Sunday 4 March 2018

Biya Vindicates The Median (No 263 of 8 Jan. 2018)


Paul Atanga Nji, Minister of Defense in waiting?

Paul Atanga Nji
The Minister of Special Duties at the Presidency of the Republic, Paul Atanga Nji, who doubles as the permanent secretary of the National Security Council, might be an enigma to many, but he is, perhaps, President Biya’s most trusted Anglophone ally at the moment. Atanga Nji’s very intricate connections in Yaounde, added to his congenital abilities as a businessman and political strategist have earned for him a comfortable seat among President Biya’s inner circle. That was perhaps why French weekly magazine, Jeune Afrique, recently linked him with a possible move to become the next Minister of Defense in Cameroon. If that happens he will be the first Anglophone to head the very influential ministry
By Ojong Steven Ayukogem in Yaounde
It was our own Harvard Scholar, Ambe Christopher Andoh (RIP), who once said that “Controversy is reserved for the most intelligent; so be controversial”.
            The Minister of Special Duties at the Presidency, Paul Atanga Nji, has generated more controversy than any other Cameroonian in recent history. At once the Permanent Secretary of the National Security Council of Cameroon, Atanga Nji has overplayed his controversy and has become somewhat of an enigma.
            Because of his rather controversial stance on burning national issues especially the ongoing Anglophone crisis, Atanga Nji has become one of the most insulted Cameroonians of his time. He also has often been mis-quoted and most often misinterpreted. Yet, the wonder boy from Old Town Bamenda holds strongly to his vision of Cameroon; a Cameroon that, according to him, must remain united, strong, indivisible and peaceful.

            Atanga Nji seldom speaks in public. But whenever he comes out of his reserve to speak, both his critics as well as his admirers take him seriously; they readily overhaul their ears to listen to what they would consider as “Atanga’s new ploy”.
            According to Jeune Afrique magazine, Atanga Nji has cleverly and painstakingly wangled his way through and is today one of the most trusted Anglophones in President Biya’s inner circle. And that may just be true given that the President takes Atanga Nji along on most of his very important trips abroad, be it to the UN General Assembly in New-York or to the Inter-Continental Hotel in Geneva Switzerland, where the President spends the better part of his private holidays that is, if he doesn’t retire to his private residence in his native Mvomeka’a in the South region of the country.
            Jeune Afrique also spotlights Atanga Nji as that single Anglophone in government to whom the President grants the most one-on-one audiences. This, of course, is no surprise because as head of the National Security Council (the equivalent of the CIA boss in the USA), Atanga Nji is the person who gathers and feeds the President with the most strategic intelligence.
            Reading through Atanga Nji’s track record as a Biya ally in Jeune Afrique magazine (No 2968 of 29 Nov-2 Dec 2017), a commentator joked to this reporter that Atanga Nji might just be the person who also furnishes President Biya with a regular dose of the ‘canda stick’ which the President uses to get the needed virility to perform his duties as husband to his youthful and pretty wife, Chantal Biya.
            Given Atanga Nji’s perfect bilingualism in English and French (he is married to a Francophone Beti woman), and his wide and intricate connections in his native North West region, the Old Town boy has easily become President Biya’s trump card in the difficult Anglophone equation. It is believed that Atanga Nji’s increasingly cordial relations with the aging Senator Simon Achidi Achu, and his excellent rapport with the venerable and venerated Fon of Mankon, Pa Solomon Anyeghamot Ndefru aka Fon Angwafor III, only makes him Biya’s most trusted confidant and go-between with these North West corner-stones of the CPDM regime.
            Born and bred in Old Town, Bamenda, in 1960, to the late Pa Joseph Atanga (a retired business magnate and owner of the once famous Highland Hotel) and Mama Marceline Atanga, Paul Atanga Nji did his secondary education at St. Bedes College Ashing Kom and GHS Bamenda before migrating to Lagos Nigeria to pursue studies in Banking and Finance.
            Upon returning to the country, the young, dynamic and ambitious Atanga Nji in 1987 created his first business enterprise, Global Finance, which would later become Afriland Highland Banking Corporation. He also later created the Association of Young Business Operators of Cameroon (Association des jeunes operateurs economiques du Cameroon) and was the pioneer president of the group.
            But Atanga Nji’s golden opportunity came when he succeeded to meet President Paul Biya in Douala, in 1992. That was during the President’s campaign visit to the Littoral region.
            Being the smart old town boy that he was, Atanga Nji used the opportunity to present his business projects and also his vision for the Cameroon banking sector to President Biya. Interestingly, the President immediately took note and interest in Atanga Nji. 
            And no sooner was Atanga Nji appointed to head a commission to reflect and propose reforms for improvement of the banking sector in Cameroon.  The commission had as vice-president the finance minister at the time, Etienne Ntsama.
            Gradually, Atanga Nji would also penetrate and win the rapport of other trusted Francophone allies of President Biya’s including notably the then security boss, Jean Forchive (RIP), the DG of SNH, Adolphe Moudiki  and Martin Belinga Eboutou, the all-powerful DCC of the Presidency.   
            Record has it that it was Atanga Nji who sold to Jean Forchive the idea for the government to acquire taxis and motorbykes and put on the streets of Douala and Yaounde to counter the ghost towns that were called by the vibrant opposition of the early 1990s.
            From behind the scenes, Atanga Nji also requested and got from the government the needed resources to fight Fru Ndi and the SDF in the opposition party’s North West bastion of Bamenda and Santa.
            Though a fervent Roman Catholic Christian, Atanga Nji is not as holy as the Pope. That is perhaps why his name often comes up whenever the Campost-gate scandal is invoked. But The Median has it on good authority that Atanga Nji has since started redeeming his debt due, if only to elude the ‘Epervier’ dragnet.
            For the Fox that Atanga Nji is, Jeune Afrique predicts that he might just use his closeness to Belinga Eboutou and President Biya and negotiate his rise to higher rungs of the political ladder in the country.
            Jeune Afrique forecasts that Atanga Nji might even becom the next defense minister or something close. But it says this will  depend on the sole discretion of President Paul Biya, who knows when, why and how he uses his exclusive and exorbitant powers as the head of state and president of Cameroon.
            Be it as it may, it behooves this newspaper to hail Atanga Nji for his courage, rare innate abilities and his solid personal achievements. This is because by becoming minister in government and Permanent Secretary of the National  Security Council, and by succeeding to convince the very distant President Biya as to become his most trusted confidant and ally from Anglohone Cameroon, Atanga Nji has only silenced his detractors, most of whom have missed no opportunity to dismiss him as half-educated and a political non-starter.  
Pic
Paul Atanga Nji,  Minister of Territorial Administration

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