Barrister Bonu dies ‘on his legal feet’

Barrister Innocent Bonu, the Chair of the Liberty Law Firm in Mutengene, Tiko, Southwest Region, is no more. The Barrister-at-Law took leave of his wig and gown, April 17, 2014, at the National Social Insurance, CNPS, Hospital in Yaounde.

Bonu had collapsed and went into a coma, after a massive stroke on Thursday, April 10, in the residence of a senior colleague of his, Barrister Akere Muna, former President of the Cameroon Bar Association. Bonu was in Yaounde as part of the Secretariat Staff managing the compilation of the results of the just written entrance examination into the Cameroon Bar Association.

Innocent Mochungong Abongmechi Bonu was born on December 7, 1957, in Bambui, Mezam Division, Northwest Region to Barnabas Bonu and Janet Bonu. In the mid 60s, he pursued primary education in Nchang in Manyu Division, where his father was a teacher at Catholic Teacher Training College, Nchang.

After his First School Leaving Certificate and Common Entrance Examinations, the young Bonu proceeded to the Bishop Rogan Minor Seminary in Small Soppo, Buea, for his secondary and high school education. Having grabbed his GCE Ordinary and Advanced Levels, he had a stint at the then Cameroon’s most quoted private newspaper, “Cameroon Times”. Some two years later in 1979, he proceeded to the then University of Yaounde, where he obtained an undergraduate degree in English Private Law.

Upon graduation from the University of Yaounde, in 1983, he returned to the famous Cameroon Times Newspaper, published by his uncle, Vincent Nchami as Editor-In-Chief. He will leave the newspaper management to Kumba, where he did his pupillage at Tamba Chambers, owned by Barrister Paddy Tamba.

Through with his pupilage, Bonu was sworn in as an Advocate of the Cameroon Bar Association in 1989 in the Supreme Court of Cameroon. This paved the way for the young Barrister to officially begin practice and open his own chambers christened; Liberty Law Firm in Mutengene. Here, Bonu in turn, encouraged and trained many other younger lawyers, who have since, opened their own chambers.

In his 25 years of practice at the Cameroon Bar Association, Bonu served as the Representative of the President of the Bar when Barrister Charles Tchoungang was at the helm of the Association. Before the Tchoungang era, Bonu was a Councillor in the executive of Barrister Akere Muna, when the latter was President of the Bar.

When Barrister Eta Besong took over from Barrister Tchoungang, Bonu was dropped as the Representative of the Bar President in the Southwest Region. However, he resurfaced as the Representative of the President of the Bar for the Southwest Region, for the second time when Barrister Francis Asanga Sama took over the Presidency of the Bar.

Outstanding Contributions

A confidant and close collaborator to the deceased, Barrister Tanjong Ashutantang of Amity Law Firm, observed that Barrister Bonu has made great contributions in the Cameroon Common Law system. Tanjong cited the publications of Cameroon Common Law Reports, a quarterly publication by Liberty Publications, an initiative of the Liberty Law Firm House in Mutengene.

The Cameroon Common Law Reports came to fill a vacuum left by the West Cameroon Law Reports and the University of Yaounde Law Reports, which are no longer published. Bonu championed and was the chair of the pioneer Cameroon Common Law Journal, published by the Liberty Publications, a division of the Law Development Agency, an idea of the fallen Barrister. Volume One of the aforementioned journal was published in June 2002. The initiative-loaded Bonu was also the Publisher of the famous Cameroon Life Magazine.

Bonu The Sports & Business Enthusiast

He was a lover of football and a staunch supporter of the Limbe-based football club, Victoria United aka OPOPO – One People, One Power. Bonu rose to the rank of Executive President of Victoria United, with the late GM of CDC, Henry Njalla Quan, as the Honorary President. He led Victoria United to the National Division One Football League after succeeding in the 1996 Inter-pool Competitions in Ngaoundere. In the course of the 1997 football season in Cameroon, he fell out with the other members of his executive in Victoria United Football Club.

Blaming his problems in Victoria United Football Club on tribal grounds, Barrister Bonu quit and founded Victoria Shooting Stars Football Club, aka “Kam No Go”. The latter garnered a lot of support from the Northwest community in Fako Division and in 1999, Victoria Shooting Stars qualified for the National Inter-pool Competitions in Garoua. Unfortunately, they missed qualifying for the National Division One Football League and subsequently fizzled out of the football scene.

Bonu ran a chain of businesses. These included a fashion shop in Douala and an inter-urban bus agency christened Shooting Stars Agency. He will try his hands at baking bread in Mutengene, which led to the establishment of the Victoria Bakery in Limbe. Recently, he was contracted as the Legal Adviser to the Catholic Diocese of Buea.

Marital Life

Barrister Innocent Bonu was married to Dr. Comfort Bonu, with whom they are blessed with four children; three boys and a girl. But in 2011 Barrister Bonu lost his eldest son he had before marriage to Comfort, Barrister Kingsley Bonu Mochugong Achere Bate in a car crash along the Ombe – Limbe road. As we went to press, the family and the Cameroon Bar Association were yet to make public the funeral and burial programme.