University community, lawyers bury Professor Yanou

The late Michael Akomaye Yanou, Associate Professor of Law at the University of Buea has been laid to rest in Buea. He was buried last Saturday, March 8, after receiving honours from members of the University of Buea community and colleague lawyers.

At the University of Buea open-air amphitheatre where Academic Honours were paid to the late Professor of Law, the representative of the Minister of Higher Education, Prof. Horace Ngomo Manga who is Secretary General of the Ministry of Higher Education described Yanou as a great compatriot.

The minister’s representative said Yanou served the nation with great commitment, assiduity and abnegation.

“Yanou was appointed over 8 months ago to head the Division for University Dialogue and Solidarity, a time within which he raised the bar so high for anyone who will be called to head that division,” Ngomo said in his eulogy.

Ngomo read two letters from the Minister of Higher Education, Jacques Fame Ndongo; one addressed to the late Yanou’s wife, Nicoline Yanou and the other to the University of Buea.

In both letters, the Chancellor of Academic Orders expressed his grief over the demise of Prof. Yanou and promised that all will be done to comfort the family Yanou leaves behind.

In her eulogy, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Buea, Prof. Nalova Lyonga with a heavy heart said; “The University of Buea has had its fair share of the worst that can happen to humanity. We are here again, to watch what death has done. …No matter how tall the tree is, it will never grow above the skies. It must fall down. And so it is a fact that all of us someday will fall down. Every death has its lesson and Yanou's showed us service to humanity…”

The Vice-Chancellor recounted how they received news of Yanou’s death on that fateful Tuesday, January 27. She described those moments as “blistering”, but thanked God for giving them the strength to face the moment.

“We at UB, we of higher education have the responsibility to see that we’ll always guide Yanou’s children and help his wife to bring them up the way he would have loved to do…,” the Vice-Chancellor said as she comforted Yanou’s wife and children.

She acknowledged receipt of financial assistance from the Ministry of Higher Education.

Eulogies from the Dean of the Faculty of Social and Management Sciences at UB, Prof. Martha Tumnde; the Head of Department for Law, Dr. Jonny Fonyam and from a colleague and supervisee, Fobang Leslie portrayed late Yanou as a man who served his country tirelessly.

Dr. Eric Fokam on behalf of SYNES-UB said, “Administration saw Yanou as a radical leader”. He said the struggle that Yanou led will see success sooner than people think. Fokam said they (top notes of SYNES-UB) had been threatened by the administration. He recounted how a senior administrator had told them that the administration is a cold monster and it can sniff life out of its opponents.

Yanou served as president of SYNES-UB for two terms. He taught procedural law at the University of Buea and was an advocate of the Supreme Court of Cameroon and Nigeria.

Until his death on January 27, he was serving as Director of University Dialogue and Solidarity at the Ministry of Higher Education. He was born on December 26, 1963. He leaves behind a wife and three sons to mourn him.