Esu community tells Menchum SDO he won’t impose Fon on them
The Esu Cultural and Development Association caretaker committee organized a press conference in Douala on Saturday, June 17, in reaction to a communique alleged to be from the Menchum SDO, calling for applications from persons wishing to occupy the throne after the passing of Fon Kum-a-Chuo II over a year a go.
The Esu Association members spoke bitterly, noting that they chose to respond through a press outing because the Senior Divisional Officer, Abdoullahi Alliou, had turned down their requests to hold talks with him in person.
Doubts were even raised on the authenticity of the communique circulating online “It seems like someone else wrote that communique using the SDO’s stamp and signature”. The chairman of the Esu Cultural and Development Association, Rev. Dr. Mih Clement Kum, said it did not look normal for the document to be written in the third-person narration “The Senior Divisional Officer for Menchum […] he calls on the members of the Royal Family…” an excerpt of the communique read.
Rev Dr. Mih Clement said if the SDO was the author, the pronoun “I” would have been used and not “He”.
The decree quoted in the document in an attempt to justify the SDO’s move, was equally deemed inappropriately used. The Association’s legal counsel Barrister Kum Charles argued that it was not in the SDO’s place to intervene in matters concerning enthronement in their village. He said as a second-class Fondom, it was within the powers of the Minister of Territorial Administration to intervene. Thus articles 08, 09, and 10 of decree No.77/245 of 15 July 1977, were wrongly interpreted according to the lawyer.
The fact that the notables in charge were not consulted by the SDO, also violated Article 11 of the same law, Barrister Kum Charles pointed out.
The Esu Association gave the Senior Divisional Officer two months to react to their outing, either taking their grievances into consideration or rejecting it. “If he rejects, the Governor will be consulted, and if it persists, we will take it to court” the chairman of the Esu Cultural Association declared.
Fon of Esu Kum-a-Chuo II and his wife were brutally assassinated on March 9, 2022, while returning from Weh, where they had gone to enthrone a new chief. The Esu people say they have never witnessed such a “sacrilegious” incident in their kingdom.
The community has been in mourning till today, as they wait for the right moment to enthrone a new ruler.
The Kingdom of Esu is found in the Fungon subdivision, Menchum division of the North West region. It is located some 89km from Bamenda.
