By NOELA EBOB BISONG
The saga over a symbolic key to the Limbe Chiefdom which was handed to SDF National Chair, John Fru Ndi by the Paramount Chief-designate of Limbe, has finally been laid to rest. This follows a meeting which held at the Mokindi Chiefs Palace on Saturday, June 22 2019, where the Limbe Chiefs received a letter of apology from the Paramount Chief-designate of Limbe in person.
According to a communiqué signed by the President of the Limbe Chiefs Conference, Ndiko Fonderson Henry on June 24, 2019, he informed the public that after Saturday’s deliberations and considering the importance of peace and harmony to reign amongst the Limbe Chiefs Conference, the Paramount Stool of Limbe and the population in general, “we unanimously agreed to pardon our son and brother Mr. John Manga Williams and to lay the matter to rest”.
The Chiefs also called on all who might have found any flaw on either of the parties concerning the symbolic key issue, “to consider it as an issue of the past”.
The President, Chief Ndiko Fonderson Henry, on behalf of his peers, appreciated the composure and understanding of their “son and brother”, John Elufa Manga Williams throughout the crisis period (over a week).
According to the letter of apology tendered by John Elufa Manga Williams, Paramount Chief-designate of Limbe, dated June 21, 2019 and addressed to the Limbe Sub-Divisional Conference of Traditional Rulers, Manga Williams apologized, following his handing-over of a symbolic key of “the Royal Chiefdom of Limbe” to the chairman of the SDF party, John Fru Ndi, on June 13, 2019.
In the letter which also copied the Minister of Territorial Administration, South West Governor, the Senior Divisional Officer for Fako as well as the Divisional Officers of Limbe I, II and III, John Manga Williams agreed that the action which he took is the sole preserve of the ‘City Manager’ and or the entire body of traditional rulers. He also noted that he neither consulted the government delegate nor the council of traditional rulers for their ‘blessings’, before engaging in the gesture. He acknowledged the fact that his action, according to what the municipal authorities had termed last June 16 in their declaration, is misguided, and he regrets the embarrassment his action might have caused any individual or group of persons.
It is hoped that while the key issue has been laid to rest, John Elufa Manga Williams will continue to enjoy the amity of his peers and other stakeholders in the city of Limbe, as he awaits his coronation, to take place on…no one knows.