RTD Chief Justice SML Endeley 1923-2015

A man of many firsts
-A Tribute
The emblematic traditional ruler, the Nakuve of Buea, who died on Tuesday 7 July 2015 and was buried on Saturday 25 July 2015, was in fact a veritable trail-blazer and a man of many firsts.
    Record has it that as a young man burning with energy, SML Endeley aspired for higher heights and was the first among his peers to attain them. That is why in the pamphlet that was published and distributed at his funeral ceromies in Buea titled “Chief Justice SML Endeley (Paramount Ruler of Buea) 9 June 1923 – 7 July 2015: A multi-dimensional statesman”, Churchill Ewumbue-Monono and co. described the Nakuve as a man of many parts and a record holder in many disciplines.
    Among many other firsts that could not be immediately traced and recorded, Retired Chief Justice SML Endeley was known to be the first ever Southern Cameroonian to qualify as a trained pharmacist in 1950; he was also the first Southern Cameroonian to qualify as a lawyer in 1959; the first Cameroonian Judge in West Cameroon in 1966 and the first Chief Justice of the federated state of West Cameroon in 1971.
    Lawyer SML Endeley was also the first Southern Cameroonian to set-up an indigenous law firm (Lifafa Chambers) in 1960.

    Apart from these, Chief Justice SML Endeley was the first West Cameroonian to be appointed judge of the Federal Supreme Court in 1971. He was the first Vice-President of the Supreme Court and also the first President of the Administrative Bench of the Court in 1973.
    Chief Justice Endeley was also a founding member of the Southern Cameroon Bar Association (SCBA) that was created on 6 June 1960. He was the first ever vice-president of the Association that also had the late Barrister E.T. Egbe as the first Secretary General. It should be mentioned that following the reunification in 1961 the SCBA became the West Cameroon Bar Association. Barrister SML Endeley assumed the Presidency of the WCBA in 1962 when the pioneer president B.G Smith returned to Britain.
    Also worthy of mention is the fact that the WCBA was dissolved in June 1970 to found the present day Cameroon Bar Association (CBA). The pioneer Exco of the CBA had Benjamin Matip as President, Fon Gorji Dinka as V.P and HNA Enonchong as Secretary General.