Editorial-The Case Of Agbor Felix Nkongho And UB: The Mighty Anglo-Saxon Education Has Fallen

Authorities at the university of Buea have just proven to the world that the assimilation of the Anglo-Saxon system of education, culture and practices is on high gear and they are there to make it happen. Not long after they dismissed Barrister Agbor Felix Nkongho from the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences in the institution, for asking students in an examination to write on the Anglophone crisis, we saw on the internet, similar questions asked on two occasions in the University of Yaoundé 2, with no objection.  In fact, what the Vice-Chancellor and the entire Disciplinary Committee did is a typical way of a Francophone setting where, at the mention of the hierarchy, every knee bows. Francophones are too afraid to object an order from any boss, be it wrong or right, all they say is yes sir, ‘a vos ordres’.

It was in the place of the UB administrators to school the Minister of Higher education, Jacques Fame Ndongo, that such a question was a square peg in a square hole especially as it focused on contemporary issues. The Anglophone armed conflict is being treated in other universities in the world especially countries like Canada and the US, taking their precious time to document happenings, why then should UB suffer a man who was trying to be an exception? Ah! They are afraid to lose their jobs or positions.

A letter dismissing Barrister Agbor Felix signed by the Vice Chancellor , Horace Manga on Wednesday May 6, 2020 was issued the same day the lecturer declined to answer present at the disciplinary council, citing procedural flaws. It did not even take hours for the decision to be carried out-an indication that it was well prepared ahead of time. The learned Barrister was dismissed since from the tone in which the Higher Education Minister addressed the UB VC on the issue.

Before the official announcement was made public on May 7, 2020, a message attributed to the Registrar of the institution, Ernest Molua, a man of doubtful moral character who is noted for spreading xenophobic attacks on students from the northwest region, read:

AGBOR BALLA DISMISSED AS INSTRUCTOR FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF BUEA

“Mr Nkongho Felix Agbor Balla has been officially dismissed from the University of Buea, as an INSTRUCTOR.

His public showmanship with a document widely circulating in the social media seeking cheap publicity is inconsequential, therewith citing texts that do not pertain to him.

INSTRUCTORS, known in French as ‘MONITORS’ are not personel of the Ministry of Higher Education; and neither recognized by the Ministry of Public Service or the Ministry of Finance.

Mr Nkongho Felix Agbor Balla does not have a matricule number, hence, not a formal employee of the State. He is likeable to a PTA teacher in Basic Education.

As an INSTRUCTOR he was hired in 2015 for a two-year contract renewable twice. His contract was never renewed. However, the University of Buea in its magnanimity extended to him a verbal gentleman collaboration, which he finally abused by intoxicating 17 and 18 year old Students on his political showmanship, in a course seemingly unqualified to teach on “Political & Constitutional History of Cameroon”.

Being invited to a Disciplinary Panel, was a privilege, UB accorded on humanitarian grounds, since he had ran out of contract.

The University of Buea, no longer recognizes him as an INSTRUCTOR. It is also important to note that Mr Nkongho Felix Agbor Balla registered since 2015 as a PhD student. He has failed all his exams and abandoned the programme. Based on the University regulations, he has lost his student status.

As of date, the University of Buea does not have any formal relationship with Mr Nkongho Felix Agbor Balla, and anyone dealing with him is doing so at his or her own risks”.

Molua L. Ernest, PhD
Associate Professor
Registrar”

The choice of words and character assassination shows that it was not an administrator talking, but someone who had personally grudges with the Barrister.

The University of Buea, once known as The Place To Be has become a setting where some Lecturers openly insult persons coming from the northwest, calling them as ‘Graffis’, an education institution that has been transformed into tribal heritage, where Ph.D. students from one tribe have to be separated from Ph.D. students from another tribe, where Lecturers tell students they will fail them and actually do so, where lecturers trade, marks with sex, the list is long.

It is the preservation of the foundation of the same university, that Barrister Agbor Felix Nkongho, Wilfred Tassang, and a host of others fought for in the 1990s and 2016. This same assimilation and interference in the English subsystem of education is one of the core issues that brought about the Anglophone uprising and now the armed conflict.

Also Inside:

I Will Not Be Attending The Disciplinary Hearing Scheduled For May 6, 2020- Bar.Agbor Balla