Nigerians in Kumba rise up against their leader

By Doh Bertrand Nua in Kumba

Nigerian Union members protesting with placards

The First Assistant SDO for Meme, EpolewaneVerklinMbua has expressed dissatisfaction and disappointment with the protest match carried out my members of the Nigerian union in kumba against their Union president, Mr. Augustine Nwafor on Monday August 8, 2016. She was speaking at the conference hall of the SDO’s office while addressing some fifteen members of the protest faction and the present executive body of the Nigerian Union.

                According to madam Epolewane, the massive turnout of protesters through the streets of Kumba to the office of the senior divisional officer is an act of public disorder and warned against such behaviors from the Nigerian community as it may reveal Cameroon as a state of lawlessness.

                The protesters who turned out in their numbers to expressed their grievances to their Union president Mr. Augustine Nwafor carried placards with messages such as “Chief Augustine Nwafor go and leave our consul”, “Advocate of disunity, define stakeholders meeting”, “You must go”, “At 65, Ajoku Ignatius go and marry, chronic bachelor”, “You are disgrace to Catholic men association” and “Nigerian consul Buea, come to Kumba Nigerians are suffering”. These messages were accompanied by sundry grievances levied against the President and his executives.

                When the median talked to one of the leaders of the protesters, Mr Kelvin Nnorom, the vice Chairman of Imo state, he revealed the immediate cause of the protest action was an illegal organization of a stakeholders meeting on July 31by the president which was attended by non-members of the Nigerian union.

                Despite the above, Mr. Kelvin and Madam Amaka Florence, chairlady of Anambra state revealed members of the Nigerian union in Kumba have being suffering a lot under the leadership of Mr. Augustine Nwafor. According to them, the president has defaulted the constitution of the Nigerian union, illegal fines on members, an advocate of lies telling, egoistic, use of abusive languages to members, illegal suspension of members. According to Kelvin Nnorom, the president is “a demon, cannot settle disputes among Nigerians, lies teller to the consul general”. He continues the president does not give a listening ear to the problems of the Nigerians in Kumba. Coupled with the above mentioned problems the protesters equally expressed their worries as concerns the financial extortion of the president in matters of processing documents for transportation of corpse back home.

Speaking on behalf of the president, the secretary general of the Nigerian Union in Kumba Mr. Ignatius Njockou claimed the meeting was held because of non-respect of hierarchy by the various states and their members as well as their financial indebtedness to the union.

                In an interview granted by the president to a local radio station in Kumba, he revealed there was nothing wrong for him to organized a stakeholders meeting which had four main agendas; to review the financial situation of the union, issues of house rents, issues of some branch members send out by their various states meetings and the reconciliation of the problems facing the union at large. 

                In conclusion, the first assistant senior divisional officer called of the present executives of the union to better review the financial situation of the union, clarify issues of corpse transportation to the members and finally advised the present executives to dialogue with the various executives of the various states unions and resolve their grievances at the level of Kumba or carry it to the level of the Nigerian consul general in Buea for immediate solutions.