The Secretary General of the Central Committee of the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement was accompanied to the deceased’s Nkolfoulou residence by members of the General secretariat.
Jean Nkuété was bearer of President Paul Biya, National President of the CPDM’s message of condolence to the family. At the home of late Ni John Fru Ndi, Chairman of the Social Democratic Front who died on 12 June 2023, the atmosphere was morose, telling of the void felt by the family. In hushed tones, Jean Nkuete first spoke with the late emblematic chairman of one of Cameroon’s opposition parties’ children, as the rest of the delegation that accompanied him watched.
Having heard the sad news, the SG did not wait for the burial program to be released, but rushed to sympathise with Ni John Fru Ndi’s nuclear and political family. In his word to the family, the SG described Fru Ndi as a statesman, the kind that was rare to find in what he called the ‘grand west’. “I must note that Chairman Fru Ndi was a calibre of man that we lack in the grand west, statesmen. A statesman is one who is ready to sacrifice himself for the common good” Jean Nkuété said. He added that Fru Ndi had understood that, a statesman’s trade in stock was peace and this explained why he distanced himself from anything that endangered this commodity. To Jean Nkuete, “a normal politician is one who has neither hatred nor grudges and who can make his opponents of yesterday his friends of today” reason why Ni John had said were left to him, the crisis in the North West and South West regions would not have occurred.
Rummaging through history, the SG recalled that the SDF Chairman had applied guidelines and policies from President Biya’s book. Also, he said Fru Ndi had been one of the first people he had visited upon his arrival at the Central Committee and together they had set up a model of collaboration which privileged the reign of peace. Having witnessed the chaos that rocked the West and Littoral regions in the 60s, peace was a non negotiable value and which John Fru Ndi had grown to cherish. For this reason, the CPDM felt it was a duty to acknowledge his efforts by standing by the families he has left behind. “It is not one’s longevity that gives him value but the actions he took to ameliorate the conditions of his compatriots” Jean Nkuete said, concluding that the CPDM will stand by the family till the burial of the great statesman.
Speaking on behalf of the family, Benjamin Fru, alongside his sister Jennifer Ngwe Ndi, Children of the late Chairman, thanked the SG for coming to commiserate with them and beseeched him to convey their gratitude to the National President, saying that their father’s rich legacy would live on. Members of the SG’s suit comprised Minister Ibrahim Talba Malla, Prof. Ngolle Ngolle Elvis, Mr. Jean Fabien Monkam, Prof. Celestin Ndembi Yembe, Mr. Ferdinand Oyono, Mr. Badel Ndanga Ndinga and Mr. Fru Jonathan amongst other members of the General Secretariat. Also present was Adolfe Lele Lafrique, Governor of the North West region as well as militants of the SDF like the party’s Vice president, Hon. Joshua Osih.
Claudette CHIN