SAM MOFOR`S LONG VIEW OF REUNIFICATION

SAM MOFOR`S LONG VIEW OF REUNIFICATION

Cameroon has just celebrated 50 years of reunification between British Cameroons (the Southern Cameroons) and the then already independent Republic of Cameroon. As we know, President Paul Biya traveled to the Anglophone Regional Headquarters of Buea for the celebration   recently.

The explanation for the feast is that so many years after the two peoples – formerly one under the Germans before the latter were booted out of Cameroon following the Second World War –are not only still together, but have made tremendous progress. However, there is no unanimity on that point because some Anglophones feel that the union has greatly worked to their disadvantage. Even so, that is another debate.

A lot of people worked for the Southern Cameroons to leave   the Eastern Region of Nigeria and join their “brothers and sisters” of the Republic of Cameroon.

One of the architects of reunification who unfortunately did not live to see this carnival is the Hon. Sam Mofor, member of the West Cameroon House of Assembly and the institution`s Chief Whip. While being among a number of people who argued for the case of the Southern Cameroons joining the Republic of Cameroon back in Nigeria at the time, Sam Mofor is said to have grabbed a sensitive document , stuffed it into his mouth and chewed and swallowed it.

By so doing, he effectively “buried” some tangible evidence which Nigeria could have used to continue to hang on to the Southern Cameroons. But definitely, that was a big sacrifice on the part of the Cameroonian statesman. By so doing, he was laying his life on the line.

That is not all. Sam Mofor was a native of Santa in today`s Anglophone North West Region of Cameroon. He used to refer to himself as “The Santa Lion” and even named his hotel in Santa as “The Santa Lion Hotel”. He used to proudly say “if you talk of two people in Santa, I must be one”.

It was not only Santa that “the Honourable Sam” was proud of. He also firmly believed in Cameroon`s reunification and national unity. The proof is that he being a North Westerner named one of his sons, “Bokwe”, after the Hon. J.S. Bokwe, a political colleague from the other Anglophone Region of Cameroon – the South West. But Sam Mofor`s vision did not stop there: he named another son of his, “Nguele”, after a Beti compatriot.

This unique stance shows that Sam Mofor was prepared to go to any lengths to ensure that Cameroon stood as one. No wonder he was one of the politicians Cameroon`s President Ahmadou Ahidjo, trusted most. Sam Mofor could see Ahidjo whenever he liked.