God the Politician

2. Unwise Men From The East

16 2
Unwise Men From The East eactions to the news of the SDF’s launch were numerous and varied. Just as many worshippers, among them angels from Heaven, poured into Bethlehem to greet Jesus Christ the Messiah asthousands poured into Bamenda. This was concrete proof that a political party had been launched but unlike the Wise Men from the East who came to worship Christ, not all those who streamed into Ntarinkon came to worship and adore the new political baby. John Fru Ndi later told all those who cared to hear it t the government had offered him a bribe of FCFA 3 billion to drop the SDF idea and flee to Nigeria. His militants instantly believed the story for reasons that I do not deem important to elaborate on. First, without being a traditional ruler or even a prince, his residence was suddenly referred to as ‘Ntarinkon Palace’, a way of equating it with Unity Palace (State House) .This was also the beginning of Fru Ndi’s deification and a personality cult that was later to make any opposing ideas to his an antiparty activity. Another significant observation concerns the FCFA 3 billion alleged to have been offered to Fru Ndi. Cameroonians had such a negative impression of the Biya regime that they were ready to believe anything scandalous reported about it. Even financial experts, who knew that FCFA 3 billion was too great an amount to carry about, decided not to question the truth of the story for fear of incurring the wrath of Fru Ndi’s diehard supporters, especially in the North West Province. Nobody was bold enough to say he didn’t see the emperor’s new clothes. The story of the rejected FCFA 3 billion did however cause Fru Ndi’s popularity to soar to such heights that anything he said was taken as Gospel truth. In fact one way of saying something was the truth was to say it came from Fru Ndi. The official audio-visual news organ, CRTV, played the most significant part in ensuring Fru Ndi became the darling of the public. Besides broadcasting the false information that the six youths who lost their lives were trampled upon, CRTV claimed that 10,000 of the people who took part in the SDF launch were Nigerians who sang the Nigerian R 17 national anthem. The government wish to hear the last of Fru Ndi was betrayed by the announcement that Fru Ndi had escaped to Nigeria, which was contrary to the truth. Pity never ceases to be shown to those who make the people’s suffering their own. Fru Ndi had proven that he was ready to die to rid Cameroon of the Biya dictatorship and few doubted him. When therefore he said he was the target of arrest and threats of liquidation for standing up to the Biya regime, those ready to die for him were legion. The reactions of some top Anglophones to the launch also gave Fru Ndi the moral courage he desperately needed to forge ahead, despite all the government’s efforts to deter him. John Ngu Foncha, the vice president of the ruling CPDM party and Grand Chancellor of the Order of Valour a prestigious though sinecure position announced his resignation from both posts. Such a thing had never happened before. Christian Tumi, Cameroon’s lone cardinal, openly defended the SDF’s launch. Another moral force. Dr Foncha’s resignation was of utmost significance because its announcement was accompanied by declarations highly injurious to the Biya regime. Most memorable was his complaint that he was often spitefully treated, denied an audience with the head of state and invited to meetings only by radio. He therefore felt no better than window dressing (irrelevant). The immediate cause, as recounted by eyewitnesses, was the shabby treatment given him by security forces. The men in uniform not only searched the elderly statesman with the thoroughness deserved only by terrorism suspects but scornfully remarked ‘Foncha c’est qui?’ (Who is Foncha?). Of course all adult Cameroonians knew Foncha’s contribution to the unity of Cameroon. They knew that Cameroon, a former German colony spelt Kamerun had been handed over to Britain and France to administer as trust territories by the League of Nations after Germany’s defeat in the Second World War. The Kamerun Democratic National Party (KNDP) which was formed and headed by Foncha, had campaigned for unification with French Cameroon I in 1961. As compensation, Foncha was given...