By Nchendzengang Tatah
1987 was the year Fon Martin Buzie Asanji FOBUZIE II of Chomba would begin his ranch in his kingdom, some 9 km from Bamenda, then the Provincial Capital of the North West.
As a civil servant in Wum, an over two-hour drive from Bamenda, Fon Fobuzie had found an interest in husbandry. He was certain that the hills of Chomba, which he had selected, would be ideal to start the new business idea in 1986.
With a loan from FONADER, a state-run agro-business financer, he hit for the Bui Division alongside two others from August 17 to 20 to get the opening set of animals. It was during this time that he was further told of how rich Nyos was in cattle.
Nyos had a lake in it. Scientists will later find out that Lake Nyos occupies a volcanic crater formed by a
violent explosion only a few hundred years ago. It is found in the Fungom subdivision of Menchum.
Wum is some 48 km from Nyos on the Bamenda-Ndop-Kumbo-Nkambe axis. It would have taken Fon Fobuzie and companions an over one hour journey from there to Nyos on August 21 when they had planned to journey and spend a minimum of two days.
However, Fon Fobuzie will rather board back for Bamenda after being warned in an August 20 dream in Wum by his late father to go home. Had they hit the road to Nyos, they probably would have counted amongst at least 1700 people sustained by a US Interior Ministry Geological survey to have died by a gaseous activity of the lake beginning at 9:30 pm that day.
The report explained that the atmosphere had been usual in Nyos until that night when a bubbling sound was heard and a white cloud was observed to emit from the water body. Over 3500 livestock were destroyed. Life has not been the same in Nyos since then. The survivors still await the government’s full aid, 38 years later, stated the North West Regional Assembly President, Prof. Fru Angwafo III, to Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute in Bamenda on 4th July 2025.
While others who narrowly escaped it have joined their ancestors already, like Fon Fobuzie, he left behind an autobiographical piece including this narration marking his 50th anniversary on the Chomba royal tool titled, “Episodes: some myths and mysteries surrounding my reign.”
