SCNC picks on Fru Ndi over his take on Federalism

The Southern Cameroons National Council, SCNC has picked on SDF chieftain, John Fru Ndi over his comments at a press conference in Yaounde last week that Cameroonians shall decide on the number of states in the event of a return to federation.

The president of one of the SCNC factions, Thomas Nwachan told reporters during a recent briefing in Bamenda that Fru Ndi seems to be confused over the issue of the number of states.

“Fru Ndi is making the same errors he has always made. He started in 1992 with 4 states federation and then moved to 6 states, to 8 and 10 states. I’m convinced that it is because he has failed in all his demands that he is throwing the challenge to the population to decide, just like what he said during a press conference in Yaounde last week.”

Nwachan said that the Anglophone problem is not a problem of guess work like what Fru Ndi is doing, but one which requires a sound knowledge of the scientific method or procedure of solving it.

The Foumban conference of 1961, according to Nwachan, was unrecognizable because it did not meet the UN requirements. He added that it did not meet the demands of Resolution 1608 which would have been either a treaty like that of the European Union, E.U or an aggregative constitution of the American model.

The SCNC activist said the prove is that it adopted a wrong constitution bearing the name, “Constitution of the Republic of Cameroun” adopted the name of Cameroun at the suffix of the appellation of the new Republic; took their political capital, Yaounde, as the site of the new federation which should not have been the case.

These mistakes, Nwachan said, signify that the Southern Cameroons was not a separate independent state entering into a federation with another independent state. “This is why they see Southern Cameroons as an integral part of their (Francophone) country, La Republic du Cameroun and has been able to change Southern Cameroons political structure into provinces and now, regions of their country, La Republique du Cameroun.”

“The SDF does not know that if Southern Cameroons is not recognized as an independent state equal to the Francophone’s Republic of Cameroon, she will never win an election in the Republic of Cameroon and bring about an effective federation.” Nwachan stated.

“In as far as no treaty or an aggregative constitution was signed because of the fake Foumban Conference, Nwachan stressed, the status of Southern Cameroonians in the union with the Republic of Cameroun remains more inferior than that which a Nigerian in Cameroon has because the Nigerian has a state that defends him unlike the Southern Cameroonian who is stateless, so let Fru Ndi, stop making baseless noise.” Nwachan fired.

Contrary to those gunning for a federal system of government in Cameroon, Nwachan said his SCNC faction is for complete separation into a full sovereign state of Southern Cameroons and nothing less. He regretted that the type of federation the UN proposed to Cameroon was not the U.S type which in Africa is the example of Senegambia and Tanzania.

He said the word, ‘united’ signifies that the federation was to be inter-parliamentary, that means a federal government at the top bearing neutral symbols of the federal state, while the two independent states would be below but each being able to fly its own flag, have its parliament of 2 houses, exploit its own natural resources and carry out its own development. This is the way the American states are,” he posited.

The Cameroon Journal accosted the new leader of All Saints Anglican Church, Bamenda, Rev Canon Remigius Alumona, to get his own side of the story. He admitted that there was an ongoing problem between Rev. Yuh Emmanuel and the church. He, however, said the matter was in the hands of the Rt. Rev Dibo Thomas Babyngton Elango, Bishop of Anglican Church of Cameroon. “He alone is the competent authority to speak to Journalists on this matter,” Rev Alumona said.