“There should be an eye to eye encounter with Anglophones and not a confrontation”

Fon Forbuzie Martin Asanji II of Chomba

The King of Chomba

How long have you been on the throne in Chomba?

I have been on the throne in Chomba for for 53 years having been enstooled at the age of 15. So I have been here for a very long time. I had my primary, Secondary and University Education as a Fon then I got into the public service where I served for 36 years. In the course of my public service life I served in various capacities. I am a teacher by profession and I went through all the rungs of that profession. From classroom teacher, to Vice Principal and to principal. I reached the ceiling when I got up to Provincial Delegate of Secondary Education for the Northwest for seven years. There after I started my backward journey and became a Principal again of CCAST Bambili, then Divisional Delegate from where I retired. As a Traditional ruler, as a student, as a civil servant I have had to put on several caps at the same time. 

Can you throw light on the history of the people of Chomba?

Chomba belongs to the Widikum tribe. The Widikums have a long history with a very long journey. We have it that they migrated from Sudan and moved down and went to Nkambe. From Nkambe they moved to Ngoketunjia then to Babadjou, Dschang, parts of Lebialem precisely Bamumbu and crossed to Widikum and settled in a place called Tarkun Widikum. From there they moved up and found these plains of Bamenda and settled here. They were moving in waves like a family and Mankon was the leader. From the name Mankon which means a mighty tail, the movement pattern was that of an animal with a mighty tail. That’s how we find ourselves here and in the course of our settlement the Balis came later to join us and settled in our midst. Zingtgraff came and created havoc. We will always say we came from Tarkun Widikum but that is not our origin.

How do you package your cultural year?

As for the calendar in fact we have activities all year round but we have specific activities that we hold at heart. For example we have the Fons Annual Dance which only comes up when we think we are prepared for it. Apart from that there are other smaller ceremonies such as marriages, births, deaths amongst others. These are ceremonies that come up when there is need. At a certain point in time I created the Chomba Cultural and Development Association. This was intended to rally all my sons and daughters so that they put in their effort and all their resources towards the development of the village. Since we instituted that close to 30 years ago, we have gone places. That organisation has spurred our development endeavor so we meet every year  for that one preferably during the Easter Weekend which is March April. This period is usually the end and the beginning of our fiscal year. It is equally a transitional period between the dry season and the rainy season. It is also at that time that we conduct the Abengefu and the Lere. There is one cultural event that we carry out which is the Lere. In between March and April there are many other events that we carry out such as visiting the shrine and pouring libations and initiating people into various cultural domains of our society.

There is this bridge relating to the way we relate to our creator and the Eurocentric approach to religion. How do you blend Christianity and Traditional practice?

God as we always say is omnipotent, omniscient…summarily meaning that he is everywhere at all times and in all manners. That is God and He can be seen from different perspectives. The Christians see God through their own perspective and they would want to go to God through Christ. The Muslims see God through their own perspective through the prophet Mohammed. The Buddhists or we Africans also see God from our own perspective. We go to God through our ancestors. The simple reason is that our ancestors came before us and if we are moving towards God then they are certainly nearer him than we who are alive. So we use them to go to God. The bottom line of it all is that we worship God from different angles. There is no religion that is superior to the other so there shouldn’t be that holier than thou attitude and nobody should say I am closer to God than you are. We are all equal before God.

Could his Majesty run through the evolution of Chomba landscape over the years?

Like every other village, Chomba has transformed. I inherited the leadership of this village from my father and with the help of all my collaborators and with the blessings of our ancestors and God we have gone so far. We have developed to a certain point depending on our resources. All of this has happened because we work like a team and we think we should make life better in this place. Chomba has evolved a lot and if my father were to come back to see this village that he left 53 years ago, he would not believe it. We’ve equally had problems that have retarded our growth. Due to the fact that we are within the periphery of Bamenda City Council, much attention may not be directed to us and the fact that we are also a small village makes it difficult for us to achieve to a certain extent. If we had resources coming from a large population you can imagine the development feats that we would achieve. So we have used the little that we have to make the place what it is. Without boasting I will say that the leadership of this village has been guided, directed and championed by my humble self. For any organisation to work the leadership must be forward bound and dynamic. May be it has been that but it is the Chomba people who should say that. Every Kingdom depends on the leadership and I think I have made my meager contribution in that direction.

What gave you this special touch that you have used to push Chomba forward?

I think the fact that I have been blessed with good education contributed to it. We have been talking about Religion and I think I am profiting from a blend of it. I am a Christian and at the same time an African who practices African Religion.

How are traditional titles given in Chomba and what is the highest title that you confer on an individual?

We have awarded a handful of titles to our subjects. A handful because titles should not just be dished out to people who are lobbying for them because nowadays people just go hunting for titles. I have given a few titles to meritorious subjects of Chomba and when this is done, it is not a one-man-show. We have all types of factors that are taken into consideration. Many agents are involved and we do this in order to let the titles be encouragements or a mover or a catalyst for subjects who obtain titles to work better and also for titles to encourage those who were perhaps still dragging their feet not wanting to toe the line to come up and work to deserve titles. I hesitate to talk about highest titles because it will mean that some people are more equal than others. We give titles to people and they use these titles and do great things. If for example we give the title of Ntumfor to somebody and he doesn’t use it well then that title is like a feather that is carrying no meaning. The title of Akamantso which means somebody who can lead the rest of the people towards a war if not well used will have no meaning. Mesangmefu is a title which means the Fon’s eyes and Machinefu means the Fon’s Machine. A title is a mark of recognition and not a mark of classification of people. I would say the highest title in my Kingdom is that of the prince. When you are born a prince it qualifies you to be the next King.

There are some titles that are awarded. If for example you are the member of a sacred society you automatically have a title. You can also inherit a title from your father. There are some other titles that come by dint of nature. If you were to have twins today we will start calling you Taanyi adding two read feathers on your cap. Titles are a whole subject of research for so much can be said about it.

As an elite we would want to hear you say something on what has come to be called the Anglophone Crises.

The common denominator is that we are all Cameroonians. It is the Colonial Master that came and divided us. Prior to that we were Cameroonians and we will continue to be proud Cameroonians. That period of separation from our brothers is a sad page in our history because we were now brought up in two cultural types and when we decided to reunite it was a wonderful turn in our history. Having come back together, there have been problems. There is no family without a problem. If the problems are surfacing now and taking horrible dimensions, they are only pushing us to learn our lessons in order to forge ahead. Now there are many schools of thought. Some are talking secession, some are talking federalism and some even say there is no Anglophone problem. I think like some us feel, we need to sit on a round table and discuss our problems. Once this is done we will arrive at answers and solutions. The unfortunate thing is that the situation has been hijacked by people who want us to do specific things. I wonder what is really behind their modus operandi. We are forced to ask in the final analyses where we are headed to from now on. My heart really bleeds that here in the Palace my children are not going to school, that our markets and our schools are being burnt down and we are now living in fear of what we don’t even know. The right thinking Cameroonians; the elite should begin to question where we are drifting to. We are now in a boat that has lost paddles and is being toast in the mighty Ocean left and right and if we are not careful that boat will sink and all of us may sink with it. In other words, in the final analyses there may be no survivors.  The appeal is that the Head of State should assume his responsibility. The Head of state took an oath to channel the affairs if Cameroon forward. We should take responsibility and call Anglophones and listen to them. There should be an eye to eye encounter with Anglophones and not a confrontation. I am your father, what is your problem should be the approach of the President. We should make the problem to be the solution. If there is an Anglophone problem let Anglophones be the solution. They should be at the forefront of looking for the answers. Right now a lot of self interest seekers are taking advantage of the situation and calling the shots from behind the scenes.

How have you managed your life over the years as a Civil Servant and as a Traditional ruler?

I think I have been blessed that over the years since I was put on the throne I decided to go back to school. I shelved Royalty and chose the way to education. I was going incognito playing a double image game; one time student and the next minute I am a Fon or traditional ruler or one time a civil servant and at another time, a traditional ruler. I only give thanks to God for helping me to organise all these things. While playing, studying, joking and fighting with my friends in school, the cloak of royalty was here in the Palace waiting for me. In the Public Service I got through very difficult times. My seven years of stewardship to the nation as Provincial Delegate of Secondary Education to the Northwest Region I got entangled with a whole lot of issues ranging from the civil servant strike calling for no school to being at the helm of the Province on a wide range of educational issues ranging from Basic to Secondary Education and much more. I equally got entangled with political issues since the opposition had just surfaced and things were going tumultuous in Cameroon and I was at the heart of education in those difficult times. Then came the GCE saga when there was the fight for the creation of the GCE and the creation of the management board. I was in it and I went through difficult times. My life as a civil servant was rough and very challenging and there were time I saw death looming. I was described as a traitor at one time because I fought for children to go to school when they said children should not go to school. At the time Bamenda was the hotspot being the birth place of boththe leading opposition party, the SDF and the ruling CPDM. Now again both Bamenda and Buea are hot spots.

Interviewed by Francis Ekongang Nzante  

cameroonpeople.blogspot.com /Email: francoeko@gmail.com/Tel: +237678401408/ +237696896001