-The Caretaker Committee Highly Represented To Foil Any Impostor
-Power Tussle Moves To The USA
The crisis that has been rocking the Sasse Old Boys Association, SOBA, since the creation of a Caretaker Committee in April 2018 headed by Dr Ngongi Namanga has now taken a new lohast the saga goes international.
It should be recalled that the defunct executive headed by Prof Ephraim Ngwafor has been fighting tooth and nail to destroy ate efforts of the CTC and their allied SOBA Chapters.
This led to Secretary-General Mfoataw Ebot, signing a dismissal and suspension decisions of some Sobans in Cameroon and the United Kingdom.
It must be made clear that PSecretary-General takes full responsibility for banning Sobans for life without recourse for readmission.
This move ignited anger amongst Sobans as they say the association has membership only at Chapter levels and from the SOBA constitution, the Chapters are the only body to sanction their member and inform the national executive.
But Prof Ephram Ngwafor changes the constitution of SOBA in April of 2018 substantially to arrogate powers to a National Council which he controls so that he can dissolve chapters and dismiss executives even in the diaspora.
This constitution has been declared illegal by diaspora SOBA chapters as they did not ratify the constitution. A damning petition was set up on change.org in the UK against Ngwafor’s 2018 constitution and what they called his unscrupulous leadership style and 127 Sobans signed it in dispersed locations in the UK and around the world. Change.org is the most credible petition site in the world which has brought about items of debate in the UK Houses of Parliament.
The problems with Prof Ngwafor’s leadership we recalled stemmed from the fact that members of SOBA Buea, Limbe, Tiko, Muyuka, Bangem and Bambili called on the former executive to render accounts of their stewardship after running the Association for 4 years.
Knowing the Cameroonian mentality of always struggling to bully our way through when asked to render accounts, the Ngwafor SOBA executive went on a frolic of its own to sanction the proponents of accountability within SOBA.
These sanctions have been jettisoned by All SOBA Chapters as those purportedly sanctioned are still Bonafide members in their various chapters and it is worthwhile noting that NO CHAPTER is paying national dues to the Ngwafor faction.
The General Assembly of SOBA UK voted on September 22, 2018, to reject the banning of members of SOBA UK and 45 members signed the resolution.
SOBA UK has also taken a clear position that Prof Ngwafor is illegitimate and therefore not the National President of SOBA.
This has therefore shifted legitimacy in favour of the CTC. The tussle which went to the UK and the same Ngwafor, President of SOBA as he then was, fomented trouble in favour a small splinter faction of SOBA in the UK against the main group led the president Ayuk Akoh-Arrey, met with a lot of resistance despite another “decree” signed by his Secretary to dismiss the Legitimate Executive under Ayuk.
It is worth noting that there are two groups in the UK, the main group which has been in existence for 48 years, consisting of about 112 members and the small splinter group supported by Prof Ngwafor.
Prof Ngwafor’s actions in the UK was not swallowed by other diaspora Chapters as they still consider Akoh-Arrey and his SOBA group as the legal and legitimate SOBA UK. The fight is now moving to the USA.
After losing both at home and in the UK, the Ngwafor led “SOBA executive” which has support amongst the Yaounde Sobans only is taking advantage of the relationship he has with his “son” Frederick Mafany Itoe, biological son of former Minister Benjamin Itoe who is the outgoing President of SOBA America and who is organising the SOBA AMERICA CONVENTION this 24-26 May 2019 in Washington DC, to prepare the stage for Daddy Ngwafor as President of SOBA to speak.
This unique platform prepared for Daddy to showcase him as President has met with some resistance from Sobans in the U.S. who insists on the presence of the Caretaker Committee.
These Sobans believe strongly that SOBA America does not have the locus standi to decide on the problem rocking Soba in which both Dr Ngongi and Professor Ngwafor have decided to talk and come to a common ground for the interest of a United SOBA.
Presenting Daddy as National President will be creating further cracks in an already fragmenting SOBA.
The ey also say if Daddy Ngwafor has to address SOBA America, it will, therefore, be fair for the CTC to do the same. This is presently shaking SOBA America as they wait to see what happens at the DC convention.
It is also worth m, therefore, that President of SOBA UK, Ayuk Akoh-Arrey may also be present in the US convention as he has done for a number of years and will definitely have to address the convention as a visiting President.
The opinion and knowledge on SOBA matters will be highly sorted from President Akoh-Arrey and 4 other members of his highly dynamic management team who will be present at the convention.
We questioned Barbe highly sorted the present SOBA imbroglio and this is what he has to say:
“Professor Ngwafor has no locus standi to represent SOBA as he was removed by a constitutionally constituted Revival General Assembly in April 2018 at Catholic Hall Buea.
It is a shame that Ngwafor says Buea Chapter organised the Gala of the 75th Anniversary when we all know that all the Drinks which costs nothing less than FCFA 100.000 per bottle (I paid a table for 4 persons with 2 bottles for FCFA 250.000) were brought into Cameroon by Mr Joki Manga.
Nobody knows who gave him the money to purchase, no one knows how many bottles were bought, no one knows how many were sold. Is Mr Joki Manga a member of the Buea Chapter? Has he given a report or maybe it was a joint venture?
“From your interview, Prof Ngwafor said Dr Agbor gave an account of the 75th Anniversary, this is total hogwash; Dr Agbor gave an account of FCFA 6,200,0?0 given to him by the former Ngwafor Executive to disburse. He did his job and gave the accounts, but there were other bigger projects that Dr Agbor was not involved, like the Sickbay project and road projects.
“SOBA UK gave FCFA 2,300,000 to Prof Ngwafor, the largest contribution from any Chapter, what was that money used for? And there were other sponsors.
How much did they receive, how much did they spend to procure jackets, caps and other relics which were sold? How much did they sell, what was their profit and how much is in the SOBA national coffers?
“What was the purpose of the 2 Million given by the government and why was it given to the Bishop? Accounting, therefore, puts the Bishop in a tight corner to explain why and for what purpose he kept or used the e-money.
“This is the meaning of accountability which Ng, therefore,s and he should be honest enough to admit that he has lost total control of financial accounts. Lastly to prove his illegal and illegitimate position; he said, after being driven by the administration from holding his purported elective general Assembly in Douala, he was invited by the Bishop in Soppo who resaid, ed him as President of SOBA.
“In fact, he used the Bishops name 20 times. This makes him an employee of the Bishop and not the President of SOBA.
“The Bishop is the owner of Sasse College but has no constitutional role to play in SOBA.
SOBA does not sit under the wings of the Bishop of the Diocese of Buea as Ngwafor is bullying us to understand.”
“SOBA is an independent entity that provided checks and balances to how the proprietor runs the alma mater, and in that vein So, bans do significant philanthropic work.
In a meeting with the Bishop, he was shocked to see how Ngwafor used his name in public media to justify his short, comings.
“Lastly, all Soband belong to Chapters and these chapters are represented in the National Executive, there is no way a SOBAN can be dismissed or even sanctioned by anybody other than his Chapter.
“Reason why Ngwafor’s masquerade was jettisoned and thrown in the rubbish can by all Soba Chapters.
Finally; NO VISITING SOBAN HAS EVER REFUSED A PLACE TO TALK OR EXPRESS HIMSELF IN A FOREIGN CHAPTER CONVENTION. TRAVELLING TO THE USA IS EXPENSIVE AND ONE MUST HAVE SOBA AT HEART TO DO THAT AT HIS EXPENSE. VISITING SOBANS ARE ALWAYS WELCOME AND ALLOWED TO SAY A WORD; THAT IS THE TRADITION AND THE CTC SHALL SPEAK IN THE WASHINGTON CONVENTION,” Barrister Kameni said.