The Open Quarrel I Never Had With BB

By Martin Jumbam

  On the night of March 8, 2007, English-speaking Cameroon lost one of its most articulate but eccentric, erratic and choleric writers, Bate Besong, more commonly known as BB. He died with three friends of his in a car accident along the Douala-Yaoundé highway. Five years later, friends and foes alike continue to celebrate the life of a man of letters, whom some acclaim as our own ‘Soyinka’. Here is what I remember about him.

Usually, when my phone rings and I see my friend Francis Wache’s name and number flashing on and off, I always answer with “Hi, Francis, what’s up?” and expect the usual answer of “Oh, not much, I just wanted to tell you about ….”, and the conversation would usually take a lighthearted tone as we go from one topic to another. It was not the same thing on that morning of March 8, 2007. His response was simply, “have you heard about BB?” His emotion-drenched voice left me in no doubt that something tragic had happened; and that was indeed the case.