Konye DO accused of Pocketing Minister’s “Envelope” to Bike Riders

By Doh Bertrand Nua in Kumba

Atanga Nji handing peace plants, helmets and jackets to Meme bike riders Epimba Blessed Ekole, DO Konye sub-division

The president of the Konye bike riders’ union has accused the Divisional Officer, DO for Konye, Epimba Blessed Ekole of confiscating the FCFA 50 000 that Minister Paul Atanga Nji handed to him for refreshment during his visit to Kumba to discuss with Meme bikers. 

            Asah Atem raised the alarm in the presence of a crowd of onlookers, shortly after the Minister’s convoy took off from the meeting venue and headed for Buea.

            Speaking at the top of his voice, Asah told reporters after escaping lynching by his peers for allegedly pocketing the refreshment money, that the DO and the Konye Mayor caught him on his shirt and collected the money on grounds that he wasn’t the true representative of the president of Konye Bikers’ union.

            Asah made his revelation to the press after he was spotted by this reporter being manhandled by other bike riders and barely minutes after his brief encounter with the DO and the Mayor.

            Asah said what sounded funny to him was the fact that the DO told him that after benefitting a helmet and a jacket from the minister he should not put his eyes on the refreshment money. 

            What however left many surprise was why the Mayor and the DO didn’t denounce the purported Konye rider’s president in the hall only for them to come and track him and collect the money which later caused commotion outside the hall.

            Quizzed if he was actually a biker from Konye, Asah explained that he has once been a rider on the Konye road but he suspended riding because of the Anglophone crisis. He said he opted to represent the president of Konye riders’ union because nobody showed up when the Minister called out.

            All attempts to get the DO and Mayor to comment on the issue were fruitless as they had all zoomed off with the Minister’s convoy.

            A source close to the DO told this reporter that the DO said he collected the money from Asah to keep safely so that he could rally the bikers in Konye on a later date so that they can together share in the spoils from their meeting with the minister.