Hon. John Ebong Ngolle:

The Great Statesman Who Might Have Been
Given a regime that reluctantly gives opportunity to Anglophones, John Ebong Ngolle had the rare opportunity of being among the few with an enviable career ascendancy in both the Ahidjo, as well as the Biya regimes. He had a wonderful career as civil administrator. But his lifestyle and character shortcomings prevented this son of a Pastor from generating the loyalty that should have given him a more successful political career. Ebong had a topsy-turvy political career that undermined him. He felt disappointed on several occasions.
By Ayukogem Steven Ojong in Yaounde
In his autobiography titled ‘Because I Am Involved’, Nigeria’s rebel leader of Biafra fame, Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, described the West African giant’s one-time military and later, civilian President, General Olusegun Obasanjo, thus: “Here was a man who without being a great statesman in his time grew to become the greatest elder statesman of his time.”
    This verdict by Ojukwu on Obasanjo, by every reckoning, contradicts with the verdict that should be passed on John Ebong Ngolle, the many times SDO, two times Governor and one-time Minister and Board Chairman.
   

John Ebong Ngolle failed to become an elder statesman in his time

 

If one were to pass a confidential verdict on this illustrious son of Enyandong, in Bangem, Kupe Muanenguba division, it would not be wrong to say: “…here was a man who, being a statesman in his day, failed to grow and become the greatest elder statesman of his time.”
    In a political system that is known to marginalize Anglophones, John Ebong Ngolle had the rare opportunity to have an exceptional ascendancy and career profile as a civil administrator. Beginning in 1960-61 as a finance officer in the PM’s Office of the then West Cameroon in Buea, Ebong Ngolle would later be appointed as DO and later SDO.
    He was about the only Anglophone civil administrator to have served as SDO in eight of the then nine divisions of the NW and SW. His brilliant performance as SDO won for him the admiration of the authorities in Yaounde. He was appointed as the Governor of the SW region on 11 October 1989 and moved two years later in March 1991, to the NW in the same capacity.
    Governor Ebong Ngolle’s careful handling of the tense socio-political situation in the NW region in the heat of the burgeoning multi-party democracy with the creation of the SDF party, did not go unnoticed. His expert management of the parliamentary election in 1992, ensuring a crushing victory for Paul Biya’s CPDM which swept all 20 seats in the NW region, endeared him to Biya, who did not hesitate to compensate him with appointment as Minister of Special duties at the Presidency.
    Once in Yaounde, Ebong Ngolle together with Prof. Peter Agbor Tabi, Dorothy Njeuma, Ephraim Inoni and other young SW political enthusiasts, rallied behind the then political patriarch and leader of the region, Pa E.T Egbe. They began clamouring for the appointment of a son of the SW as PM.
    Working under the banner of the South West Elite Association, SWELA, and under the experienced and cautionary leadership and guidance of Pa E.T Egbe, Ebong Ngolle, Agbor Tabi and the others fought very hard for the SW to be given the post of PM. They addressed several memoranda to President Biya, reminding him that the SW has never held any top position in the power arrangement of the country since the reunification in 1961.
    But when Biya in 1996 decided to heed the request of these frontline SW nationalists, and when many thought and expected that either of Ebong Ngolle, Agbor Tabi or Dorothy Njeuma should be made the PM, the unpredictable Biya landed his choice instead on Peter Mafany Musonge, who was the GM of CDC at the time.
    This reporter recalls that in its report on Musonge’s appontment, Radio Nigeria said: “President Paul Biya of Cameroon has sacked his Prime Minister, Simon Achidi Achu and appointed little known Peter Mafany Musonge to replace him.”
    This description of Musonge by the journalists of Radio Nigeria as “little known” was exactly the view that was held by most political watchers in Cameroon at the time, except perhaps for the young but very informed journalist, diplomat and political enthusiast, Churchill Ewumbue-Monono, who in a write-up published in The Post newspaper in 1996 and titled: “Can An Anglophone Replace Achidi Achu As PM?”, analyzed the chances of the main Anglophone postulants for the post of PM including incumbent Achidi Achu, Ebong Ngolle, Agbor Tabi and Dorothy Njeuma. Monono dismissed the possibility of any of these persons taking the office from Achidi. He instead landed his pick on Mafany Musonge, who was GM of CDC at the time.
    It is interesting to note that after this publication in The Post, Churchill Monono became a wanted man to Ebong Ngolle and Agbor Tabi in Yaounnde. The two did not take kindly Churchill’s marketing of the ‘little known’ Musonge, and not them, to Biya.
    When eventually Biya appointed Musonge, and not Ebong or Agbor Tabi, as PM in September 1996, it was evident that these two persons felt disappointed by their boss, Biya. And they did not conceal their disappointment.
    And, not oblivious that these his two brothers were more of his rivals than loyal collaborators in government, Musonge did not hesitate to recommend their sacking from government that is, when Biya gave him the opportunity in 1997.
    Ebong Ngolle’s second disappointment came in 2013, in the build-up to the senatorial election.
    It was understood that Ebong was the list leader of the senatorial candidates for the SW region. Indiscretions by informed political watchers even hinted that Biya was seriously contemplating making Ebong the Senate President in the event his entry into the Upper House of Parliament.
    But as fate would have it, Ebong’s political adversaries told Biya that Ebong had a case to answer at the special criminal court (the famous Charles Metouk saga) and that it would be imprudent and preposterous to let him get to the senate.
    This was how Ebong Ngolle’s name was expunged from the SW senate list and replaced with Hon. Ntube Ndode.
     It is understood that Ebong did not digest this other disappointment, until his dying day.         And what this series of disappointments caused him were far-reaching as they were life-wasting to say the very least.
    Yet, even as some analysts attributed Ebong Ngolle’s failure to rise to the top to bad luck and maybe, Biya’s unpredictable nature in exercising his high prerogatives as head of state, others blamed it on what they said was Ebong’s character shortcomings that prevented him from generating the requisite loyalty that should have drawn President Biya’s attention towards him.
    Dr Boniface Forbin of The Herald Newspaper, once said this of Ebong Ngolle: “As for Ebong Ngolle, the Sonara Board Chairman, he is dismissed as lazy and sometimes given to alcohol. Ebong is credited with a successful tenure as governor of the NW region, which earned him.promotion as Minister at the Presidency. But Ebong was not a good team player among South West elite in Yaounde. He was said to have spent time criticizing and fighting Musonge and sometimes even posed his candidature against Musonge. The latter took the first opportunity that Biya gave him and threw Ebong out of the government.”
    Be it as it may, Ebong’s admirers describe him as one of the greatest personalities that the SW region ever produced. Many say buried in  his towering stature was an exceptional leadership acumen, a kind heart and a charming and likeable persona.