CPDM reorganization:

Who changed election results in Mamfe Central section?

- Angry militants say the candidate whose name appeared in L’Action Newspaper as the elected section president for Mamfe central is actually the one that lost the election

- Militants strongly condemn the divisive and self-seeking antics of some Manyu CPDM barons whom they say might have reversed the election results at the CPDM secretariat in Yaounde

By Ojong Steven Ayukogem in Yaounde

Chief Tabetando

The tension and frustration that has gripped the CPDM in Mamfe Central section is getting deeper by the day, and only a timely intervention by President Paul Biya or Jean Kuete can pre-empt an imminent crisis that might erupt sooner than later between the two factions that now exist in the section, following the fake results that were published recently by the CPDM newspaper L’Action.

                Mamfe CPDM militants say they are yet to come to terms with what appears in L’Action as the results of the reorganization exercise in their section. Fuming with rage some of the militants say they cannot condone the Central Committee imposing on them a section president whom they had rejected in free and fair elections. They say Emoh Daniel Takor whose name appears in L’Action as the section president for Mamfe central was actually the loser in the elections as per the results that were publicly proclaimed after the reorganization excercise.

                The militants maintain that it was rather the list headed by Orock Andrew, the principal of GHS Mamfe that emerged victorious in the election. They said the list of Emoh Daniel, who was the incumbent section president was never plebiscited.  

                Many militants have extrapolated that it is possible L’Action might have made an error or somebody changed the results en-route, as the proces-verbals were being transported from Mamfe to Yaounde via Buea.

                When this reporter called some members of the Divisional Supervisory Committee for the reorganization in Manyu, they expressed surprise that it was Emoh Daniel’s name that featured as the elected section president for Mamfe. They said it was rather Emoh’s challenger, Orock Andrew that was the winner by their reckoning and he was actually proclaimed the winner by the section electoral committee. The members of the Divisional Supervisory Committee speculated that the results might have been changed at the level of the Regional Supervisory Committee in Buea.

                When we carried out further investigations to ascertain the reason for the reversal of the result it emerged that after the results were proclaimed in Mamfe, Emoh Daniel filed in a protest petition at the regional supervisory committee alleging irregularities and fraud in the electoral process. The regional committee entertained the petition without much ado, understandably.

                It is no secret in Mamfe that Emoh Daniel is Senator NforTabetando’s protégé. Emoh has always told whoever cares to listen that his political mentor in Manyu is Chief Tabetando and no one else. Incidentally NforTabetando was siiting on the regional committee.

                It should be recalled that sometime ago, Emoh and his supporters disrupted an event organized in Mamfe at the instance of Minister Prof. AgborTabi to celebrate the anniversary of president Biya’s ascension to power on 24 November. Emoh reportedly told AgborTabi to go to his native Eyumojock and celebrate there. Many observers said by openly affronting AgborTabiEmoh was acting with the support of a stronger and more formidable force that had elected to stay behind the scenes.

                It was no surprise therefore that when we called the Manyu CPDM heavyweight, Sen. NforTabetando George Ndieb-Nso, who incidentally was a member of the regional supervisory committee for the reorganization in South West and asked to know what happened to the Mamfe results, he could not provide us with satisfactory answers. NforTabetando rather asked us if we ever saw him in Mamfe during the reorganization or whether he is the editor of L’Action Newspaper.

                When we insisted on the venerable and venerated Senator and Chief that as a senior political and traditional elite of Manyu and one who sat on the regional committee we expected him at least to take keen interest in the outcome of the reorganization in Manyu, he questioned why we had to call him in the first place and whether he was the SG of the CPDM. So we left it at that.

                As for the supposed winner of the section election in Mamfe, Orock Andrew, we could not get him on phone. But we learnt that as soon as he learned of the error in L’Action newspaper, he immediately travelled to Yaounde to find out from the CPDM secretariat what might have gone wrong. MrOrock has also filed a petition at the central committee pointing out the error.

                However, informed sources at the CPDM secretariat say it is unlikely Orock Andrew’s petition would be looked into, especially if he doesn’t have a godfather to press the buttons.

                When this reporter also called one of the editors of L’Action and pointed out the error to him, he promised they would cross check the records and make corrections if need be. But the editor at once pointed out that he was convinced the result that they published is what  was sent to their newsroom. He suggested we also verify with the regional supervisory committee for the South West. Our efforts to lay hands on the process-verbal of the regional supervisory committee have since been futile.

                Meanwhile, the aggreived militants and sympathizers of the CPDM in Manyu have expressed the hope that proper investigations will be done and the necessary corrections made on the results if only to preserve the legendary peace, harmony and unity that is known to reign in the CPDM in the Division and in Mamfe in particular.

                “We are still waiting on L’Action newspaper to correct the error because for now we think and believe it was an error. But if something is not done and quickly too then those who are responsible for the fraud should be ready to arrest whatever situation that might arise in Mamfe CPDM in the not too distant future,” said an angry militant who opted to remain anonymous in this report.