Sunday 3 July 2016

Okie Johnson as charge de mission:


A SW indigene in NW CPDM is not an issue
- Hon. Nji Fidelis, leader of CPDM permanent delegation for Menchum
By Ojong Steven Ayukogem in Yaounde
Okie Johnson Ndoh
Amid press reports that CPDM supporters in the NW region brandished red cards in the Bamenda Congress Hall in protest against the appointment of a South Westerner, Okie Johnson Ndoh as charge de mission of the NW permanent regional delegation of the ruling party, it has emerged that there was no such protest against the appointment, even if red cards were brandished. Hon. Nji Fidelis, a former Questor of the national assembly who is the leader of the CPDM permanent divisional delegation for Menchum, has said that Okie’s appointment as charge de mission of the NW regional delegation is just normal, and CPDM officials of the region are already working with him (Mr. Okie NDOH) because they see nothing wrong with the appointment.
                Hon. Nji Fidelis was speaking at his residence at the administrative quarters in yaounde, after this reporter put the question to him as to how Okie Johnson was received in the NW delegation.
“Times have changed and our party is evolving. The era of regional and/or ethnic politics is over. Okie’s appointment could have been an issue if ever he was not a CPDM militant. But in so far as he is a militant of our party he can be assigned any time any where to serve the party. So, his appointment as our regional charge de mission is very normal; it is a non issue,” Hon. Nji Fidelis said, noting that officials of the CPDM in NW even worked with Mr. Okie ahead of the visit of the CPDM Scribe, Jean Kuete, to Bamenda to install the permanent delegations.
                As to reports that red cards were brandished in the hall, the CPDM diehard said perhaps because he was too busy in the hall he did not notice any red cards being brandished. But Hon. Nji Fidelis at once said if red cards were brandished then it could have been for other reasons that he is not yet privy to, and not because of Okie’s appointment.
                He enjoined those who see something wrong with Okie’s appointment to ask themselves how and why Barrack Obama from Kenya, in Africa is the President of the most powerful country on earth – USA, and why General Ivo Yenwo from NW the Director of president Biya’s Personal Security.
“People should out-grow and out-live the old ways of thinking and live with the changing times,” Hon. Nji said, noting that today it is what a man can do that matters and not where he comes from.
                Even Okie Johnson himself has also denied that NW CPDM militants brandished red cards in protest to his appointment. Okie affirms on the contrary that he has been well received by CPDM militants of the NW and they are already working as a team.
                Though Okie Johnson also said he did not notice red cards being brandished in the hall, he however said if ever the red cards were brandished it was not in connection to his membership of the NW delegation.

                “I cannot confirm that red cards were brandished in the hall. But if ever such a thing ever happened, it had nothing to do with my being in the NW delegation. CPDM supporters of the NW are mature and disciplined enough; they know that I was appointed by the president of our party, and the president has his reasons for assigning me in the NW region and not in my native SW region,” Okie Ndoh said, insinuating that his appointment as charge de mission of the NW delegation was not an error but a deliberate and conscious decision of the national president of the party, Paul Biya.
                Besides, Okie noted that it was not the first time that the party hierarchy is sending him to the NW as charge de mission. He recalled that during the campaigns ahead of the 2007 presidential elections he was the charge de mission for Boyo division, and he did his best to secure victory for president Biya in the election. He said even during the recent reorganization of basic organs of the party, he was sent to the diaspora, notably in Great Britain and Germany, as charge de mission, and not to the SW, and they did a remarkable job out there.
                “The CPDM is not a regional or tribal party; it is a national party. So, as party militant you should be ready to serve where ever and whenever the party hierarchy assigns you,” the affable and soft-spoken Okie Ndoh said.
                Also reacting to press allegation that militants of his home constituency, Nguti in the KupeMuanenguba division, have expressed total disappointment and frustration for not having even a single representative in any of the seven delegations of the SW region, Okie said the allegation is less than the truth. He however, admitted that when the appointment of divisional delegates was done he received many calls from CPDM militants in Nguti who wanted to know why none of theirs was also appointed.
                “I explained to them that appointments in the party are done by the national president of the party and that the president alone knows how, where and why he assigns persons to work for the party. I told them that the fact that the party chairman has assigned me to the NW as charge de mission means that Nguti was duly considered in the appointments,” Okie opined, noting that the militants of Nguti understood with him and that was why they were present in their numbers in Buea during the installation of the SW permanent delegates, and also in Bamenda, during the installation of permanent delegates of the NW.
                “The CPDM militants from Nguti were well received in Bamenda by their comrades of the NW region during the installation ceremony. Even the traditional chiefs from Nguti who were part of the over 40-man delegation were given the treatment that is usually reserved for the ‘fons’,’ Okie noted, affirming that he feels quite at home working with his comrades of the NW.
                “Is it not an honour for me to be part of a team that is headed by the Prime Minister, head of government?” he asked rhetorically.



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