BY ATIA TILARIOUS AZOHNWI
Renowned peace crusader, Ntumfor Barrister Nico Halle appears to be the man of the moment as the current crisis in the North West and South West Region takes a fresh twist.
With tempers flaring, Ntumfor Nico Halle has remained on his knees, begging God to do a miracle for Cameroon.
He has since pleaded with the Head of State, President Paul Biya to urgently create a Justice, Truth and Reconciliation Commission to diffuse the mounting tensions in the country.
Ntumfor Nico Halle was reacting to The SUN newspaper following the events of last Friday, September 22 that saw mass protests across most Anglophone towns and villages. The SUN contacted the peace crusader, who is presently in Yaoundé to attend a session of the Bilingualism and Multiculturalism committee where he is member.
Ntumfor insisted that the Justice, Truth and Reconciliation Commission should be an all-inclusive dialogue forum where leaders of the strike that has paralysed the North West and South West Regions for almost a year now should sit alongside honest and positive-thinking Cameroonians and be able to resolve all the festering tensions in the country. He adds that those in the diaspora should not be left out.
Following the arrest of Anglophone activists beginning January 2017, Ntumfor Barrister Nico Halle is about the only right-thinking Cameroonian who came out to plead with the Head of state to grant a general amnesty to all those arrested for peace to reign. His subsequent appointment as member of the Bilingualism and Multiculturalism committee did not dampen his crusade. Fortunately, a presidential order last August 30 discontinued court proceedings against the activists and over 50 have since been released. But a handful of the activists, including Mancho Bibixy are still being detained in Yaoundé and other prison centres in the South West and North West Regions.
The distinguished Barrister who has put in over three decades of practice scored another point when proceedings against the clergy before courts in Bamenda and Buea were discontinued.
As part of his peace crusade, the president of the General Assembly, GA, of the Cameroon Bar Association, Ntumfor Barrister Nico Halle has intensified his plea that the law suits brought against Roman Catholic bishops and the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon, PCC, be ended.
been plagued by socio-political tension for almost a year now
Contacted to state how far he had gone with his twin campaign for the case against the Church leaders to be dropped as well as general amnesty to be granted arrested Anglophones and those who have fled the country due to the current unrest, Ntumfor Nico Halle who’s also an internationally-acclaimed peace crusader, said he has been on his kneels since the ongoing campaign began in January.
Nico Halle’s lone concern has not only been the situation of the detainees whom he has been pleading with the Head of State to pardon, but also with the religious leaders (catholic bishops, priests, Rev. sisters and PCC Moderator) who were dragged to court in April by a group that called itself the “consortium of parents whose children are in the various mission academic institutions.”
“My prayer is that while the issue of general amnesty should be considered for all the Anglophone detainees, the law suits that were brought against the religious leaders should also be withdrawn…” said the revered legal consultant, before adding that “my wish is to also see that an enabling environment is created for fresh, frank dialogue to take place.”
Ntumfor Nico Halle, who is equally an election expert, began appealing to President Paul Biya to free all Anglophones arrested in the wake of the ongoing crisis in the North West and South West Regions in January.
Nico Halle is known to have said that his interest is for Cameroon to move forward in peace, love and togetherness.
“I am doing this impartially, objectively and I don’t have any interest in it. I am doing this using peace, dialogue and the bible. I am not saying that I am perfect, but I will continue doing this, despite my human shortcomings. I will not rest. I will continue begging and praying that peace returns.”
In June, Ntumfor Nico Halle, who in May 2016 celebrated 30 years of legal practice, also came out strongly against perpetrators of what he called “generalised violence and arson attacks” that in the recent past became recurrent especially in the North West Region. Reacting to the growing phenomenon of arson then in an interview granted this tabloid, Ntumfor Nico Halle, did not mince his words in denouncing authors of such acts.
The peace crusader, who has since the beginning of the Anglophone crisis, never stopped preaching the need for harmony and peaceful coexistence, also expressed profound sadness over the case of a teenage girl in Bamenda who suffered a machete attack while on her way to sit the practical session of the GCE exams. “I am deeply saddened by the situation in the North West and South West regions, but in the North West in particular. People have been taking advantage of the strike to cause a lot of trouble.
“I think that peace ought to return…my prayer is that the people of the North West should be vigilant and ensure that peace returns to this region”, pleaded Barrister Nico Halle.
The Man Nico Halle
Ntumfor Barrister Nico Halle is a renowned Advocate of Human Rights and Liberties, Good Governance and Democracy and also a seasoned Elections Monitoring Expert. As a pioneer member of the defunct National Elections Observatory of Cameroon (ONEL), he successfully supervised and controlled the 2002 Twin Municipal and Legislative Elections in Cameroon, the 2004 Presidential Elections in Cameroon and the 2007 Twin Municipal and Legislative Elections in Cameroon. He has also monitored elections in other countries and was part of the African Union Observer Mission that monitored the Second Round Presidential Elections in Zimbabwe which held on June 27, 2008, on the invitation of the Chairman of the African Union following his track record in this domain.
He has received several National and International distinctions, amongst which are many Man of the Year Awards in different spheres. He also gives lectures in several Institutions of Higher learning and professional establishments. He is often invited as guest speaker at several workshops, symposiums and conferences both nationally and internationally.
He has trained and continues to train several Intellectual Property Attorneys who operate within OAPI.
Nico Halle has competence in the following areas: Intellectual Property, Telecommunications/Internet Technology Law, Corporate Law, Mining Law, Advocate of Human Rights, Maritime Law, Alternative Dispute Resolution (Arbitration), Civil Aviation Law, Banking and Finance Law, Natural Resources, Real Estate, Commercial Law, Mergers, Conveyancing, Succession and Wills, Family Counselling, Privatisation, Insurance and Re-insurance and Contract Law.