Fw: OUR LAWYERS DON’T KNOW LAW?

 

THE LEGACY OF AMBAZONIA  (UN Trust Territory of British Cameroons): The Parliamentary Opposition, ...forged for itself a new role noteworthy for its dignity; and the government,..never attempted to withdraw...the legal recognition that was its due. Thanks to this...West Cameroon has won for itself the prestige of being the one place in West Africa (if not all of Africa) where democracy, in the British style, has lasted longest in its genuine form.  --Prof. Bernard Nsukika Fonlon, The Task of Today, p. 9

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: JusticeMbuh <jmbuh@yahoo.com>
To: TeacherT <tanyinoh@yahoo.com>; "tanyinoh@yahoo.com" <tanyinoh@yahoo.com>
Sent: Wednesday, May 13, 2015 4:24 AM
Subject: OUR LAWYERS DON'T KNOW LAW?

 

OUR LAWYERS DON'T KNOW LAW?—A REBUTAL to: BREAKING NEWS: Anglophone Lawyers give 6 months ultimatum for a revisit of re-unification terms

Reading through this caption "BREAKING NEWS: Anglophone Lawyers give 6 months ultimatum for a revisit of re-unification terms," one would think our lawyers have finally woken to the fact that Ambazonia. SCNC and SCAPO activists were not some bigots hallucinating about a lost sovereignty with compounding effects of lost rights and sense of nationhood. However, reading through what transpired when close to a thousand lawyers met in Bamenda gives one the impression that our lawyers do not know law, even more international law. At best, what came out of the confab was not what any so-called truly "Learned Colleagues" would have been seemingly beating their chests and jubilating about the fact that they gave Paul Biya of Cameroun and his government up to six months to, worse of all, return Cameroun and Ambazonia (Southern Cameroons) to a two-state federation as proposed by the 1961 federation deal from which basis the February 11, 1961 plebiscite was organized. That was infantile!

The above postulations can be qualified in the sense that our lawyers seem not to know or understand the history of our relationship with Cameroun. While this is not the proper forum for stating points correcting and clarifying the history of our relationship with Cameroun, it would suffice to state here and categorically that from their ultimatum to Biya, they revealed that their real intension was to protect their jobs. This is because they cannot be talking Two-State and Ten-State Federation at an hour when Yaoundé has been pushed to comply with UN stipulations, at least as contained in the declarations of the International Peace Institute (IPI) 2008 New York Conference, which stated when Nigeria shall withdraw and handover Bakassi to Cameroon and when Cameroon shall also withdraw from Bakassi and handover "The Zone" to "Cameroon."  

Secondly, the lawyers' confab revealed that their position bordered on Social Democratic Front positions—that is, swinging between two to ten-state Federation. This means that the lawyers meeting were hi-jacked by opposition interests and loyalty--the reason being that right now it is Yaoundé that should be begging us, not the reverse with ultimatums and threats, and counter threats. And of course, Yaoundé would continue to abuse us, as long as we continue to display politics of the stomach

Another deduction was the fact that a lead lawyer for "SCNC Activists" is reported to have protested when another lead lawyer for Union State Activists presented copied of the latest development surrounding the Professor Chia Ateh UNO State of Cameroon undertakings, stating it was not the right forum and that even so, it should have passed through him, him being a senior "learned colleague"! These are additional and unnecessary posturing which helps us as a collective to always miss the boat, as if someone is doctoring us to, if at all it is not so.

Additional evidence of foulplay from the lawyers or that they do not know law and are fighting because their jobs have been threatened is that a few days before their meeting, a release from His Royal Highness Fon Fongum Gorji-Dinka who has been on exile for thirty years and has never relented demanding the independence of Ambazonia or at worst a confederation of Two Sovereign States with Cameroun demanded Biya sign the letter which "Three Wisemen" had given him since June 2014 demanding he, Biya endorse the separation of Cameroon by recognizing the Republic of Ambazonia (Southern Cameroons). One would immediately think that if learned colleagues were truly learned, they would have long investigated the string of legal victories against Cameroun illegal occupation, wanton exploitation and egregious violation of the rights of Ambazonia nationals and taken a legal stance that does not warrant them to sound like miserable straw in the winds begging for winds to cease blowing them left and right.

The Fon Dinka released made it clear that should Biya fail to sign the document presented to him by his immediate top three administrators/politicians (President of Senate, House of Assembly and Prime Minister) he, Fon Dinka was going to invoke article 51 of the UN Charter and use every means at his disposal, including using Nigerian forces and mercenaries to defend Ambazonia from Cameroun continuous aggression.

At worst, our lawyers appear to be attempting to take a detour that avoids international and even domestic law and play politics of the stomach—for, had their jobs not been threatened by the massive transfers or Anglophone lawyers and replacement by a majority francophone lawyers, would they have even contemplated talking Southern Cameroons, let alone giving and ultimatum that sells out their future pathway of serving as a Constitutional Council and engaging international law? Where indeed was their element of surprise?

The element of surprise disappeared when they not only leaked their future pathway but also coined themselves "Anglophone Lawyers." By that they admitted that they were Cameroonians and Anglophones and relegated the sovereignty dispute to a mere minority rights issue. Big mistake!

If our Anglophone Lawyers read transcripts of cases which some of them, like Barrister Bobga Harmony, Nchifor, Samas and many others, including the case of Fon Dinka versus Cameroun at the military Tribunal in 1986, Barrister Shufai Blaise S. Berinyuy and the HCB/28/92 case in which Ambazonia won and the Judgment-in-rem demanded Cameroun withdraws from Ambazonia, and most specifically the fact that after seeking these domestic remedies, Fon Dinka again secured the badly need international ruling in which the UN Human Rights Committee demanded that Cameroun restores his (Fon Dinka's) rights and by implication the rights of his subjects, our lawyers, with knowledge of Precedence and the fact that International Law trumps domestic law would never have been caught by my analysis this much. In addition, following the Abuja High Court Ruling in favor of Ambazonia in 2013, Fon Dinka can invoke the fact that the ruling ordered Nigeria to lead the struggle and get Cameroun out of Ambazonia to do whatever he pleases, beyond invoking article 51 of the UN Charter.

Of course, the agents of darkness and distraction, which even this lawyers meeting constituted had always argued that HCB/28/92 case of Ambazonia versus Cameroun never existed. That is what the lawyers have equally displayed and one of them was the architect of the case who signed the affidavit of support on behalf of Ambazonians and after the case brought me into the struggle way back in 1992, even though my activism actually began when we led Cameroon Protestant College CPC Bali on a protest march on foot to Bamenda when Cameroun Minister of Education Rober Mbella Mbape was on track to scrap the General Certificate of Education Exams and replace it with the francophonized mentality of the Baccalaureate and Probatoire. We shut down schools for six weeks and equally demanded the release of Fon Dinka who was reported going blind in Kondengui Maximum Security Prison back in 1983.

At fifty-plus, when I read such litany of sorrows from our lawyers and recall how this same Yaoundé extravagant, arrogant and intransigent regimes have maltreated us all our lives, besides refusing to hear my advice to them in the Ambazonia Open Letter to Cameroun President Paul Biya published in The Post of May and June 2001 forecasting the Bakassi ruling and demanding implementation of the UN Resolution 1608 which Almighty God led me to uncover from UN achieves, and which Open Letter became evidence number one that I was talking secession, and for which I was illegally detained for a year short of fourteen days in the stinking and disease-prone Awaiting Trial section of the Bamenda Prison Up-Station Bamenda, my stomach rumbles and I see a future in which if arms do not talk Yaoundé and the likes of my lawyers would hardly understand the despondency their actions jointly impose upon our masses. Yes, we have talked peace and law to a people (francophones and Yaoundé) who have no understanding or likeness of either! And this is sickening!

This rebuttal is to emphasize the fact that our lawyers have to put the facts of our history peaceful and legal pursuits together and stop playing politics that make it seem they are only out to defend their jobs rather than defend the rights of their citizens, which are and have been under severe assault from Yaoundé since when Um Nyobe became spokesperson for Southern Cameroons independence in 1959 with his "What the Cameroons People Want," twist of a speech—for Um was never a true indigene of the Southern Cameroons to have spoken on their behalf. Our lawyers, regardless of their leanings—either towards SCNC, or towards UNO State of Cameroon, or towards SDF must understand that in law precedence matters and they will, in any court of law find it hard to sideline Fon Dinka and Ambazonia who have, by every measure exhausted all domestic and international remedies that make the UN Plebiscite of 1961, and thanks too to the fact that intransigence (mis)-led Cameroun to fail implementing UN Resolution 1608 of April 21, 1961, and which the UNO State commemorated last April 21, to once again try talking sense to Cameroun politicians that they have no right to govern Ambazonia or portions of it.

When in 1954 our politicians in the then Eastern House of Assembly in Nigeria did not like that representation, they simply invoked "The Doctrine of Benevolent Neutrality," walked out of the Assembly and constituted theirs in Beua. Our Learned Colleagues and Politicians of today should stop this begging Yaoundé business with ultimatums and pleas and simply demand that all our Parliamentarians should withdraw from Yaoundé on or before a certain date or cease being Parliamentarians and let us move on. I think Yaoundé has assaulted me and humiliated me as Part-time lecturer for eight years in Bambili, besides refusing to take advice and converting the same to evidence of secession to know that any push would not only flip me over but would lead me to invoke the wrath of God on them. I am still poised, level-headed and respecting my seniors in this struggle, hoping that Almighty God would give us reason to hope for a better future without human serum being spattered on the grounds—for that is what I'm smelling right now! I'm smelling blood and our learned colleagues are failing to avert the disaster!

The bigger and more judicious bet has been placed in the laps of Yaoundé officials by HRH Fon Dinka. I think giving Biya six months is a stretch and a direct assault if not sabotage by domestic forces of what Fon Dinka hopes to accomplish sooner. However, in both cases—that of the lawyers and even Fon Dinka, I truly wonder who said Ambazonia must attain independence only by federating or confederating and worse, that we have to be the ones begging for that to happen. United States President Ronald Reagan once said "to prepare for peace, prepare for war!" Our misplacement of facts and priorities would end up leading us into a disaster. It is my fervent hope, without fear or favor that the UN Secretariat under the leadership of Ban Ki-moon would resolve this matter, hopefully, peacefully and that Ambazonians and Cameroonians shall continue to live peacefully as sovereign states without any federation or confederation. Those clamoring for yet another federation or even confederation should justify their position by telling us how Yaoundé shall ever be trusted since they violated the terms of the first federation and have never taken our advice and complaints seriously. Our layers and politicians are hereby reminded that in law precedence does matter and as long as Ambazonia is still talking, that is what matters. Secondly, as long as the plebiscite was under violation and Yaoundé filed false claims willingly and knowingly in trying to steal Bakassi from us and thereby legalizing her illegal position in Ambazonia, by demanding Yaoundé goes back to her boundary at independence, international law has already resolved the matter. This is so, especially since in law, nothing legal can come out of a previous violation. Those clamoring for another federation are displaying us as double fools and as lawless as well as people who like to remain stateless. Bottom-line: our lawyers need to forget about losing their jobs and re-read the history of the abuses and domestic and international legal victories secured by Ambazonia and SCNC/SCAPO before daring to make statements about the future of this course. If they continue to misrepresent fact, they shall not only actually lose their jobs for good, but shall also face indictment for aiding and abetting crimes against humanity when the future emerging from the shadows of anachronism to become a living reality as it sure would.

Justice M. Mbuh

PhD, (Peace Studies/Economics) IUB, Bamenda

MA, Int'l Relations (Law and Conflicts), USC, Columbia, SC, USA

MEd, Education/Economics, USC, Columbia, SC, USA

BSc, Economics, ABU, Zaria, Nigeria.

Author of:

1.      Inside Contemporary Cameroun Politics, (2005) Authorhouse, Inc.

2.      International Law and Conflicts: Resolving Border and Sovereignty Disputes in Africa. iUniverse, 2004.

 

BREAKING NEWS: Anglophone Lawyers give 6 months ultimatum for a revisit of re-unification terms

Added by Cameroon Daily Journal on May 9, 2015.
Saved under BREAKING NEWS, NATIONAL NEWS
Tags: BREAKING: Anglophone Lawyers give 6 months ultimatum for a revisit of re-unification terms, Mankon bAMENDA, teaser

Share the post "BREAKING NEWS: Anglophone Lawyers give 6 months ultimatum for a revisit of re-unification terms"

7

Cross section of Anglophone lawyers in the meeting hall of St. Joseph Catholic Church, Mankon, Bamenda

Nyingchuo Hilary, May 09, 2015
Cameroon Journal, Bamenda  – Over 700 Common Law lawyers meeting in the city of Bamenda today, Saturday May 9, have demanded for a return to a federal system of government in Cameroon.

Their request is contained in a resolution of the 'All Anglophone Lawyers' conference' that held at the St. Joseph's Cathedral, Mankon, Bamenda. The lawyers issued a six months ultimatum to the Paul Biya gov't; "Failure to act within the said time," the lawyers said "will give us room to take the matter to the Supreme Court acting as the Constitutional Council. Any feet-dragging from the court, they said, "will warrant us to engage in international jurisdictions," Barrister Bobga Hamony briefed the Cameroon Journal at the venue.

"It is time to go back to the drawing table and look at the terms of the union binding Southern Cameroonians to La Republique du Cameroon because we think that the union has not worked as was intended." Bobga said.
"Recent happenings in this country have pointed to the fact that the Yaoundé authorities want to completely erode the common law system and we are not going to see that happen. With the bi-jural system in Cameroon, we think that the North West and the South West regions of this country should practice the common law and the francophone regions practice the civil law system," Bobga emphasized.

He added that at the conference, they all agreed that no submissions will be done in the "French language in courts within the Anglophone part of this country."

The Anglophone lawyers argue in the resolution that a federal system of government is the only way in the present dispensation to uphold the Anglo Saxon values of Anglophone Cameroon which are be gradually eroded. The lawyers equally decried the systematic erosion of the Anglo Saxon educational system, adding that "it is time for records to be set straight for a peaceful coexistence of all Cameroonians."

Among the lawyers present were prominent shakers and movers of the Anglophone legal profession, including the two former Bar Council presidents; Sama Francis, Eta Bisong Jr., and current President of the General Assembly, Ntumfor Nico Halle.

• Egha Ephraim Azia

At last the most expected resolution is out. Kudos to the Anglophone Lawyers for this milestone decision but know and be on the guard that six months is too long for money to change hands and the language of Anglophone lawyers changing. I remember the historic meeting at Mont Mary and today the Anglophone lawyers have taken the bull by the horn. We are behind you solidly.

• Kamarun Shinny

No matter how long the night might take the sun shall finally rise

• KmerBornAndShy

Great to see the Anglophone lawyers standing for themselves. What this means for all anglophones…, let the story unfold.

 

THE LEGACY OF AMBAZONIA 
(UN Trust Territory of British Cameroons):
The Parliamentary Opposition, ...forged for itself a new role noteworthy for its dignity; and the government,..never attempted to withdraw...the legal recognition that was its due. Thanks to this...West Cameroon has won for itself the prestige of being the one place in West Africa (if not all of Africa) where democracy, in the British style, has lasted longest in its genuine form. 
--Prof. Bernard Nsukika Fonlon, The Task of Today, p. 9