-19-induced travel restrictions, which prevented not only thousands of friends of the deceased (at home and abroad) from attending but also some of his own children in foreign countries.
But conscious of the popularity of the rights activist, Mafany Litumbe, son of the deceased disclosed to this reporter that, there are plans underway to organize a grandiose celebration of the life of his father next year.
“The burial was just for the family. Next year we will have a two- three day celebration of Mola Njoh Litumbe’s life when travel restrictions [will] have been lifted, so his family, friends, well-wishers, former colleagues etc can attend”,he said when this reporter sought answers for the low-keyed funeral/burial.
Mafany’s justification may now put to rest allegations that the family decided to organize a rather simple funeral for the nonagenarian to avoid a massive turnout of Anglophone separatists and activists, to whom the deceased was a huge inspiration for their self-determination cause, which for the past four years has plunged Cameroon into a serious socio-political crisis, resulting in deadly confrontations between Cameroon’s regular forces and armed separatists.
Njoh Litumbe,during his lifetime, shot into prominence not only because he was the doyen of Cameroon’s chartered accountants, the Chairman of a political party, Liberal Democratic Alliance(LDA),the chief advocate for Bakweri ancestral land rights, but also as a frontline leader in the fight for the rights of minority English-speakers in Cameroon.
Njoh Litumbe’s requiem at the Presbyterian Church(PC) Bokwaongo was officiated by a college of clergymen, who included Rev. Simon Mokoko(Parish Pastor of PC New Town Airport Douala),Rev Joseph Linonge and Rev. Ntah William Nche(host Pastor).
Eulogies there came from two family members and a representative of PC Bokwaongo, where the deceased worshipped and was chairperson of the congregation’s project committee, for many years.
In his sermon, titled “The Joy of a well-fought contest”, inspired by the Bible book of 2 Timothy 4:7-8,Rev. Simon Mokoko harped on the certainty of death, noting that “this world is the land of the dying and the next world the land of the living.”
Llife is the journey from the womb to the tomb, observed the Pastor, who wondered why so many people are materially rapacious, instead of preparing themselves spiritually,to die happy.
”This world is not our home. And we will only be remembered for what we have done”, Rev Mokoko said, urging that people better get prepared for death. “Please don’t die without having lived.”
The clergyman, who held mourners spell-bound with his soul-searching sermon, noted that late Njoh Litumbe was a fine accountant whose accounting principles are rare to find in today’s society.
“He was strict, not wicked! He spoke out the truth in politics fearlessly…
“He saw truth as the bedrock of all healthy relationships; therefore, he spoke truth [to power], loved truth and died for truth,”said Rev.Mokoko of late Njoh Litumbe,whose father Yohannes Litumbe Ekese was ordained as the first Christian Pastor in British Cameroons in 1917. “We have not only lost a Christian but church builder.”
The Minister of God said the life of deceased has left behind three indivisible lessons: 1) Love, which expressed in different ways 2).Truth,which he courageously spoke all the times and 3).Personality, which he built, emerging as one of the finest personalities to be emulated.
Rev. Mokoko thought that before the nonagenarian breathed his last, Njoh litumbe had fought a good fight for the common interest and died spiritually rich.
“Mola Njoh Litumbe has just changed his address from an earthly home to heavenly home, where he will receive his crown of glory, “remarked Rev. Mokoko, who earlier said.
A host of national dignitaries (Buea elite), having family ties with late Mola Njoh Litumbe, such as Senator Mbella Moki and Prof.Mrs. Dorothy Limunga Njeuma, attended the funeral.
Barrister Felix Agbor Nkongho, founder of the Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa (CHRDA) and noted rights activist, who attended the funeral, told this reporter:” Mola Njoh Litumbe was the Godfather of the Southern Cameroons struggle. We will miss him.I admired his resilience and professionalism. I admired the fact that he did what he believed in. And this is a lesson to all of us. Mola has gone. I am praying that he will intercede with God so we find a solution to the Anglophone struggle, which is factionalized, so that there should be unity in the leadership and movement .May his soul rest in peace as we keep alive the struggle”
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BIOGRAPHY
OF THE LATE MOLA NJOH LITUMBE
Njoh Litumbe, fondly known as Mola Njoh or simply Mola, Daddy or Grandpa, was born in Bokwaongo, Buea, Cameroon on 4th February 1927 to the Rev. Yohannes Litumbe Ekese( ordained as the first Christian Pastor in British Cameroons on 9th April, 1917 ), and Hannah Liengu la Njoh’a Mafany, a Soppo Wonganga princess.
He had his early education in Basel Mission and Baptist Mission schools, and attended St. Joseph’s College, Sasse, where he graduated in December 1946 with a University of Cambridge Overseas Senior School Certificate in Division One.
At the time of his death he was the oldest SOBAN and he liked to call himself “The Last Man Standing”.
He joined the Cameroon Development Corporation as an accounts clerk in January 1947, from where he was awarded a scholarship to train as an accountant with Messrs Casselton Elliot & Co., Chartered and Incorporated Accountants of London and Lagos.
He was articled to prizeman Harold William Long and completed his studies in the City of London in 1957.
In so doing, he became the first Cameroonian to qualify as a chartered accountant, three years before the State of La Republique du Cameroun attained independence.
Upon his return to Africa, he joined the newly established firm of Messrs Akintola Williams & Co., chartered accountants of Lagos, where he rapidly rose to the position of manager and then development partner. In the latter capacity, he played a key role in the creation of branch offices in Port Harcourt and Enugu in Nigeria, Victoria and Douala in Cameroon, and Abidjan in Cote d’Ivoire. In Cameroon he played a significant role in the creation of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Cameroon, and served as its first President during its formative years. He retired from active practice upon reaching the age of 60 as Chairman of
the Akintola Williams Group, which by then had evolved to become the foremost accounting firm run by black Africans on the African continent, providing audit, taxation and management consultancy services to a broad portfolio of indigenous and multi-national clients.
He married the late Sarah Efosi Eko, whom he affectionately referred to as his “Senior Wife”,
in 1952 and their union produced 3 daughters and two sons. He is survived by 4 of the 5 children, 10 grandchildren and 1 great grandchild.
In his retirement, Mola Njoh found his second vocation; political activism. He started by forcefully agitating for the Restoration of Bakweri Lands and, as Secretary General of the Land Claims Committee, he took our case all the way to the African Tribunal of Human Rights in Banjul, Gambia, where as part of a powerful delegation spearheaded by Professor Ndive Kale, the case was referred to the meeting of African Heads of State. Subsequently the CDC started a program of land restoration to bakweri villages.
He was also active in Cameroon politics as the founder and President of the Liberal Democratic Alliance, a party based in the South-West province. The LDA was part of the Opposition Alliance that tried unsuccessfully to unseat the incumbent in 1992.
However, he is probably best remembered for seeking a peaceful corrective formula for the political co-habitation between Southern Cameroons and La Republique du Cameroun that was never legally consummated. In so doing he coined the memorable phrase “Njomba no bi maret”. He took his cause all over the world and even to hallowed halls of the United Nations in New York. Originally a lone voice in the wilderness, he gradually become recognised as a repository of first hand anecdotal knowledge about Southern Cameroons and a veritable icon. Although he has left us, he truly believed that one day justice would prevail.
Mola was known as a strict disciplinarian and a man of integrity. But he was dearly loved and respected by all. He will be sorely missed by his family – nuclear, extended and political – and by his friends from all walks of life and all age groups.
Papa rest in peace. Wende gbamu. Yondo szwelele.
(As presented by son, Mafany Litumbe)
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