The SDF Chairman eats 'soya' in the Adamawa

By Martin Jumbam

The Social Democratic Front Chairman, Ni John Fru Ndi, has been on a nation-wide tour to, among other things, urge Cameroonians in the hinterlands to join him to put pressure on his new-found friend, President Paul Biya, to “reform” ELECAM – Elections Cameroon, the body charged with the responsibility of organizing future elections in Cameroon.

It’s perhaps a mere ‘coincidence’, but this tour seems to have been so well-timed as to have the Chairman as far away as possible from the ever politically turbulent city of Douala, the epicenter of the recent skirmishes between the police and certain splinter groups of the opposition and civil society. Scores of peaceful and non-violent protestors were left with broken limbs and split skulls.

Gone are the days when the Chairman would punch the air with a clenched fist in front of roaring crowds of supporters, eagerly waiting for a word to drop from his lips to rush down the streets and turn a town upside down and downside up.

That was before that famous and now history-wrapped handshake in Bamenda, a few months ago, between the SDF Chairman and his CPDM counterpart, his former arch-enemy, now strong buddy, President Paul Biya. That handshake was followed by 45 minutes of a private talk between the two men. The SDF Chairman emerged from it with an enigmatic broad smile spanning his face from ear to ear.  Why the smile? The answer came perhaps several months later when the Chairman told the world that, because of that famous handshake, many former disgruntled members of his party, who had defected, were coming back to the fold in droves to see the hand that had shaken Biya’s!

For that encounter, the SDF Chairman had shunned his now legendary Bamenda embroidered gown – his political ‘trade mark -- for a suit in which he looked visibly out of place.  As he emerged from his talks with the President, keen observers seemed to notice that, in addition to the smile that never left his face, the Chairman’s suit pockets seemed to bulge at the seams. To this day, some of us are still puzzled as to what could have been in those pockets.  What is clear, though, is that no one leaves the royal presence empty handed.

So the other day as some opposition leaders sparred off with Biya’s forces of law and order – some even refer to them as “forces of lawlessness and disorder” – and some of them were being mercilessly doused with chemically-treated water, Chairman Ni John Fru Ndi was caught on camera eating “soya” and “kilichi” – figuratively, symbolically and literally – in Ngaoundere. Nothing wrong with that, is there any?

While the same forces of “lawlessness and disorder” were invading the home of the Chairman’s ‘friend’, the Douala Archbishop Emeritus, Christian Cardinal Tumi, in an attempt to apprehend a fleeing fellow opposition leader, Mboua Massock, Mr. Chairman was up north and probably never ‘heard’ of what happened to his ‘friend’, the Cardinal.

Had this happened in those days before the famous Bamenda handshake, and before the First Lady’s delicately manicured fingers fondled the distended udders of the Chairman’s cows at the recent Ebolowa agricultural show, the Chairman would have been seen bouncing back and forth in front of the Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral in Bonadibong, Douala, where the Cardinal’s retirement home is located. Loud would have been his denunciation of the Biya regime for invading God’s own House.

“How can they do this to my friend, Cardinal Tumi? How can they so shamelessly invade God’s House?” Chairman Fru Ndi would have been heard shouting. “Don’t they have the fear of God in them? What a satanic regime!”

Those days are long gone. Now the Chairman is afraid to rock the boat in which he himself is so comfortably ensconced.  How can he saw off the branch on which he himself is so delicately perched? He too, like his former arch-enemy, is becoming a frequent visitor to the Swiss Alps, where bare-chested, heavily-built women, of various shades and colour, are said to massage stress off the shoulders and backs and between the thighs of ‘over-worked’ African despots in warm spas and massage parlours. At a certain age, the argument goes, a man has a right to enjoy himself. What is sinful in that?

Ah, Cameroon, what has become of your once vibrant opposition leaders?

Comments

[manga_che]

What we need a batch of brand new young and energetic leaders, and I must say that by sheer luck of being at the right place at the right time and seizing the moment Kah Walla has become the symbol of that young(er) resistance to the gerontocracy that controls the Cameroon opposition and government.

[Shey Eugene Ateh]

This is a hit job. Honestly Mr. Jumbam I never knew you could step so low

[manga_che]

Eugene Ateh, you guys are exactly the reason why everyone looks at the SDF with disdain. Rather than advance counter points you go for the jugular. In case you missed it, read the following article about Ndi's declarations in the Northern province regarding the Feb 23 protests:
http://www.cameroon-tribune.cm/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=63690:john-fru-ndi-desapprouve-le-desordre&catid=1:politique&Itemid=3

In case you're too lazy to check out the link this is what he says:
"Mardi, lors d’un meeting à Garoua, John Fru Ndi a donné son point de vue sur les appels à l’insurrection, lancés depuis quelques jours. Le président national du Social Democratic Front a vivement encouragé les populations à tourner le dos au désordre et à vivre dans la paix pour éviter que le Cameroun ne se retrouve dans le chaos comme c’est actuellement le cas ailleurs."

Now who's the fool?

[Diempty1]

May history, the people and God judge these belly-politics politicians! Let it be known to them that since they have decided to go the way of the oppressor, God will raise other saviors in their place to lead the people to FREEDOM and off-course they will loose their blessings!

[Shey Eugene Ateh]

Hi Mr. Manga,

I am surprised to learn that you are just so lazy as to believe what ever you read from the Government Propaganda machines. Since when has the Cameroon Tribune been the press organ for the National Chairman of the SDF. If you base your knowledge of Cameroon Political landscape on what you read from Cameroon Tribune then you have a serious problem which I may not be able to help you with.
Stand up and do your research. That's how you would continue to fooled while at the same time looking out for "who's the fool".
This is a shame. Journalist worth their salt usually carve out their Niche and Mr. Jumbam has undoubtedly found his in the Catholic Church. Politics,knowledge of the SDF and Ni John Fru Ndi as person, I have found is something he cannot objectively report on for whatever reasos best known to him. The fact that NJFN did not immediately react to what happened in the Archdiocese should not be used as wedge to pit him against the Cardinal. Knowing what NJFN has done and having been privileged to have come to the assistance to our Mother the Cardinal's mother on numerous occasions (while I worked at kumbo) at the behest of NJFN I find this attacked on NJFN by Mr. Jumbam as a personal and political hit-job and it is artfully shameful.
Thanks
Shey Eugene Ateh

[Killian NDONUI]

Mr Jumbam, I have always loved your style but for your language which to the best of my knowledge is very vulgar at times, this is just the same methodology u have used towards Mr JFN. I once read an article u wrote about priest as Olympic champions of Food and Drinks and it took me some time to forgive u. Please if u don't love look for another opportunity to crucify him.
Killian Ndonui

[Hai]

Woo dat is gd Cameroonians,we hv to join hands to pray fr our Nation Cameroon if al of us truthly care about the Politics in Cameroon

[Beverly Hills Real Estate agent]

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