In Southern Cameroons; poor leadership, naivety and egotistical tendencies are legion among the political class.
How come an entire political leadership was so clueless and spineless to acquiesce and collude in an exercise of self-extinction?
The history of the territory is littered with leaders who are; controversial in approach and ambivalent in character; leaders who are vision-less and politically expedient short-termists; leaders whose gullibility and selfishness borders on foolishness.
All the literature on the Anglophone problem can be reduced to the selfishness and personality defects of JN Foncha; who failed to realize that, during the period spanning 1961-1972, and based on the con-federal constitutional arrangements, he was a co-president; and enjoyed equal powers as president Ahidjo.
His underlying personality defects strongly influenced his inter-personal relationship with president Ahidjo, and weighed heavily on the fate that befell Anglophones. I could imagine him bending his head when alone with President Ahidjo; unable to look at him in the eyes.
Across sub-Saharan Africa, Southern Cameroonians are the only people; with no national hero or a historic figure of note; people who never composed a national anthem, or design national emblems; people who are using a currency not in their language; chant credos and salute colors they never conceived; and a people who never exercised their fundamental right of self-determination.
The result is that the identity of the people has become entangled in controversies involving; an armed insurgency, international court cases, transnational protestations and parliamentary debates; social media campaigns, and acts of corruption and repression spanning over 60 years?
In less than 23 years (1961-1984), the assimilation project was completed and Southern Cameroons became the first entity in recorded history to have been dissolved; and regressed from an independent statehood to provinces in another state.
In 1966, Southern Cameroons leadership colluded in destroying a thriving multiparty democracy; and surrendered to a mono-party dictatorship. In 1968, ST Muna aligned with President Ahidjo and orchestrated the dismissal of an elected Prime Minister. And finally, in 1972, the entire political leadership led Southern Cameroonians into voting for OUI or YES.
Divisions amongst Southern Cameroonians are endemic, generational and historic. During the Enugu walkout, NN Mbile led a group of four that resisted the walkout in preference for continued servitude in Nigeria.
Southern Cameroons left Nigeria in 1953 and ‘burnt all bridges’. Otherwise, how could a people fail to realize that they have been granted independence? The political actors in a way even unconsciously colluded against Southern Cameroons right to self-determination by carefully excluding pro-independence leaders from all decolonization delegations to the UN.
The regret is that those who had true leadership credentials were never allowed to lead. Dr. EML Endeley, arguably Southern Cameroons brightest politician; was a visionary and showed extraordinary statesmanship. Like AN Njua, he was determined, principled and purposeful.
Unfortunately, throughout reunification, he was sidelined from government; while JN Foncha, ST Muna, and ET Egbe who were clearly self-serving, were awarded juicy ministerial positions. The attitude exhibited by JN Foncha and ST Muna during and post-reunification, has literarily rub-off contemporary Anglophone politicians.
Till this day, a determining criterion for leadership among Anglophone Cameroonians is the ability to distance oneself as much as possible from the Anglophone identity and to oppose the underlying Anglophone nationalism.
The JN Foncha Enigma
At face value, nothing about JN Foncha predisposed him for leadership. He was a diminutive, gullible and naive fellow; who lacked self-esteem and suffered from personality defects.
He was meek, docile and generally slow to reason and act. Out of the nine MPs who affected the walkout from Enugu, he was the least charismatic. When he composed the song;
“…Massa JN Foncha, tell Endeley sey, small no bi sick Cameroon na we country”,
it was apparently an attempt to fill the void he felt.Though he could not match the wit and charisma of ST Muna or the intellect of Dr. EML Endeley, and the resolve of AN Njua ; his background and profile propelled him to a ‘hero of circumstance’. JN Foncha’s personality defects, his lack of charisma and the dislike he aroused amongst the rangs of the UK colonial administrators could have weighed in the refusal of the third option on Independence. The only reason he acceded to leadership was the influence of the UPC party and the French Cameroun state.
A Hero of Circumstance
In the face of these personality deficiencies, and alarmed at JN Foncha’s dalliance with the Bamileke immigrés; Dr. EML Endeley would exclude JN Foncha from his 1954 government under the Lyttleton constitution; and insulted him as
‘unintelligent and unfit for public office’.
The deputy British commissioner Malcolm Milner described him variously as ‘blind, stubborn, self-serving; and a wretched littleman’. Having already tested leadership via; the Bamenda regional head of the CYL; president of the Bamenda Catholic Teachers’ Union; and an elected member into the Eastern House of Assembly in Nigeria in 1951; JN Foncha had aspirations for leadership.
His exclusion from Dr. Endeley’s government left him feeling humiliated and relegated to the second rung of Southern Cameroons politics; with the risk of becoming irrelevant in the unfolding process of independence and self-determination.
This was JN Foncha’s state of mind when the UPC co-opted him to launch a party and ‘front’ for reunification. His dilemma was simple; stay amongst Southern Cameroonians and remain an insignificant politician; or align Southern Cameroons to French Cameroun and become the indisputable leader of Southern Cameroons.
His continued political relevance after 1954 was based on exploiting his lien of consanguinity (Bamileke) to advance the unification agenda so that he could lead. Furthermore, there was a convergence of view to the extent that the political mood in Southern Cameroons was secession from Nigeria; and UPC wanted reunification.
His Bamileke genealogy is confirmed by the fact that despite the name JN FONCHA being foreign to the people of Nkwen; his Dad was based in Babajou; and his first daughter Mary Ngwe JN Foncha, got married to a man from Dschang.
Federal Purist
In the absence of outright independence; thoughmost Southern Cameroonians perceived reunification as a better alternative than integration into Nigeria; JN Foncha was obsessed with the reunification project because it was a compromise; permitting him to satisfy two entities to which he was equally liable.
To JN Foncha, reunification under a federal framework would satisfy French Cameroun; to which he was indebted; and would satisfy the mood in Southern Cameroons by seceding from Nigeria and preserving Southern Cameroons nationalism within a federal arrangement.
He was thus caught between; satisfying his paymaster and staying true to his conviction; between openly professing a reunited Cameroon, and holding for a separate persona for Southern Cameroons.
If JN Foncha had approached unification as a better alternative to integration into Nigeria, he would have developed more leverage against president Ahidjo.
At Foumban, he was very clear;
“…in building the Federal Republic of Cameroon, we must not forget the existence of two cultures. We have proposed a government which keep the two cultures in the area where they now operate and blend at the centre. The centre is given very limited subjects while the states are left as they are now”.
The fate that befell Southern Cameroons falls squarely on the shoulders of JN Foncha; because he was secretly conniving and making private entreaties with la République du Cameroun, and advocating for Southern Cameroons nationalism at the same time.
Self-serving and Egotistical
While he could have been easily written-off as meek, sober, and slow to act; JN Foncha was nonetheless a very cunning and sophisticated character with his own personal agenda.
In a speech in Douala, at the Akwa Hall, in July 1961 (even before the Foumban conference), he reiterated that;
“…the goals of the struggle have been completely achieved”.
This clearly indicated that he had a secret agenda with French Cameroun to deliver the Anglophones. Joseph B. Ebunecorroborates NN Mbile’s and Malcolm Milner assertions that JN Foncha had struck a secret deal with President Ahidjo prior to unification. During the 1963 KNDP congress and the 1965 election for West Cameroon Prime Minister, he secretly supported AN Njua against ST Muna because ST Muna’s emergence as West Cameroon PM would have effectively made his post as the Federal VP insignificant.
In the aftermath of the Ebudu massacre committed by la République du Cameroun forces in Tombel on the 8th of August 1961; the delegation from la République du Cameroun faced serious condemnation from Deputy British Commissioner, Malcolm Milner; and a demand to issue an apology and pay reparations. This delegation would then bypass Milner and secretly confer with JN Foncha; whence 50 pounds was handed to him to placate the bereaved families with promises of an inquiry that was never made public.
Cunning and Shrewd
No singular incident exemplifies JN Foncha’s hideous attitude like the Zachariah Abendong scandal in 1963. After the attainment of independence by la République du Cameroun in 1960, the UPC masquisards perceived unification as the pathway towards legitimacy and integrating mainstream politics.
Two years after unification, JN Foncha would be summoned to a meeting in the Western Province where his services were elicited. He was to challenge President Ahidjo for the presidency.
This would afford the marquisards an opportunity to leverage their networks and get JN Foncha into power or install widespread unrest that would justify their cause.
Always meek and naïve, JN Foncha would propose to them the rhetoric from President Ahidjo for them to make peace and help him build the country.
He was considered to have betrayed the hand that fed him and had to be eliminated. Aware of their plans; on his way back, JN Foncha swapped cars with KNDP Secretary General, Zachariah Abendong, who was later shot and killed in Bafang. He was quickly rushed to Nigeria where he died. The official version from JN Foncha was that he died of natural causes.
In 1957, after securing allies in Bamenda, Bali and Belo; JN Foncha realized that he needed to win over the people of Momo. ST Muna was indisputably the leading politician in this part of the Northern Zone.
At the behest of JN Foncha, a certain Dr Godfrey G. Dibue (of Duala ethnicity); Chief medical officer of the Bamenda hospital between 1957-1959 and JN Foncha’s private doctor, literarily bought-over ST Muna and orchestrated his switch from the KNC to the KNDP.
It is alleged that ST Muna was paid a handsome amount of money. The relationship between ST Muna and Dibue would later develop to the point where ST Muna’s son, Daniel Muna, got married to Dibue’s daughter.
In late 1960, JN Foncha succumbed to internal pressures; and variously insisted on a trip to protest for the third option; while making three requests for the British army to remain in Southern Cameroons for sometime after reunification.
This shows JN Foncha was shrewd and cunning; but could not challenge President Ahidjo because of his personality problem; and the fact that he had been compromised.
President Ahidjo knew that JN Foncha could not be trusted; and ensured that he was man-managed by Nde Ntumazah and other Bamilekes, who ensured; in Southern Cameroons government, on the campaign trail, and in all UN missions; that JN Foncha was properly supervised and stayed true to the plan.
Clueless, Naïve and Compromised
How could JN Foncha have resorted to making private deals with President Ahidjo when as PM of Southern Cameroons it was his entitlement to negotiate what he wanted?
He was naive and compromised; because he knew that, as counterparty to the favors, he was conspiring against the people he was supposed to be representing.
Despite warnings from the British about President Ahidjo’s unreliability, J.N Foncha could not initiate a signed tripartite agreement.
J.N Foncha’s body language at Foumban, and the sitting arrangement; demonstrated clearly that psychologically and ideologically, he had been compromised.
How can you lead a delegation to a negotiation and ended up sitting adjacent to the other party; and opposing your team? Psychologically, he had already crossed the Rubicon.
He was already on the other side of the Mungo; literarily abetting President Ahidjo in the capture of the others.
His non-presentation of the draft federal constitution at the Bamenda All-Party constitutional conference; the hysterics with which his 1959 election win was celebrated in French Cameroun; the level of fund-raising activities undertaken by him from French Cameroun immigrés; corroborate accusations that he was a creation of French Cameroun.
Excerpts from the book: Southern Cameroons; Negotiating an Existence (Book launch, Sept. 2019)