Battles for political supremacy in Bakundu clan:

Justice Benjamin Itoe

Bakundu chiefs sack Justice Benjamin Itoe as President-General of BACDU
- But in a swift reaction, a group of Bakundu Chiefs have also signed a counter decision sacking Hon. Motasse Ngoh as President of the Bakundu Chief’s Conference, BCC.

By Batuo Johnson Mbu in Kumba
The President of the Bakundu Chiefs conference BCC, Hon. Motasse Ngoh has announced the sacking of the President-General of Bakundu Cultural and Development Association (BACDU), Chief Justice Benjamin Mutanga Itoe; the entire BACDU executive committee was also dissolved.  According to the decision signed by Hon. Chief Motasse Ngoh and co-signed by 22 other Bakundu chiefs, Justice Itoe was fined two fat cows, 36 crates of beer, 36 bottles of whisky, 36 heads of tobacco and bags of salt. Meanwhile, the affairs of (BACDU) will henceforth be steered by the Bakundu Chiefs Executive Committee, with Hon. Motasse as president.
    Hon. Motasse told journalists in Kumba that the decision sacking Justice Itoe as President General of BACDU came after a meeting of the BCC that took place in Kumba Thursday 9 April 2015.  He said the meeting was convened to review the state of BACDU under the stewardship of Justice Itoe. 
    The six page resolutions of the meeting was presented to the press on Friday 10 April 2015.  Hon. Motasse used the press outing to also elucidate the performance of BACDU and the reasons that informed the ultimate verdict on Justice Itoe and his exco. 
    Motasse explained that BACDU is a child born of Bakundu chiefdoms, and the various village chiefs lead their respective delegations to BACDU meetings to elect its executive committee.  
    However, Motasse noted that in the past 3 years Benjamin Itoe has taken BACDU hostage with impunity, treating Bakundu chiefs with contempt and disrespect.
 
    He accused Justice Benjamin Itoe for instance of insulting the late Paramount Chief of the Bakundus in an interview he granted an English language tabloid in February 2014; that Justice Itoe failed to invite the Paramount Chief, the late Chief Tata Okiah Namata Elangwe to the annual congress of BACDU that took place in Nake Bokoko on 8th and 9th December 2012 and that on that occasion Justice Itoe urged the village chiefs present to rise up from their seats, walk up to where he alighted from his car and usher him triumphantly into the ceremonial ground, as though the chiefs were subordinate and answerable to him. 
    Benjamin Itoe is also alleged to have insulted the Bakundu chiefs at Nake Bongwana on Saturday 1 February 2014, calling them all sort of names.  He allegedly also mutilated and amended the BACDU constitution at several points, arrogating to himself the prerogative of designating and awarding titles to deserving sons and daughters of Bakundu clan, a prerogative which according to Chief Motasse is supposed to be that of the BCC. 
    The Meme SDO, the DOs of Kumba I, Kumba II, Kumba III, Mbonge and Konye have been served copies of the BCC decision, Hon Motasse told the press. 
    However, when we called Justice Itoe to get his reaction to the development, he described the decision by BCC as a “manifest fraud and forgery” orchestrated by Hon. Motasse Ngoh, who wants to become Paramount Ruler of the Bakundus at all cost.
    Itoe who is also the Board Chair of the CDC, a former govenment minister and holder of one of the highest titles in Bakundu clan- ‘nganga matanga wa Bakundu’, explained that the BCC is only an advisory body in Bakundu land; it has no locus standi to take decisions for or against BACDU, which is the supreme organ in Bakundu land. 
    Besides, Justice Itoe said no Bakundu chiefs ever signed the decision that Hon. Motasse is brandishing all over the place; that Motasse single-handedly wrote the decision and only grafted the attendance sheet of an earlier BCC meeting on it, so as to claim that the chiefs whose names featured on the list were signatories to the “fake decision.”
    The ‘nganga matanga wa Bakundu’ said that Bakundu chiefs were very angry about Motasse’s “fraud and forgery”; they immediately convened an extra-ordinary meeting and also sacked Hon. Motasse as President of the Chief’s Conference, BCC..
    “We have designated a new president of BCC in the person of HRH Andreas Mowango Misodi of Ndoi Bakundu village,” confirmed HRH Motanga, a signatory to the decision sacking Chief Motasse.
    We could not immediately ascertain which of the two decisions is binding at press time. But further developments would be yours in our future editions.