Paul Atanga
Nji, Minister of Defense in waiting?
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| Paul Atanga Nji |
The Minister
of Special Duties at the Presidency of the Republic, Paul Atanga Nji, who
doubles as the permanent secretary of the National Security Council, might be
an enigma to many, but he is, perhaps, President Biya’s most trusted Anglophone
ally at the moment. Atanga Nji’s very intricate connections in Yaounde, added
to his congenital abilities as a businessman and political strategist have
earned for him a comfortable seat among President Biya’s inner circle. That was
perhaps why French weekly magazine, Jeune Afrique, recently linked him with a
possible move to become the next Minister of Defense in Cameroon. If that
happens he will be the first Anglophone to head the very influential ministry
By Ojong
Steven Ayukogem in Yaounde
It was our
own Harvard Scholar, Ambe Christopher Andoh (RIP), who once said that
“Controversy is reserved for the most intelligent; so be controversial”.
The Minister of Special Duties at
the Presidency, Paul Atanga Nji, has generated more controversy than any other
Cameroonian in recent history. At once the Permanent Secretary of the National
Security Council of Cameroon, Atanga Nji has overplayed his controversy and has
become somewhat of an enigma.
Because of his rather controversial
stance on burning national issues especially the ongoing Anglophone crisis,
Atanga Nji has become one of the most insulted Cameroonians of his time. He
also has often been mis-quoted and most often misinterpreted. Yet, the wonder
boy from Old Town Bamenda holds strongly to his vision of Cameroon; a Cameroon
that, according to him, must remain united, strong, indivisible and peaceful.
Atanga Nji seldom speaks in public.
But whenever he comes out of his reserve to speak, both his critics as well as
his admirers take him seriously; they readily overhaul their ears to listen to
what they would consider as “Atanga’s new ploy”.
According to Jeune Afrique magazine,
Atanga Nji has cleverly and painstakingly wangled his way through and is today
one of the most trusted Anglophones in President Biya’s inner circle. And that
may just be true given that the President takes Atanga Nji along on most of his
very important trips abroad, be it to the UN General Assembly in New-York or to
the Inter-Continental Hotel in Geneva Switzerland, where the President spends
the better part of his private holidays that is, if he doesn’t retire to his private
residence in his native Mvomeka’a in the South region of the country.
Jeune Afrique also spotlights Atanga
Nji as that single Anglophone in government to whom the President grants the
most one-on-one audiences. This, of course, is no surprise because as head of
the National Security Council (the equivalent of the CIA boss in the USA),
Atanga Nji is the person who gathers and feeds the President with the most
strategic intelligence.
Reading through Atanga Nji’s track
record as a Biya ally in Jeune Afrique magazine (No 2968 of 29 Nov-2 Dec 2017),
a commentator joked to this reporter that Atanga Nji might just be the person
who also furnishes President Biya with a regular dose of the ‘canda stick’
which the President uses to get the needed virility to perform his duties as
husband to his youthful and pretty wife, Chantal Biya.
Given Atanga Nji’s perfect
bilingualism in English and French (he is married to a Francophone Beti woman),
and his wide and intricate connections in his native North West region, the Old
Town boy has easily become President Biya’s trump card in the difficult
Anglophone equation. It is believed that Atanga Nji’s increasingly cordial
relations with the aging Senator Simon Achidi Achu, and his excellent rapport
with the venerable and venerated Fon of Mankon, Pa Solomon Anyeghamot Ndefru
aka Fon Angwafor III, only makes him Biya’s most trusted confidant and
go-between with these North West corner-stones of the CPDM regime.
Born and bred in Old Town, Bamenda,
in 1960, to the late Pa Joseph Atanga (a retired business magnate and owner of
the once famous Highland Hotel) and Mama Marceline Atanga, Paul Atanga Nji did
his secondary education at St. Bedes College Ashing Kom and GHS Bamenda before
migrating to Lagos Nigeria to pursue studies in Banking and Finance.
Upon returning to the country, the
young, dynamic and ambitious Atanga Nji in 1987 created his first business
enterprise, Global Finance, which would later become Afriland Highland Banking
Corporation. He also later created the Association of Young Business Operators
of Cameroon (Association des jeunes operateurs economiques du Cameroon) and was
the pioneer president of the group.
But Atanga Nji’s golden opportunity
came when he succeeded to meet President Paul Biya in Douala, in 1992. That was
during the President’s campaign visit to the Littoral region.
Being the smart old town boy that he
was, Atanga Nji used the opportunity to present his business projects and also
his vision for the Cameroon banking sector to President Biya. Interestingly,
the President immediately took note and interest in Atanga Nji.
And no sooner was Atanga Nji
appointed to head a commission to reflect and propose reforms for improvement
of the banking sector in Cameroon. The
commission had as vice-president the finance minister at the time, Etienne
Ntsama.
Gradually, Atanga Nji would also
penetrate and win the rapport of other trusted Francophone allies of President
Biya’s including notably the then security boss, Jean Forchive (RIP), the DG of
SNH, Adolphe Moudiki and Martin Belinga
Eboutou, the all-powerful DCC of the Presidency.
Record has it that it was Atanga Nji
who sold to Jean Forchive the idea for the government to acquire taxis and
motorbykes and put on the streets of Douala and Yaounde to counter the ghost
towns that were called by the vibrant opposition of the early 1990s.
From behind the scenes, Atanga Nji
also requested and got from the government the needed resources to fight Fru
Ndi and the SDF in the opposition party’s North West bastion of Bamenda and Santa.
Though a fervent Roman Catholic
Christian, Atanga Nji is not as holy as the Pope. That is perhaps why his name
often comes up whenever the Campost-gate scandal is invoked. But The Median has
it on good authority that Atanga Nji has since started redeeming his debt due,
if only to elude the ‘Epervier’ dragnet.
For the Fox that Atanga Nji is,
Jeune Afrique predicts that he might just use his closeness to Belinga Eboutou
and President Biya and negotiate his rise to higher rungs of the political
ladder in the country.
Jeune Afrique forecasts that Atanga
Nji might even becom the next defense minister or something close. But it says
this will depend on the sole discretion
of President Paul Biya, who knows when, why and how he uses his exclusive and
exorbitant powers as the head of state and president of Cameroon.
Be it as it may, it behooves this
newspaper to hail Atanga Nji for his courage, rare innate abilities and his
solid personal achievements. This is because by becoming minister in government
and Permanent Secretary of the National
Security Council, and by succeeding to convince the very distant
President Biya as to become his most trusted confidant and ally from Anglohone
Cameroon, Atanga Nji has only silenced his detractors, most of whom have missed
no opportunity to dismiss him as half-educated and a political
non-starter.
Pic
Paul Atanga
Nji, Minister of Territorial
Administration
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