I have read with keen interest the many articles written by some authors on the reunification issue. While some of these authors were very philosophical, others were more sentimental and others purely biased. In most of the write-ups one thing was common: Each writer chose appropriate adjectives to buttress their stand on the subject of the reunification.
For those writers who preferred to philosophize rather than make their point straight, I wish to remind them that philosophical statements are sometimes misleading especially because there is no criterion to judge their validity. Also, because philosophical statements are at times contradictory to each other, such statements can not be taken for gospel truth.
For those who preferred to be sentimental about the issue of reunification, they should be made to understand that if sentiment is used as a barometer to judge a subject, that judgment can never be a good one; any judgment taken based on sentiment and egoism is bound to be hog-wash.
The reunification celebration should therefore serve as a reminder to some of our Anglophone leaders that whenever they are called upon to take decisions on behalf of their people, their decisions should reflect the aspirations of the people they represent and not seek to satisfy their self-seeking and selfish whims and caprices for, the ghost of egoism will haunt them like it haunted and it is still haunting some of the protagonists of the reunification today.
It was Cameroon’s thinker-scholar, Dr. A. D. Mengot (RIP) who once said: “When a man takes a stand he should stand by it because it is from that stand that his standards are tested.” Southern Cameroonians had the option to either join the already independent Republic of Cameroun or gain independence as part of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The Southern Cameroonians took a stand to reunify with the former. After taking that stand they should assume the consequences of their overwhelming decision instead of coming forth with philosophical and sentimental write-ups to evoke sympathy and pity.
The division of Cameroon between the French and the British lasted for several decades; the two Cameroons by this partition inherited two different cultures, one was speaking French the other English. The impact of the divergent cultures was pointed out by Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, the then Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, who before the plebiscite vote warned Southern Cameroonians of the impending danger and hardship that awaits them should they vote to join La Republique du Cameroun. Hear him: “If I may speak for a moment direct to the people of the Southern Cameroons I will ask you to examine very… very carefully the issues at stake. On the one hand you can choose certainty and security; an honorable status as an integral part of a big nation in Africa with your future assured. With Nigeria you can look forward to sharing in the tremendous economic development of our country, to sharing in the massive schemes for expanding education to an extent hitherto beyond our dreams and to the social benefits which we are now beginning to enjoy. Above all, you can be assured of the security of the rule of law, the protection of your lives and houses and farms; and to the guarantee of your human rights. All this is waiting for you if you choose to come back to Nigeria. And now ask yourselves what is the alternative? You would throw in your lot with a country which unfortunately has been torn in recent years by civil wars. It pains me to mention these things and believe me I take no joy in the misfortunes of our neighbors, but it is my duty to warn you of the dangers which lie ahead of you if you go down that road….. If you vote against Nigeria, I cannot see how you can avoid living a life of poverty and hardship and under the constant shadow of violence which the government cannot control. You will be putting yourselves under a country which has different laws and a completely different attitude toward life. Just think carefully of all this……. I do most sincerely ask you, because it is not only your own immediate future which will be affected but the very survival of your family’s.”
To conclude, I would say the Southern Cameroon took a stand to re-unite with their brothers of East Cameroon at the reunification. And they took that decision not under any duress. That is why I humbly advice that Southern Cameroonians should accept responsibility for their action. If today they realize that they made a mistake, they should take note and look for ways of making amends instead of crying over spilled milk. What I think we former Southern Cameroonians should do now is to use the same feathers with our brothers of La Republique to fly to higher socio-economic and political heights instead of taking extremist postures like secession.
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