Fru Ndi, Lawan Bako at War Over Claims Biya Finances The SDF

SDF Chairman John Fru Ndi

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John Fru Ndi, Chairman of the opposition SDF party, is at war with El-Hadj Lawan Bako, Chairman of the Bamenda based United Democratic Party, UDP, following claims by the latter that President Biya has been financing the SDF.

Bako who also doubles as spokesman for the presidential majority, a coalition of political parties that ally with Biya’s CPDM party, is a well-known negotiator and mediator between the Biya regime and other interest groups in Cameroon.

Sources told The Cameroon Journal that Bako was first used by the Biya regime in 1997 to initiate talks of a unity gov’t between the SDF and the CPDM.

When Bako approached Fru Ndi for the deal, we gathered, the SDF National Chairman assigned late Justice Nyo’ Wakai and the then SDF Secretary General, Tazoacha Asonganyi, to represent the SDF at the talks. Peter Mafany Musonge and Joseph Charles Doumba, then Prime Minister and CPDM Secretary General, respectively, led the CPDM side of the delegation. The talks collapsed in 1999.

We also gathered that it was yet Lawan Bako who spearheaded negotiations for President Biya to receive Fru Ndi in Bamenda for the first time, during festivities marking the 50th anniversary of Cameroon’s armed forces in 2010.
When pressured to divulge how President Biya has been financing the SDF directly and indirectly, Bako chose to go hypothetical.

Hear him: “Take note that it was President Biya who instructed the CPDM to campaign for the SDF senatorial lists in the Adamawa and West regions in 2013. The CPDM communication secretary, Prof. Jacques Fame Ndongo, was seen on CRTV television with an SDF senatorial campaign ballot paper telling CPDM councilors in Adamawa and the West regions: “…Votez SDF. At the end of the election, the SDF won 14 senatorial seats; thanks to President Paul Biya who is also the CPDM national chairman…”

He added that “the 14 senators which the CPDM gave the SDF have added much to the party’s pay package because they are financing the party. If somebody gives a job to your son and your son uses the finances he gets from that job to help you, you have to thank the person who gave him the job. In this case, the SDF has to thank President Paul Biya ceaselessly. He deserves to have cold water from the SDF and not blistering hot wate.” Bako said.

Fru Ndi response to Bako’s claims
Contacted for his reaction to Bako’s claims, John Fru Ndi, first got upset that his quiet moment was being interrupted just so he could respond to the pontifications of somebody he described as “a nobody, an opportunist, regime’s bootlicker and mail runner.”

When we reminded him that Bako does not merit to be addressed in such terms because he is the national chairman of a political party like him and the spokesman of the presidential majority, Fru Ndi thundered: “Is being the spokesman of presidential majority a profession? If he is the national chairman of a political party, let him tell me just how many councilors his party has ever had.”

Ndi continued; “The likes of Lawan Bako are spoilers who take advantage of the efforts the SDF put in, to force democracy down the throats of the Biya regime to look for food. They move around with business cards and the beggar’s bowl in the name of being members of the presidential majority…” Fru Ndi said.

While vehemently refuting the allegations that Biya has been financing his party, Fru Ndi, who acknowledged that the UDP Chairman is a regime insider, challenged him to produce evidence to back his claim.

El-Hadj Lawan Bako, Chairman of the Bamenda based United Democratic Party, UDP

When reminded that Bako said President Biya is financing the SDF indirectly because he instructed CPDM councilors in the Adamawa and West regions to vote for the SDF senatorial lists in 2013, the SDF national chairman fired back saying: “Lawan Bako is a very stupid politician! Does he not know that Mr. Biya and the CPDM have been rigging elections in this country? I know Mr. Biya has compensated him with the post of SNH board member because of the dirty jobs he has been doing in this country, but let him not provoke Cameroonians.”

Fru Ndi explained that the CPDM instructed its councilors in the Adamawa and West regions to vote for the SDF list not because they wanted it. “The CPDM took that decision after they realized that they were caught in their own trap. Mr. Biya knew that there could be no senate short of 14 senators, so he decided that in the absence of what he wanted, he should just do with the devil which was the SDF.”

Asked if he remembers that as a regime negotiator, it was Bako who negotiated the meeting between him and Biya in Bamenda in 2010, Fru Ndi wouldn’t say yes or no, but retorted: “If Lawan Bako says he was the one who negotiated for Mr. Biya to receive me in Bamenda, let him tell Cameroonians if during that visit, he too was received by Biya.”

Bako Strikes Back
Following the publication of Fru Ndi’s reactions to his allegations in a local daily, Bako issued a press statement dated March 17, choosing rather to go personal on Fru Ndi.

In the statement, he said; “Mr. Fru Ndi said I am stupid and a nobody. Let Mr. Fru Ndi be told that before the SDF was created, he was using a 505 Peugeot car while I was using a Mercedes car along with 505 SR automatic. If they take away the SDF chairmanship from his tittle, he will see his level.” Bako said.

Rather than provide evidence Fru Ndi requested, Bako rather struggled to proof he is a better family and business man than the SDF chieftain.

“I have nine children of which two are PhD holders, including a medical doctor and two engineers. How many does he have? I am not a failure in life but a progressive gentleman from birth”, he wrote, questioning “Did he (President Biya) rig the senatorial elections which he (Fru Ndi) contested in the North West region and was beaten?”

He reiterated that President Biya’s CPDM campaigned for SDF to win 14 senatorial seats in 2013. “Fru Ndi should ask himself why President Paul Biya did not ask CPDM to vote for Bello Bouba’s UNDP which has an alliance with the CPDM.”

Lawan Bako also asked rhetorically whether Fru Ndi can deny the fact that like other parties represented in the National Assembly, the SDF receives money from the state. He also asked whether Fru Ndi could tell Cameroonians his relationship with El Hadj Baba Dan Pullo of the CPDM Central Committee and whether he has ever given him financial support and for what purpose.

Fru Ndi Warns Biya: Calling Early Election Will Cause War

The SDF National Chairman, John Fru Ndi, has warned Biya not to tinker with the constitutional provisions again, for this will unleash unimaginable social unrest that will lead to wanton killing of peace-loving Cameroonians. To him, it is inexplicable that there is so much hysteria about an event, which is virtually three years away.

This to Fru Ndi is nothing but an act of provocation from sycophants and irresponsible power mongers The SDF Chair was addressing SDF Mayors who thronged his Ntarinkon residence on February 6, 2016. According to him, he requested the Ministers of Defence and Territorial Administration to emphasise to Biya not to call any early election as it was certain to plunge Cameroon into civil war. Fru Ndi had met the Ministers at the Bamenda Airport in Bafut before they took off for Yaounde after their visit to Wum.

According to Fru Ndi, Cameroon’s topmost priority now is the insecurity in the Far North and East Regions where children are not attending school and businesses have slumped because of Boko Haram insurgency, coupled with the influx of refugees into Cameroon.

“I told these Ministers to tell Biya to halt the flow of motions of support calling for him to stand for the 2018 election. To me, these are deceitful calls and if he insists on heeding to these calls then, Cameroon will be ungovernable.

“Let him be bold enough to tell these overzealous CPDM militants to stop this nonsense, because, it is unconstitutional,” said the SDF National Chairman. He praised the Mayors for their initiative to commune with him at the beginning of the New Year and exhorted them to shun embezzlement, serve Cameroonians without discrimination by offering projects that will benefit all and sundry.

Fru Ndi reiterated that the SDF must relentlessly strive against harbouring opportunists. He appealed for forgiveness from those he might have unwillingly hurt last year. He also called on those Mayors who, he said, had become a thorn in his flesh and that of the party to also ask for forgiveness. “Some of you have refused to implement the party’s vision; others exhibit a lot of indiscipline.

Yet, we keep tolerating such misdeeds. All I can say is well done for the work so far and continue to serve Cameroonians diligently,” Fru Ndi told the Mayors.

While reassuring Cameroonians that he will never betray the cause the party stood for at creation, Fru Ndi said: “Let me tell the world that I am as firm, as resolute, as steadfast as I was 25 years ago and this party will never depart from its original goals.”

He urged the Mayors to start cultivating crops with compost manure, not fertilisers or other chemicals, that have made crops to lose their taste.

Earlier, the National Coordinator of SDF Mayors, Donatus Njong Fonyuy, said they came to thank Fru Ndi for what he has done for Cameroon as the ‘Father of Democracy’.

Njong said party instructions will be respected as far as running the Councils is concerned. “As your first sons and daughters who were sent into the Councils in 1996, we are here to inform you, our Chairman, that during the next council elections, we are going to win a majority of the councils. Mr. Chairman, in this 2016, our wishes are that let all your desires come true and you can always count on us,” Njong stated.

The Mayor of Kumba II was also in attendance and his presence, observers said, indicates that reconciliation is taking place. It would be recalled that the party chastised him and the Mayor of Tubah for disrespecting the decision of the Investiture Committee that never was in support of the two being voted Mayors.

Social Democratic Front – FRU NDI for Democratic Governance in 2016

SDF National Chairman’s New Year message wants Constitutional Council to take roots and mobilises Cameroonians to reconcile towards nation building process.

“We have lived through moments of excitement and crises and 2016 offers an opportunity for all to ask for pardon and forgiveness towards building a democratic, modern, prosperous and peaceful Cameroon”. That was how SDF National Chairman, Ni John Fru Ndi dropped curtains on his Near Year message, presented to the press at his Ntarinkon residence on January 14, 2016.

The message mobilised the nation to dissuade youths from easygoing life and prescribed indispensable values of good morals and hardwork. The gateway, he said, is education and adequate training for decent jobs in a country which he claimed showcases over 70 per cent of youth unemployment.

The SDF National Chairman congratulated the nation’s valiant Security and Defense forces battling insecurity in the Far North, North and East Regions. He, however, blamed insecurity rocking the country on what he said is the result of unbalanced regional development.

Visibly disturbed with the ugly state of many of the nation’s roads, Fru Ndi thinks that it is better for Cameroonians to dislodge tollgates on dilapidated sectors of road infrastructure while road users should practice civil disobedience in the payment of tollgates until such roads are properly maintained.

The message also expressed the need for developed and industrialised countries whose attitude and activities have depleted the ozone layer to stop climate change, repair damage caused and compensate regions which are the primary victims of indiscriminate timber exploitation. He equally prescribed the planting of two or more trees of the same specie for each tree cut and inspired the intensification of tree planting in the Northern regions of Cameroon in efforts to beat climate change.

Cameroon Tribune 

Despite Holding Multiple Positions, Fru Ndi Warns SDF Members against Post Accumulation

John Fru Ndi, SDF Chairman

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John Fru Ndi; National Chairman of the Social Democratic Front (SDF), has told reporters that the SDF is strongly against militants holding multiple positions of responsibility in the party. He made the statement in spite of the fact that he himself doubles many positions in the party, such as Chairman of the SDF National Advisory Council, Chairman of the SDF National Executive Committee, Chairman of the SDF National Investiture Committee and onetime SDF senatorial candidate.

Speaking to reporters at his Ntarinkon residence last week, the SDF chieftain who lashed out at some party militants who are gunning for more than one political office in the party, said the SDF is not in support of militants holding more than one position within the party.

Fru Ndi reminded militants that the party’s National Executive Committee, held late last year had stressed that no SDF militant occupies more than one office.

“So any militant who stubbornly occupies more than a single position should be aware that he or she is putting a stop to his/her political career within the SDF’’ he warned.

Fru Ndi was apparently challenging some party mayors, district or regional chairmen who want to use their positions to contest for some more positions. He noted that the party is a democratic party that wants the grassroots members to benefit from the political positions too.

Time for Anglophones to Occupy the Presidency for at Least 20years- Dr. Susungi

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Dr. Nfor N. Susungi

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Cameroon Journal, Yaounde – Nfor N. Susungi, renowned economist turned politician, who is has publicised plans to run for President in the 2018 presidential elections has said that it is the turn of Anglophones to occupy Etoudi for at least 20years. The former SDF baron is also warning that Cameroon might split in halves if the Biya regime refuses to acknowledge the fact that Francophones have ruled for too long and give way for Anglophones to lead.

In an online interview with our reporter, the presidential hopeful says “It starts with the fact that reunification was a tontine and not a marriage. I have decided to use metaphors (tontine, otherwise known as njangi) which all Cameroonians can connect with. If you are in a union which is not backed by a legal agreement which was ratified and sent to the UN Secretariat in conformity with article 102 of the UN Charter, then it is a tontine.”

Susungi who said he did change the name of the country to Republic of Kameroon under the platform of UNIKAM, compares the current Republic of Cameroon to a tontine, which he says is a binding association between people not bound by any legal instrument.
“It is bound by the principle of rotation. The Francophones have chopped the tontine for 55 years. I have maintained that in 2004 Biya was supposed to hand over to an Anglophone to take their turn; but he did not” he said, adding that “he decided to hang on in violation of the rules of the tontine. Now is the time to hand over to an Anglophone. For how long? At least 20 years. It cannot remain with the Francophones because that will mean that the tontine has broken down. If that happens everyone knows what the consequences will be.”

Susungi pointed out that he has coined “powerful political metaphors” to enable Cameroonians understand the challenges facing them in the coming years.

He recalled reports of a French politician who came to Cameroon and declared an Anglophone can never be allowed to be president of the country. “He may have said this not knowing that we are in a tontine. He said that in order to prevent John Fru Ndi from aspiring to take over from Paul Biya in 1992. No problem. But things have now changed.” My generation has grown wise and that is why I am explaining things in very plain language today. If we fail to respect the rules of the tontine, then Cameroon should expect a very serious crisis which could lead to the breakup of the country;” he stressed.

To buttress his argument as to why an Anglophone must take over power following a principle of rotation, Susungi, opined: “In Nigeria the principle of rotation of power among the geopolitical zones is very important. In Cote d’Ivoire the arrival of Ouattara has enabled the North to take its turn in power. Even the UN understands that the position of SG must be rotated to different regions of the world.”

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Quizzed on how an Anglophone could become president when the Biya regime apparently does not think in that direction, he said “that is Paul Biya’s problem. My job is to stake a claim and I have done it in very plain language. Don’t imagine that what I am saying here is not worrying them and their own succession plans. They know that I am not John Fru Ndi.”

As to what he meant by not being John Fru Ndi, he said “I am not just sitting and hoping for the best like Chairman.” Susungi disclosed that he has written to President Biya. “Biya knows I want his job. I am coming out and staking a claim to the job very clearly. Now what is he and his entourage going to do?” he asked rhetorically.

Susungi was firm that there is no other political party in Cameroon which explains its plans and its positions as clearly as his UNIKAM. The manifesto and priorities of the party which, Susungi outlined include the opening of a judicial investigation into the Lake Nyos disaster of 1986, the massacre of the Bamelikes and Bassas between 1955-1966 as well as the 1984 attempted coup d’etat. 
UNIKAM will also want to introduce a national stability pact which will, among other things, facilitate the equitable distribution of national appointments. Susungi equally plans to change the celebration of the national day from May 20 to October 1, expand parliamentary seats to 250 while limiting consecutive terms for MPs and senators. Presidential terms shall be reduced to four 4 years, allowing for 3 consecutive terms, but with an age limit for presidents.