Today's Southern Cmr'ians not waging a good fight- Njoh Litumbe

Njoh Litumbe, Senior Citizen and Adviser to the Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC) is asking that President Paul Biya dialogue with the SCNC before things turn sour.

Litumbe was speaking on January 17, shortly after a press conference he organised to set records straight on the conditions under which the Southern Cameroons got independence by joining La Republique du Cameroun.

During the conference he presented recordings of his declarations made on CRTV Morning Safari and Cameroon Calling after the Reunification Colloquium in Buea on the eve of celebrations that marked the 50th anniversary of Cameroon’s reunification.

Litumbe said during the press conference that he will produce the information into CDs that will be made available to the ordinary Cameroonian as a means of sensitising them on the entire process that led to the Southern Cameroons gaining independence by joining La Republique du Cameroun.

“That is why I’m attempting in the education of the masses. If dialogue doesn’t work, the repercussions will be more serious to you than to me. How many more years have I to be alive? If I cross my hands and say I will do nothing, then the effects on you will be more serious than it will be to me. So, you should be concerned to extend the message to all your people,” Litumbe said.

He went on to say that “it is our future which is at stake and we should press for dialogue…Honourable Enoh Tanjong and I agreed that if there is a difference, then people should go into dialogue. It is now up to the regime to listen to what we are saying.”

“…I’m only an adviser to the SCNC. People like Fru Ndi and myself were appointed as advisers of the SCNC. We said the younger people should carry on with the leadership. I’m coming into this because the younger people have not handled this thing well,” he said.

The press conference was attended by Justice Ayah Paul Abine, though he stayed mute throughout.

Asked to justify Ayah’s presence at the meeting, Litumbe was largely rhetorical, questioning if the SCNC pays those who work for it.

His words: “…He (Ayah) is a very important person. The papers and the internet are full of conversations about him. So I felt that a person like him should be present. Before Ayah was made chairman (Ayah is said to have been elected SCNC Chairman in his absence), I had admired his performances. Mind you, even when he was in the CPDM and in parliament, he was openly challenging the government.

If he had not done that, he would have been in a tough position today…if you find a person like that, I see people casting aspersions on him. When did you pay him to be your slave? The man has his own views about how Cameroon should be run. And he volunteered himself.

Can you pay me for the work I’m doing? When I travel abroad, have I ever asked you for five francs? Why should I be spending family resources instead of looking after my children and grand children for the benefit of people I don’t even know? It is because I think it is the proper thing to do.”