By NOELA EBOB BISONG
Renowned Southern Cameroons activist and elderly statesman, Mola Njoh Litumbe has died. The SUN gathered that the frontline advocate of the Southern Cameroons dream of independence died on Tuesday, May 26, 2020 at the Polyclinique Muna in Douala, Littoral Region of Cameroon.
His remains have been ferried to the Buea Regional Hospital Annex mortuary ahead of funeral arrangements, The SUN has learnt.
His cousin, Senator Mbella Moki Charles took to social media, moments following the senior citizen’s demise to write that: “Mola Njoh quits the stage… A great family man is no more. My last church service with cousin Mola Njoh Litumbe in Douala a few months ago. We shall miss you. RIP.”
The vocal son of the Fako soil of Cameroon’s South West Region, born on February 4, 1927 in Victoria (now Limbe), to Chief John Manga Williams and Ma Iteki Ida Williams, was the first ever European trained Chartered Accountant in Cameroon.
His political career will see him become Chairman of the Liberal Democratic Alliance (LDA), from whence Mola Njoh went ahead to widely advocate for the right to self-determination of Southern Cameroonians. Championing the course at a time when ‘Southern Cameroons’, as an appellation was a real taboo, the fearless Mola Njoh did suffer greatly in the hands of state authorities, as he was arrested and twice placed under “house arrests” ahead of calls for October 1 manifestations in honour of the “independence of British Southern Cameroons”.
He was hailed by Southern Cameroons loyalists in 2014, when while speaking at a colloquium in line with the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Cameroon’s reunification, was outspoken enough to tell government and Cameroonians that: “there is no documentary evidence at the United Nations Organisation (UNO) as required, that Southern Cameroons and La Republique du Cameroun legally yoked together to become one country – Cameroon.”
He is equally remembered for his 48-page book titled, “Case of the Annexation of the UN British Administered Territory of Southern Cameroons”, written in French and English, which he held is a “Critical review of the Formation and Dissolution of the State of the Federal Republic of Cameroon”.
Having fought for the right to self-determination by Southern Cameroonians, Mola Njoh Litumbe took many by surprise, since the Anglophone crisis broke out in 2016, by maintaining his calm and sealed lips on the issue, until his death. He was a widower, survived by four children.