Cameroun rejects citizen with British passport

On 5 October 2022, wounded, sick and penniless, George Nomen Tchaptchet landed in London with his British Passport, after spending seven years in Cameroun trying to recover his inheritance. Cameroun disowned and dispossessed Nomen of his estate of over 60 hectares of cocoa and coffee because of his British passport, yet the British High Commission in Yaounde failed to give him the needed support to secure his inherence in Buea. George was stranded in Cameroon and failed to obtain assistance from the British High Commission to return home, to London.

George Nomen returned to Cameroun, after two decades in England, to prosecute and recover his family farmlands from squatters in Buea. On arrival in Buea, the courts recognized him as the administrator of the estates of Nomen Felix Tokam, his father, who died sometime in 1985. Police investigations confirmed his ownership to a farmland with mature cocoa trees, coffee, oranges, coconuts and safou trees.

The indigenous populations of Mile 15 Bolifamba recognized Nomen’s father as the one who occupied the land since 1954, and planted bananas for export. He later transformed the farm to permanent crops like cocoa and coffee in 1968, to satisfy demand for these cash crops.

Nomen Felix Toukam came to Buea in the 1930s, after fleeing French genocide in his native Bangulap village, near Bangante. His grandfather, His Royal Highness Chief Ngantcha had been beheaded by French soldiers accusing him of continued support to the defeated German forces after World War I. Nomen Felix first went into exile in Nigeria, before settling down in Buea to operate a popular sandpit in the community. With proceeds from his quarry business, he joined the Bakweri Farmers’ Cooperative Union (BFCU), founded by Dr. EML Endeley in 1954. He was familiar with the Endeley royal family as the one who escorted Dr. EML Endeley for studies in Nigeria. The latter facilitated his integration in Buea, and Bakweri community and the development of 60 hectares from 1956.

Late Mr. Thomas Mbonde, elite of Bolifamba stated in a sworn affidavit that he was the one who drafted the sales agreement between Felix Nomen and some families in the village. Mr. Mbonde, in the presence of this reporter, described the peaceful relations between Felix Nomen and the community from which he bought farmlands. Mr. Mbonde further said Nomen was a household name in Buea. Late Chief Ewule of Bolifamba confirmed the story, before dying as he said Felix Nomen was fondly called, “the cocoa and coffee man”. While arguments with squatters, as to why they entered the Nomen Estates and destroyed crops was ongoing, George Nomen was handed an earlier judgment from Justice Joseph Aseh Malegho from the High Court of Fako, Holden in Buea.

It emerged from the judgment that before his death in 1985, Late Mr. Felix Nomen, the father of George Nomen had left his Estate in the care of his nephew, Andrew Sampson and a farmer, Samuel Teteh. Once Felix Nomen died, his caretakers, decided to share the land among themselves, unknown to the heirs of Felix Nomen. George Nomen being away in England did not gain immediate possession of his father’s will and the administration of the estate. In George Nomen’s absence, Andrew Sampson took part of the land for himself, while the heirs of Pa Tete sold part to Prof Paul Mbufong. Justice Joseph Malegho ruled in 2005 that neither of the pretenders (Andrew Sampson and Prof Paul Mbufong), nor the vendor, the son of Pa Tete were the rightful owners of the land. The sales papers they used had a cadastral plan showing Felix Nomen as the neighbour to the south.

It emerged that Andrew Sampson was instrumental in the translocation and creation of a new village called Ekande, on the Nomen Estates for the purposes of signing ownership papers over the land, for his benefit. When investigators insisted to know from Chief Njako Moveni why he never tried to meet the Nomen heirs, he confessed that Andrew Sampson vowed that the whereabouts of the Nomens was not known. Whereas the widow of Felix Nomen and the siblings of George Nomen were permanently resident in Buea Town. Late Felix Nomen built the prototype of his Buea Town house, which remains standing on his farm in Mile 15 Bolifamba, and his family continued living in the house.

The judicial police investigators assigned by Superintendent of Police Besem Helen Njok epse Njoh concluded, after verifiable findings that the over 60 hectares of land, with cocoa and coffee in Bolifamba had been occupied and exploited by Late Mr. Felix Nomen Tokam. Chief Emmanuel Ewule, on line to succeed his late father, mobilized descendants of the families who had willingly sold their land, more than half a century earlier to oppose George Nomen’s title over the land. Through corruption, lies and violence, George Nomen was arrested and detained, a couple of times.

The governor of the South West Region, Mr. Bernard Okalia Bilai had signed Regional Orders as head of the Regional Lands Consultative Board for Nomen Estate to be registered for Mr. George Nomen Tchaptchet. The regional orders requested that the occupied portions of the land be excluded from the title of Mr. George Nomen Tchaptchet. The first lot of 5 hectares was demarcated and a further 14 hectares were later registered in George Nomen Tchaptchets name.

In January 2019, frustrated that they were losing their claims to the land, lawyers of Nomen’s opponents rallied thugs from neighbouring villages to shoot and kill Nomen. According to these lawyers, all cases brought to the courts by Nomen would collapse with his death. Nomen was therefore, shot and wounded. Fortunately, he survived the gunshot and still carries pellets on his groin, as prove. He said he will only extract the pellets once he returned to England and found reliable and competent surgeons. He went into hiding and only attended court sessions when possible.

The shooting was reported to the South West gendarmerie legion, and some suspects, Nkwenta Jacob and Josephine Tantang were arrested and detained. After trial, they were sentenced to death. Unfortunately, the judgment was never executed. The convicts were later released from jail and allowed to go back to the Nomen Estates, where they continued the destruction of cocoa plants, with the support of chief Ewule Emmanuel third class chief of Lower Bokova.

Through massive corruption and abuse of power, fake chiefs, supported by Nomen’s opponents wrote to the Minister of lands to cancel Nomen’s land titles because he carried a British Passport, consequently not a Cameroonian. Cameroun does not recognize double nationality. Foreigners are also forbidden to own land in Cameroon, so the applicants for the land cancellation, convinced the minister. The chiefs who petitioned for Nomen’s title to be cancelled, were later found not to hold any authority in the land consultative boards of Fako, as they and their purported villages were not gazzeted. They had misled the minister of lands to annul Nomen’s titles claiming that he held a British Passport, and should not own land in Cameroon. In strenuous exchanges, Nomen argued that he was the administrator and representative of his late father’s estates. The Minister annulled his own cancellation and restituted Mr. Nomen’s land title.

In Ministerial Order No 1206 of 22 September 2021, rehabilitating land certificate No 012241 issued to Mr. Nomen George, the minister admits that … the administration of Cameroun was at fault in withdrawing the said title on grounds that the owner was not a Cameroonian, whereas he has Cameroon Nationality from birth…. Despite this admission of errors in wrongly annulling his Title, and subsequent rehabilitation, the administration and judiciary failed to respect this ministerial order, betraying the dysfunctional nature of the Cameroon state.

Squatters on Nomen Estates mobilized more mobs from communities, with no claims to the estates to converge in Bolifamba to protest during an official inspection visit to the site. These protesters carried posters bearing NOMEN MUST GO, and could be heard chanting same. The government judged that the protests were disturbing public order at a time when all public gatherings and manifestations were banned. Instead of punishing those disturbing public order, the administration chose to back the rioting population while sacrificing George Nomen, whom they had qualified as an alien, and in the words of the natives a COME NO GO from Bamileke land.

Public officials, from the highest levels in Yaounde, Cameroon’s capital joined the fray, and openly declared that Nomen is not a Cameroonian and should not have land in Cameroon. The judiciary and lands commissions have all determined that the land is rightfully the inheritance of the Cameroon born British National, George Nomen Tchaptchet. Cases filed by George Nomen Tchaptchet for destruction of crops on Nomen Estate, against a dozen people squatting on the land are pending in Fako courts holden in Buea. Produce valuators put annual losses and damages from the destruction of the crops at hundreds of millions.

From hiding, Nomen through Fon Achobang, an environmental and human rights activist, requested the British authorities, represented by their High Commission in Yaounde to intervene and rescue their national, to no avail. Completely deflated and helpless, Nomen sought assistance to return to England, where he believes he will be able to prosecute Cameroun government. Thanks to a good Samaritan, Nomen secured a ticket to return to London on 5 October 2022, after 7 years of trying to recover his inheritance.

On departure from Cameroon, Nomen said “I am saddened to leave Buea, the land of my birth, which was a hospitable refuge for my father who fled from persecution Bangulap. I find myself fleeing from the land of my birth, in hopes of returning to safety in England. My father should be turning in his grave to see his heir being forced into exile, 90 years after he himself was forced from his noble inheritance in Bangulap.”

George Nomen, says the only achievement he had in Cameroon was to trace his father’s village of origin, where he took his remains for burial after 30 years. He was also able to build a tomb for his late mother and father in the land of their ancestors in Bangulap, East Cameroun. Had the French not beheaded his grandfather, he would have been on the throne in Bangulap.

Nomen regrets that he found himself in a vulnerable position in Cameroun, as the person handling his case at the British High Commission in Yaounde, kept reminding him to leave the country, as the region around Buea was out of bounds for British nationals. Anglophone Cameroonians from the North West and South West regions have been involved in a war of self-determination since 2017, leading to thousands of dead. The British High Commission in Yaounde, discourages British nationals from travelling to the war-torn regions.

Felix Nomen sought protection from King George in British Southern Cameroons. Today, the French and their failed policies in Africa pursued his son and heir to Buea, where their military courts failed to punish those who attempted killing George Nomen. Cameroun gendarmes harassed him, and their military police accused him of being an impostor in Cameroun because he carried a British passport. Unfortunately, the British failed to protect George like his father was given protection in the 1940s, in the British Trust Territory of Southern Cameroons. The Nomen family is 80 years in exile from their native Bangulap.

Back in 1966, after the Tombel Crisis, when many Bamileke people, including Bangulap exiled refugees, lost their homes around Tomble, Felix Nomen organized and hosted them in Buea. Their problems and the root causes were examined leading to justice being served. George is lost as to where he will get justice for his own persecution in the land of his birth, where he was disowned and rejected. Will his British Passport give him protection in England and lead to the prosecution of the Cameroon government to recover his inheritance? It is with a note of hope that he starts readjusting to life in London, after seven years of absence.

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