Mbororo Refugees Still Crying For Houses In Bamja

A year after the houses of 300 Mbororo ethnic minority and indigenous people were demolished by the Archbishop of Bamenda on Mamada Hills, Wumse Nja in the Mezam Division of the North West region of Cameroon, they are still crying for houses and food.

Archbishop Cornelius Fontem Esua had conspired with the corrupt administration, courts and security of the North West Region led by Governor Adolphe Lelel Lafrique and State Counsel George James Ngwene to demolish the Mbororo houses. The Archbishop wanted the Mbororo land for the construction of the Catholic University of Cameroon (CATUC).

The Mbororo came to Wumse Nja from Ngaoundere in 1904. At that time this piece of land sitting on the boundary between the Bamendakwe, Bambili and Nkwen belonged to the Fon (chief) of Bambili. Ardo Mamada, the Mbororo chief gave 14 bulls to the Bambili chief in exchange for the land covering over 200 hectares.

In 1933, Land Ordinance 49 settling the boundaries between the Mamada family and the Elachu or Baforchu II (Banja) who had also arrived the area, as hunters, after the Mbororo was signed by the British who had a mandate to rule Southern Cameroon’s as a UN Mandated territory.

When CATUC, represented by Archbishop Cornelius Fontem Esua started looking for land to build a university in 2009, he was approached by the Banja chief who proposed to sell the Mbororo land to them.

The Banja chief is not a landlord over the Mbororo land but a neighbor enjoying equal status with the Mbororo, Bambili, Mendakwe and Nkwen.

Cameroon Land Tenure Laws classify the Mamada hills belonging to the Mbororo as Land in Category One, meaning the land is occupied and developed. The laws proscribe the alienation, attachment, prescription or expropriation of such land for any use even for public benefit.

The CATUC claimed their university was a public utility and deserved to be granted a temporary land concession. They approached the local administration which assured them that they were qualified for a land concession from the State of Cameroon. Such land concessions are only granted over unoccupied and undeveloped land. The Senior Divisional Officer (SDO) of Mezam signed a prefectural order in 2009 for land in Category Two to be identified and demarcated for the CATUC. It is clear that only unorthodox practices blinded the authorities to the law to the point of showing bias to the Mbororo.

Enow Simon of the Mezam land registry in conspiracy with Cosmas Jobain of the Archbishop’s land department selected and demarcated Mbororo land for the CATUC. Documents were cooked up and forwarded to the Minister of Lands, State Property and Surveys (MINDAF), presenting the Mbororo land as empty land which should be given to the CATUC. Believing the information from the regional land services to be correct, the MINDAF granted a Temporary Land Concession to the Mbororo.

Quit Notice from the Archbishop to the Mbororo

In December 2012, Archbishop Cornelius Fontem Esua issued a quit notice for the 300 Mbororo of Wumse Nja to leave the land as failure to do so by 02 January 2013, the CATUC would bring caterpillars to demolish all houses and farms on the land.

The human rights activists and land rights campaigner, Fon Achobang was contacted by Abdu Karimu of Mbororo Social, Cultural and Development Association (MBOSCUDA) to come to the defense of the vulnerable Mbororo. After research, the activist determined that the rights of the Mbororo were being infringed upon and violated by some corrupt sectors of the local administration.

Archbishop Cornelius Fontem Esua and his agents in the administration were duly informed on 03 February 2013 that the attempts to grab Mbororo land in Banja were a violation of the fundamental human rights of the Mbororo and Cameroon Land Tenure Laws. Meetings were held with Governor Adolphe Lele Lafrique, SDO Felix Nguele Nguele and Divisional Officer Walters Tarkang of Bamenda III Subdivision, where Achobang reminded them of human rights principles and the Land Tenure Laws.

All parties, including the Fon of Banja, SDO, Archbishop and MINDAF agents were duly educated on the impossibility of grabbing the Mbororo land and giving to CATUC.

Even though the Archbishop saw that the land was occupied, he still granted an interview to L’Effort Camerounais, a Catholic newspaper claiming that the land was empty land. Yet his quit notices said the houses on the land and farms will be destroyed with caterpillars as compensation had been paid.

Compensation for Mbororo Land
To compensate the Mbororo who were going to lose their land, the Mezam administration led by SDO Felix Nguele Nguele alongside Archbishop Cornelius Fontem Esua demolished 09 titled houses in Abeur Bambili on 02 May 2013. The administration said they had to resettle the Mbororo from Mamada hills on the Bambili land.

The Bambili had always lived peacefully with the Mbororo of Banja. After the demolition of Bambili houses, the Bambili retaliated by demolishing two Banja houses built on Bambili land.

They also threatened to kill any Mbororo who stepped on Bambili land.

A new tribal conflict was hence created in a region prone to tribal wars over land.

Rita Iszak, UN Independent Expert for Minority Issues, barely held her tears when she visited Cameroon in September 2013 and was taken round to see the destruction of houses with occupants by the Archbishop.

“I do not believe such things are authorized in a country with laws.” Rita Iszak regretted.

She issued her report to the UN General Assembly on the Human Rights situation in Cameroon on 19 March 2014 condemning the attempted takeover of Mbororo land by the Catholic Archbishop of Bamenda.

Archbishop Cornelius Fontem Esua claimed he had paid compensation for the houses and farms on the land. They had planned to give FCFA 1,095,000 to the Ardo for his house and farm. Today, a network of Civil Society Organizations have not succeeded in rebuilding the Ardo’s house with FCFA 2,000,000.

What the Archbishop called compensation was grossly miscalculated and was beside the point because no Bambili has ever been compensated for the 09 houses demolished on their titled lands. The whole season of crops which were growing on the land was also destroyed without compensation, leaving citizens in hunger and adversity.

Both the Bambili and Mbororo have been crying for two years for the Bambili and one year for the Mbororo.

Cameroon government has done nothing. The Catholic Church has also done nothing.

Arrest warrants and death threats for human rights campaigner

To prevent the human rights activist and land rights campaigner from halting the fraudulent expropriation of the Mbororo land by the CATUC and corrupt administration and courts, Fon Achobang has been issued death threats and arrest warrants.

First, Dr Alfred Ndi of Bamenda University who was posturing to share the Mbororo land with the Archbishop instituted a suit of defamation against Fon Achobang. State Counsel George Ngwene James issued an arrest warrant for Achobang, which Dr. Ndi and his kinsman of the police were coming to Mbengwi to execute. Unfortunately, they had a ghastly motor accident along the Bamneda-Mbengwi deathtrap. They ended up in hospital for 08 months and Dr Ndi was discharged on a wheelchair.

After the Archbishop demolished the Mbororo houses on 03 April 2014, a lone hired killer was dispatched to Fon Achobang’s residence in Nyen. He had been seen and closely monitored on a crystal ball. Achobang was promptly advised to evacuate by a college of seers who had congregated to protect the ‘one who had come to work for humanity’.

I had called SDO Felix Nguele Nguele and other top officials of the North West region on 03 April 2014 to warn that the demolition of the Muslim Mbororo houses by the Catholic Church would be construed by the Muslim world as a declaration of war by Christians on Muslims.

Felix Nguele Nguele said the problem between the Catholics and Mbororo was a private matter that did not threaten the security of his area of command.

He further announced to me that there were arrest warrants for me. I promptly told him I would not present myself to “enemies of the Nation” to be killed.

Pontus Pilates
In the name of God, the whole Catholic clergy and hierarchy insulated themselves and dressed up in a clock false pretenses and a cassock of self-denial. They behaved like nothing was happening.

The governor of the North West Region, Adolphe Lele Lafrique washed his hands of the matter and gave the Roman Catholics the mandate to destroy the Mbororo like Pontus Pilate had washed his hands and handed Christ to his killers.

On 19 March 2014, when the CATUC took its first caterpillar to demolish Mbororo houses, Governor Adolphe Lele Lafrique was at the Bamenda Cathedral being inducted into the Catholic Men Association by Archbishop Cornelius Fontem Esua. After the induction, the Governor sealed his lips with a vow of silence. On 03 April 2014, the governor claimed he was in Benakuma to crush an attack on Cameroon border villages with armed herdsmen from Nigeria. He went away and allowed the Archbishop to sow mayhem in Bamenda.

State Counsel George James Ngwene of the Mezam Legal Department told the Mbororo they could go to the Supreme Court of Cameroon, but the Catholics would take their land. In his position as a State lawyer he could have elected to advise his priest to desist from dragging the whole church into mud and shame.

“The CATUC is abandoning the Mbororo land unconditionally.” said Archbishop Cornelius Fontem Esua.

This announcement came too late. It was not even an apology as the Archbishop regretted that the ringleader (Fon Achobang) had not been arrested. Perhaps, if Achobang had been arrested and killed, the Archbishop would have succeeded in grabbing the Mbororo land.

As this Mbororo land saga was going on, the Archbishop had ordered the demolition of the house of a UN peacekeeper who just returned from service in the Sudan. The sisters of Saint Anne were also involved in another land grab issue in Bojongo South West Region. The Catholics and land had become like communion and wine. This was at the same time the world sadly remembered how the Administrator and priest allowed Tutsis and moderate Houtous to be murdered in genocide in Rwanda.

When orphans and Widows mourn God is angry
“Seal not your ears to the groaning of widows and orphans,” Says the Bible.

It is clear that God is very angry when the wretched of the earth are maltreated. God is angry when the powerful oppress the weak. He is even angrier when Men of God are at the forefront of human rights abuses.

Some folks believe human rights is a nuisance concept in the hands of social anarchist.

Human rights is DIVINE and everybody should see human rights as a command from God. God would go to every length to destroy those who violate the human rights of others.

Since the demolition of Mbororo houses on 03 April 2014, three Mbororo people have died from Mamada community. The people are still sleeping in the open and are not sure of what to eat. God is angry. Very angry!

Archbishop Cornelius Fontem Esua is recovering in the Pope’s hospital in Rome after he suffered an illness which could not be cured by Cameroon hospitals.

In a message he addressed to the church, Cornelius Fontem Esua thanked President Paul Biya for evacuating him to Italy for specialized treatment. The man of God also thanked Biya and his wife for making it possible for him to live again. All those who attended Chrism Mass at the Bamenda Cathedral applauded.

The right to be evacuated for specialized treatment abroad is the right granted every Cameroonian by the Constitution of Cameroon. So far, only very few people benefit from it and it is the President who decides who could be given life back.

Now that President Biya has given life back to Archbishop Cornelius Fontem Esua, is the Man of God going to find out why God was angry with him?

Like the dying man who begged God to give him just another spate of life and he will serve God faithfully forever, what is Cornelius Fontem Esua promising God?

I had prayed for this man of gods (money and land) to have a heart attack for punishing fellowman. I am withdrawing my curse as the Mbororo themselves have said they have forgiven the Archbishop.

Even as they have forgiven him, is the Archbishop happy that he has punished fellowmen so cruelly?

Not only the Mbororo are suffering from the man. The Archbishop lives in opulence, while Catholic catechists, teachers and nurses take home miserable wages, which do not allow them to live happily.

Let the Archbishop come back from Rome transformed like Saul of Tarsus the persecutor to reconcile with his community before the angel of death comes knocking again. If he failed, the next time, even an evacuation to Jupiter would not help him.

Fon Christopher Achobang
Social Commentator, Human rights activist)
The Cameroons
Tel, (237) 699365954
(237) 674211066