At stormy land dispute crisis meeting: Boganjo Traditional Council chair accuses Tiko DO of terrorising population.

He, alongside other indigenes of the village, made the accusations against the administrative authority, Monday April 15, 2024. 

This was during a stormy crisis meeting held in the presence of the Senior Divisional Officer, SDO, of Fako, Viang Mekala. 

Addressing the Fako SDO at the meeting, the Chairman of the Boganjo Traditional Council, Martin Njie, was blunt on what he insisted needs to be done to bring peace to the village. 

"...whatever solution you want to offer to this problem will not work because the DO sitting here is part of the problem. He is a green snake in the green grass," the Chairman claimed. 

Martin Njie reminded the SDO that the Mutengene Court area has five villages, including Bokwa, Boganjo, Bwenga I, Bwenga II and Foe. 

He expressed regrets that the DO is rather working with the Chiefs of the other villages but “says there is no Chief in Boganjo”.

The Senior Divisional Officer, Viang Mekala, was in the village to ensure a return to normalcy after vigilantes in the village kidnapped and tortured one of the villagers. 

Litake Mowanga Mbua was accused by the vigilante group of selling village land. He was homologated as a Chief in 2019, but the decision was rescinded in 2022.

Taking the floor during the crisis meeting, one Comfort N. told the SDO that for about two weeks now, the villagers have not had peace, “because a group of men has been going around the village, harassing people and threatening to rape women”.

The perpetrators, she said, always insist they are from the office of the Divisional Officer. 

"They always come in their numbers, beating people around and forcing us to run into our houses because our Chief always advised us that when such incidents happen, we should run and rally at the palace. They brutalise us, insult our Chief and beat farmers," she narrated.

Enter Fako SDO

After listening to the villagers, the SDO reassured them that Cameroon is a country of laws and that the laws would always be upheld to protect law-abiding citizens.

The administration, he said, is there to listen and resolve their worries, rather than allowing citizens to take the laws into their own hands. 

"Cameroon is a State of law...you have to work with the administration to preserve peace. If we have issues, we have the right quarters to report our problems, because we are a civilised people," the civil administrator told the population.

He challenged individuals who are agitating, either to carry out revenge attacks or cause havoc, to desist from such acts and allow the law to take its due course. 

While acknowledging the tense atmosphere in the village, which had resulted in citizens living in fear, the SDO reminded them to stay calm while the administration works to resolve the problems plaguing the village. 

"All agitators should stop because hierarchy is aware of the problem, reason why they sent me here…," Viang Mekala noted.

Victim of Sunday's attack hospitalised

The problems in Boganjo village came to the fore on Sunday April 13, 2024, after a vigilante group from the village, attacked Litake Mowanga Mbua, accusing him of facilitating the displacement of bulldozers for a road project in Boganjo. 

He was brutalised and paraded on the streets of Mutengene, en route to the Police Station, where he was to be detained. 

However, according to his lawyer, Barrister Nkea Emmanuel, the police could not detain him because his state of health was poor.

Litake Mowanga Mbua was subsequently ferried to a health facility, where he was resuscitated before being taken to the Buea Regional Hospital annex. He is currently undergoing treatment following the torture.

Enter Tiko mayor 

Addressing the villagers, the mayor of the Tiko Council, Chief Peter Mesoso III, said the council was merely interested in developing a road to ease the movement of farmers and truck drivers facing obstructions.

The work on the road started on Saturday April 13, 2024. It was stopped when the vigilantes came thinking it was Mowanga Mbua, who was executing the job. 

According to Barrister Nkea, when the vigilantes were informed that the job was being executed by the Tiko Council, “they left and came back on Sunday with machetes and sticks. They invaded the residence of Muwanga, kidnapped him for some hours, assaulted him and brought him back”.

“…we alerted administrative authorities of the region. That was when he was brought out and taken to the police station in Mutengene,” he said. 

Several attempts by our reporter to get the DO's reaction to the accusations since Wednesday April 17, were futile.