Ntumbaw Fon’s celebration emphasizes on peace, unity

The celebration took place at the palace esplanade of Ntumbaw in Ndu sub Division, on Tuesday, January 6, 2015. The occasion was to mark the end of the “celebration” of the “disappearance” of Fon Salifu Kwangsah of Ntumbaw. Dignitaries present includes, divisional officer of Ndu; the Lord mayor and Deputies Ndu Council; President of NTUCUDA, Fons and many others.

What thrilled many was the arrival of HRH, the Fon of Nkambe and a huge entourage of the Nwarong society and some women’s groups. The entire Nwarong society of Nkambe was to occupy the entire Ntumbaw for over five hours, with the Ye Nwarong leading and the magnificent display of the Mabh Nwarong; Nkoh; and others.

It was obvious in their speeches that virtues such as hope for peace, unity and reconciliation were cherished. In his welcome address, the Coordinator of the organizing Committee of the ceremony, Dr. Bambo took time to make an anecdotal narrative of a family that was very divided after the death of their rich father.

The elder brother who had inherited more, on going out for an international trip, instructed an engineer friend to dig a big trench between his compound and that of his junior brother, so as to keep them perpetually separated.

The engineer, on the contrary, decided to rather build a bridge linking the two compounds and this shocked the junior brother who felt and thought that it could have been on the instructions of his elder brother that the bridge be built. So, when news came that the elder brother was on his way back, he joined the team to receive him at the airport.

The Big Boy was embarrassed, shocked and frightened with the presence of his junior brother, but could not express it. When they got home, he was more shocked with the newly constructed bridge instead of a trench ( ditch) that used to separate them.

It was then that the engineer was discovered to being at the centre of the efforts to reconcile the two brothers. The love they have today is unprecedented. The story received an explosive and thunderous applause.

The Mayor of Ndu, on his part stated that “ We can chose our friends, but we cannot chose our neighbors.” Again, there was an explosive applause.

Then came the turn of the Fon of Nkambe. He stated in Limbum that “ a ngon’ mbum, si kit fur ndi ngon’ ka’! Yu si ke tfur I ki ba ndi nsu!” ( In Mbumland, we don’t have land boundaries. What we have is farm boundaries”. And he added that nobody should introduce the negative phenomenon in Mbumland that will inflame division amongst Mbum people.

They, Mbum elders will do all to see to it that neighbors and brothers live in peace and not be let to be misled to fight each other. The applause was unprecedented. In fact, when the D.O stood up to speak, he demanded that the Fon of Nkambe’s remarks be translated into English.

This was done and the Fon himself, not satisfied with the translation, sprang up, seized the microphone and repeated what he had said, this time in pidgin English. The D.O then dwelt on the theme of Unity, Reconciliation and good neighborliness, promising to do all to build bridges where others had dug ditches.