How Fon Teche Created The Unexpected on Behalf of NW Region in Buea

By Fai Cassian Ndi

Fon Teche in Handshake with President Biya

The President of the North West Fons Union-NOWEFU, Senator Fon Teche Njei has again taken the North West Region to higher height. This is the second time that NOWEFU President has had the opportunity to offer a symbolic gift to President Paul Biya on behalf of the North West Fons and the population of the Northwest.  When President Biya was in Bamenda for the 50^th Anniversary of the Cameroon Armed Forces, Senator Fon Teche led the delegation of North West fons to hand a public gift to the head of state. Last week on the occasion of the 50^th anniversary of reunification, NOWEFU stole the show as Fon Teche Njei of Ngyemuwa handed another gift to the head of state. He led a delegation of more than 10 fons to present the gift to President Biya. The fact that NOWEFU delegation was the first to hand the gift to the head of state was indicative of its leadership headed by Fon Teche. NOWEFU presented a gift to the head of state which was a replica of the man, Paul Biya. After handshakes with the head of state, Fon Teche Njei handed a sealed envelop to the head of state. The Eye gathered from classified sources that this gift is considered as a mayor accomplishment given that several delegations had booked to hand gifts to the head of state but the civil cabinet rejected the offer.

Hear him presents the gift and members of his delegation to President Biya:

“The President of the Republic, Fon of Fons; Your Excellency, the First Lady, Ma-Mafor of the Republic of Cameroon; Fons of the North West;

On behalf of all the population of the North West Region, NOWEFU decided to present this gift to the fon of fons, for all the marvellous jobs he has been doing to this nation. First as the Number One manager of this country; secondly, as the

Guarantor of peace. The peace we are enjoying in this country can never be paid for.

Your Excellency the Fon of Fons, this gift is made out of precious stones, from all the shrines palaces of the North West region. Your Excellency, we wish you many more years at the helm of the state of Cameroon.

This gift is hand to you by a selected delegation of fons:

We have:

Fon Angwafor of Mankon, Fon Sehm Mbinglo of Nso, Fon Yuh of Kom, Fon Njoya Sama of Bamuka, Fon Dr. Akam of Kai, Fon Ibrahim Nfor of Nkambe, Fon Abuhbi of Bafut, my humble self Fon Teche Njei.

At the end of the event, The Eye’s Fai Cassian met the President of NOWEFU and we started by asking him the following questions.

Now, your highness, could you briefly present the gift to the people of the North West Region, what was it all about?

Fon Teche leading NOWEFU delegation with gift 

The gift is made up of a wooden material plus precious stones from some of the traditional shrines of the North West region. Thus, the gift of this kind greatly represents the entire North West region.  But if there is a traditional ruler who wants to single out himself or disassociate himself from that gift, he is free to do so; after all, we are in a democratic society.

Your gift went along with a special message for the Head of State. May we know the content in the sealed envelop?

The message that accompanied the gift is that the Fons of the North West will continue to support the unity that exists, the indivisible Cameroon. Consequently, if there is anybody with the tendency of creating any form of division in this country from the North West region, we the traditional rulers of this region are saying no! We are for one and indivisible Cameroon.

Your Majesty could you give us an appraisal of the 50th anniversary of re-unification in Buea as an eye-witness?

You saw it for yourself Mr. journalist. The occasion brought together Cameroonians of all walks of life to celebrate 50 years of re-unification. They came in their numbers to say yes Mr. President we have come to appreciate all what you have been doing for the unity and peace reigning in our country.

Again, his speech was wonderful. His high level of bilingualism was demonstrated and every Anglophone was indeed moved by the speech. President Paul Biya remains the one who masters situations and knows where he belongs. This is a man that so many people were criticizing but today if you look round, everybody is running behind President Paul Biya. This is a man who has done a great deal for this nation and Cameroonians are very conscious of this and are wishing many more years as you could hear from the songs the women, men and youths were signing as they march past the grandstand.

May we know what you discussed with the Head of State during your long handshake with him shortly after the gift?

Laughs! These are private matters. The president of the republic is our fon of fons and what fons do discuss in the palaces remain a secret. This belongs to the secret society and no one should dare try to find out what the exchanges were all about between the president of the republic and my humble self as the president general of NOWEFU.

A word to your colleague fons who were sidelined in the selection of those to present the gift in Buea?

Well, thank God I am not the one who did the selection. The Governor’s office assisted us a great deal to come out with a carefully selected list of eight fons to present the gift in Buea so as to avoid fons complaining of being sidelined. Even myself, I was only informed of the list as the President General of NOWEFU. So I want to tell the other Fons of the Region that they were not sidelined by anyone as the State Protocol needed us to submit a list of only eight Fons to present the gift. I think they should rather show appreciation for the intervention of the administration to do the selection than stay off only to send blames to the wrong direction. To me I think we are together for the common good of the North West Region. 

When News Breaks Out, We Break In. Minute by Minute Report on Cameroon and Africa