Gruesome Murder of Five Boys in Eshobi, Mamfe:

Resort to ‘Juju’ To Destroy ‘Amba’ in Manyu, Boomerangs?

-Manyu Diaspora urge the elites and chiefs to apologize, describing their decision as insane, brazen, misguided and arrogant

-Others, mostly CPDM regime apologists, defend the elite and chiefs, declaring approval and support to the ‘last resort’ decision

By Ayukogem Steven Ojong in Yaounde

A decision by some elites and chiefs of Manyu to invoke Juju to curse and destroy separatist fighters in the division has sparked outrage among Manyu sons and daughters at home and in the Diaspora.

                The indignation expressed by critics of the ‘desperate and last resort’ decision by the elites and chiefs, became even more widespread following the gruesome murder of five young men in Eshobi village barely days after the elites and chiefs invoked the gods to strike sons and daughters of Manyu, and any other persons who are involved in, or who support the heinous activities of separatists in Manyu.

             

Chiefs of Eyumojock invoking the gods to cleanse their land of amba activities

   The invocation rituals were performed in all the four subdivisions in Manyu - Akwaya, Eyumojock, Upper Bayang and Mamfe Central, according to independent accounts by some Manyu elites and chiefs. But it was the videos of the rituals in Mamfe and Eyumojock that went viral on social media, proviking the outrage by Manyus at home and in the Diaspora.

                Observers described the pronouncements of some elites and chiefs, at a ceremony that brought together internal and external elite, chiefs and the general public, in Mamfe, on 16 June, as insane, brazen, misguided and arrogant. The enlarged meeting at the Mamfe Town Hall, was at the behest of the Manyu SDO, Joseph Oum II, who wanted to review the security situation in the division with the populations, following the brutal murder of the 35-year-old Mayor of Mamfe, Ashu Priestley Ojong, along the Mamfe-Eshobi stretch, on 10 June 2020.

                “The elites and chiefs must apologize or be dethroned as chiefs,” opined Boston, USA-based public intellectual and critic, Ekinneh Agbaw-Ebai.

                “It must be stated in no ambiguous terms that the brazen decision to invoke Manyu gods to curse and destroy Manyu people who have taken up arms in legitimate self-defense against Biya’s genocidal forces constitutes a collective assault on the psyche of Manyu people,” further opined Ekinneh Agbaw-Ebai.

                Describing the Chiefs as ‘Royal Beggars, who have woefully failed to stand with their own people at their greatest hour,’ Ekinneh dismissed the verbiage of one of the chiefs at the Mamfe event as “insensitive, obscene, appalling and too crude to be associated with the exalted office of traditional ruler.”

                “This blight on the toga of Manyu division is simply inexcusable and clearly unacceptable. It is short-sighted, selfish, wicked and callous,” lamented the Harvard scholar, who was one-time editor at Cameroon Tribune.

                In what could be described as a boomerang effect of the juju invocation, Ekinneh predicted tragedy against the elites and chiefs concerned, and their families, “for defiling and bastardizing Manyu culture” in support of the CPDM regime.

                “The fact that the ‘Mfam’ that they swore did not prevent the carnage in Eshobi should tell the Chiefs and elite that ‘Obasinjom’, ‘Ekponon’, ‘Afrikpabi’ and sundry deities in Manyu donot fight unjust wars,” Ekinneh charged, noting that ‘Obasinjom is not blind, and ‘Moh-Njom doesn’t need political “hacks and “lackeys” to invoke his name in vain.

                The writer and critic expressed fears that this “we-own-Manyu” attitude of some elite, may only be a precursor for an inevitable escalation of violence, destruction and more deaths in Manyu.

                Another Manyu son in the Diaspora who reacted angrily to the ‘Juju’ outing of the elites and chiefs was Dr. Joachim Arrey, a staffer with the ADB in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.

                “It is a complete mess up by our elites and chiefs. They are only helping to maintain Manyu in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. I strongly disapprove of it,” reacted Arrey Joachim, who promised to do a write-up in the days ahead on the rapid decline of Manyu’s standing on the political pyramid of Cameroon.

                However, some Manyu sons have rushed to the defense of their elite and chiefs, following the public castigation by Ekinneh Agaw-Ebai and many others. Abraham Johnson Bate, a Yaounde-based businessman, dismissed Ekinneh’s remarks as “too sensational and negative”. Batey opined that the Manyu youths who are fighting ‘Biya’s genocidal rule’, as remarked by Ekinneh and others of his ilk, are doing so by ruthlessly killing whoever does not appeal to their definition of the Republic of Cameroon or Ambazonia.

                Johnson Batey concluded that what Their Majesties the Chiefs of Manyu are doing, meets the approval of Manyu people, and Manyu people stand strongly by the decision and the action of the elites and chiefs to resort to invoking juju to curse and destroy the separatist fighters in Manyu.

                As the elites and chiefs maintain and defend their resolve, and as the outrage persists at home and in the Diaspora following the resolve, it remains to be seen whose call the gods of Manyu would heed.

And until ‘Mfam’ begins breaking whoever’s neck in Manyu, it should be noted that, Manyu division has been in the national spotlight, not for good, but for all the wrong reasons. And this only augurs ill for a division that once prided itself as second only to Dja and Lobo division in its support for President Biya and the CPDM party.