A refreshing fresh perspective on who founded the very resource-rich Ndian which contrasts with the impoverishment of the population and the politics and scheming behind the erection of Mundemba as the divisional headquarters. Another master class from the irreducible Dr. Aja Oro.
Ndian was never in any degree, a Ngolo, Balue, and Batanga clan as often falsely projected on both the local and the international media platforms by their less informed immigrant natives in the diaspora who are blindsided by an overly introverted unhinged delusions of grandeur. This ‘Neo-tribalistic behaviour’ is despicable and unacceptable because, if they did not already know it, Ndian is a “Political Entity” belonging to Balondo, Barombi, Bakolle [Bamusso], Betika, and Bateka [Isangele].
To put things in better perspective, it is worth examining the anatomy of the name, “Ndian” which was erroneously given to the division, so they can be enlightened along with other Cameroonians about the origin of the name and the reasons why it is not reflecting the Balondo ‘Motif’ which was first proposed by Balondo, who are not only the pioneer settlers of the whole region, but are the people who have the most dependable knowledge of its historical development, per se.
On that note, a review of the Ancient Balondo Oral sources would undoubtedly reveal that a migrant Ibibio fisherman came in a dug-out canoe through a narrow creek which landed him on a piece of dry land or rather a tiny bushy and desolate beach where he set up a tent to rest for a few days. Nevertheless, after the time he planned to rest there had elapsed, he did not budge, having found the place suitable to establish a permanent settlement. Realistically, there was no doubt that his decision to stay was probably better than gambling away his time in search of more far-flung sea outlets that might have turned out to be fruitless over-ambitious expectations, pleasant only to the senses. Believe it or not, it was at that juncture that he purportedly said, “Ndi Ani”, or “Let me settle down here” that was literally bastardized as “Ndian.”
Over the years, more Nigerian migrant fishermen and a handful of Ngolo joined him to form a larger community called Ndian village in contemporary times. However, the few Ngolo people who lived there stayed on land, given that they were not adapted to a maritime way of life like the Nigerian fishermen, who frequently ventured out deeper into the creeks to catch fish. Briefly, the Ngolos and the rest of the natives presently identifying themselves as Oroko, who live atop hills 8000 feet above sea level, preferred to maintain their natural way of life as landlocked hillbillies up till today.
The Balondo oral accounts also confirmed unequivocally that though the Ibibio man may have named the place Ndian, he certainly was not the one, who gave the name to the desolate creek and water way presently known as the “Ndian River”. It was rather, the owners of the defunct “UAC” Agro-industrial company who did, upon realizing how convenient it was for them to transport their agricultural products to their boats that were anchored in the Calabar seaport waiting to ferry them across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe. Coincidentally, during my pubescent days in Ekondo-Titi, Mr. Kwaku [ Ngolo?] was the pilot of “The Rio”, the launch that did most of the transportation work.
Frankly, it was not just about Balondo’s fore-knowledge of the evolutionary history of the name of the division, it was also about Balondo’s ability to factually establish how historically they were the first to get there in about the 1150s during their Second Voyage from Akwa Akpa [Calabar] and how it then became necessary for the entire region to be called the Balondo region in pre-colonial and colonial times before even it became a political/administrative unit. Similarly, even though that had been the case, it is safe to add that the Balondo presence and territorial recognition as owners of the region was far more accentuated by the superior culture which they brought from their primordial home in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The culture was indeed considered very sophisticated by most southwest indigenous tribes, who were unquestionably desirous of the Balondo high culture, during which time, all of them borrowed the white shirt over the Esanja [wrapper] that borrowers call Sanja and Ekpang, a Balondo staple, while some others went farther to purchase the Matamu/Ekpe, Malle/nganya, Amekoko, Mosembe, and Nyamkpe societies etc. The latest of such acquisitions was implemented by the Narende-balue natives on April 16, 2010, when an old Balue man who came to Kumbe Balondo as a young man seeking greener pastures bought the Malle/elephant dance for his Narende folks.
To a greater extent, one could still advance the argument on how the Balondo superiority was not just limited to knowledge of history of the region and its cultural superiority, but noticeable in the political arena as well, in as much as the vast agro-industrial projects on its soil, had undeniably attracted the attention of the post-colonial Cameroon government under Ahidjo, whose administration quickly nationalized the flourishing plantations in the Balondo homeland which the Germans had precipitously abandoned after their defeat in World War1.
The Germans owned the CDC plantations while the British owned PAMOL [UAC]. These Agro-industrial giants have continued to thrive for almost a century in the Balondo homeland whose extremely fertile soils do support all kinds of agricultural ventures. It is important to note too that besides the inducement derived from Balondo fertile lands on which Pamol and CDC plantations still flourish, there were and still are several untapped natural resources found exclusively in the Balondo homeland that could have induced the Ahidjo administration to compensate the people by creating the new division of Ndongore with Ekondo-Titi as headquarters – separate from the conjoined Kumba division they were previously administered in.
Apparently, that situation did not bode well with the ungrateful, paranoid, and hyper vigilant bigoted politicians from the landlocked Rumpi Hill [8000 meters above sea level] who were at the forefront of politics at the time, for, they had immediately rushed back to Yaoundé to make the case against locating the division in the Balondo homeland so as to avoid a situation wherethe Balondo area would develop at a geometrical rate while the Ngolo/Balue/Batanga lands would do so at an arithmetical rate. Hence, to prevent that from happening they would bolster their aforementioned fallacious mathematical analysis with the myopic rationale of how making Mundemba the divisional headquarters would equalize development-asit would becomeurbanized withgovernment offices / workers/ businesses.
Under the circumstances, it would not be bad to think that it could have been their assumption that hopefully through such government investment there, it would generate a multiplier effectwhich would cause Mondembato become a sprawling city that would evidentlyabsorb those otherlandlocked backward villages situated on elevated topographies [Rumpi Hill] on the periphery of the Balondo semi-circle maritime lowlands, thereby modernizing them in the process.
Sadly, their presuppositions turned out to be mere magical thinking since the targeted remote villages which could have benefitted from the ‘civilizing influences’ of Mundemba were sparsely populated owing to most of the indigenes deserting them to go and work in numerous plantations in Cameroon. Alternatively, those who did not go but opted to serve in the capacity of farm hands for Balondo overlords were granted ‘citizenship rights’ in four Balondo-bakonja hometowns: Dibonda, Ekondo-Nene, Ekondo-Titi, and Kumbe. Other Balondo people still do not want them.
One would think that in the face of the huge setback they suffered in terms of low population density, coupled with the mammoth difficulties entailed in the transfer of seat of divisional government to the Mundemba hamlet, they would have given up. No! The plotters had ‘smelled blood’ and so wanted to go for the ‘kill’- which signified the total disenfranchisement of Balondo in a bid to empower their own people. The alleged plotters: Mbile, Obie, and Nwalipenja who never grew up or spent a single day in their inaccessible villages, but embraced them, albeit mere figments of their imaginations, certainly did not hide their ancient hatred for Balondo people.
Briefly, those “Three Amigos” were so adamant to achieve their devilish plot of a Ndian division with Mundemba as its headquarters that when they succeeded, their success which was meant to be kept under wraps for a while was surreptitiously leaked to the public including how they had popped several bottles of champagnes to celebrate their victory in Kumba not in Mundemba. Why did they not celebrate it in Mundemba?
On the contemporary plane, that very offensive, indignant and irreverent manifestation of a four- decade old dubious jubilation has curiously become an inter-generational festivity for the genetically itinerant Ngolo, Balue, and Batanga kinsmen who have persisted in hailing the illusory ‘victory’ of their predecessors with the mocking slogan, “Ndian the land of the Mbiles”- quite a misdirected attribute belonging to Balondo by right [legally and morally] with regards to the fact they were the pioneer settlers of the region and the entire coastal southwest littoral hemisphere.
As is obvious, their persistence in doing wrong would not be too far from the truth, if described as the same narcissistic personality disorder [in this context, the deep need for excessive attention and admiration] of their forbears, which explains why their baseless and preposterous joyful exuberance is still being echoed in many of their write ups on most Ndian forums, where its resonance strongly vibrates in plain view, their monopolistic tendencies, very much to the chagrin of the more productive people in the division, who have simply resigned themselves to the fact that, the perpetually exhibited behaviour, could be none other than the substratum of their unstoppable collective hedonistic philosophy of “Live and Let Die”, implying “I will live, but I will let all others die.” What a shameful and less peaceful, more dangerous philosophy, appropriate only for a James Bond spy movie!
The views expressed in this article are the authors’ own and do not necessarily reflect The SUN’s editorial stance.
Dr. Aja Oro [Balondo scholar] USA.
The Obanandongo 1 of Ekondo-Enene.
+ 1 240 714 9912