Reunification Celebration: How Patrick Ekema, Mayor of Buea Dashed South West Hopes

By Fai Cassian Ndi

Patrick Ekema

Late Jumua Pefok, the former Government Delegate to the defunct Bamenda Urban council lived and died as a man of conscience and character. Late Jumua Pefok has remained in the minds of Northwesterners for telling President Paul Biya the truth about the region. When President Paul Biya visited Bamenda, the then Government Delegate to the Bamenda Urban council received a speech from the Yaounde cronies with instructions not to change any word. He accepted it, rehearsed it but when the moment came for him to present the speech, he pulled one from the pocket and told Biya in his face the truth. That was the first time that President Biya became conscious of the importance of the Bamenda Ring Road, the need for North West to have a state university and how the Menchum Fall could produce enough electricity. President Biya after listening to the Government delegate was oblige to react to the problems of the region raised. It came to passed that when President Biya visited Bamenda last December 2010, he dolled out meaningful development projects such as the tarring of the Bamenda Ring Road, the creation of the University of Bamenda and for studies to be carried out at the Menchum Fall to harness electricity.

Patrick Ekema, the mayor of Buea was given the same opportunity to tell Biya the realities about the South West Region but he dashed the hopes of the entire region into the gutter. Patrick Ekema had the opportunity to make a name but he fell into the trap of the Yaounde cronies. Tongues are waging in Buea over the speech presented by the mayor of Buea for the entire South West Region. The population of Buea and the entire South West region have expressed regrets over the choice of their mayor. To Makia Jonas, Patrick Ekema has sold his conscience. “I thought that he will tell President Biya about the poor road network in the region”, he lamented. Talking to this reporter, an influential traditional ruler name withheld was very bitter that Patrick Ekema was blinded by his vaulting ambitions of becoming the Government Delegate of the yet to be created Buea City Council to the point that he could not even talk of the Kumba-Mamfe road, the Limbe Deep Seaport etc. The germ of politics of the lie that has chopped the roots of humanity in the South West Region has reached its apex with the Patrick Ekema tagged as the Judas Iscariot of the region.

Patrick Ekema: The Judas Iscariot of the South West Region?

Biblically, the name Judas Iscariot symbolizes hypocrisy. That is why most parents, when choosing a name for their children or soon-to-be born child, seldom choose the name Judas or Iscariot.  When one is familiar with the biblical anecdote of Judas Iscariot, the reason for avoiding the name becomes understandable.

The Bible as earlier stated teaches us that Judas Iscariot was one of the Disciples of Jesus yet he remained committed to his own selfish plans and desires instead of following Jesus with all his heart. By thinking only about Buea, bookmakers say the mayor played Judas Iscariot just like the Biblical Judas Iscariot who walked so close to Jesus but missed the truth.  Impressionists have been apt to say that the act by the mayor of Buea shows how we can commit Judas’ same tragic act today if we are willing or not willing. The distortion to which some scholars’ yield, in desperate attempts to preserve cherished ideologies, is as amazing as it is disheartening. In trying to embalm the dogma of “once-saved, always-saved,” the disciples of Calvin have but two choices: they must contend that those described as lost were never saved, or allege that though the redeemed subject “fell,” the mishap did not involve the forfeiture of salvation. One popular preacher, John F. MacArthur Jr., argues that “while the others [the eleven] were growing into apostles, Judas was quietly becoming a vile, calculating tool of Satan. Whatever his character seemed to be at the beginning, his faith was not real (John 13:10-11). He was unregenerate”. And because of the one-for-all syndrome, the South West Region could not benefit from any Presidential largess. Even the Bible teaches us that “ask and it will be given”. Since nobody asked, nothing was given.  Buea will live to regret the absence of Senator Mbella Moki at the helm of the Buea council. 

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