Walter Wilson Nana
Buea, Cameroon
Fon Lucas Fontem Njifua, the Fon of Fontem Fondom in Fontem subdivision, Lebialem Division, Southwest Region is no more. Information trickling in from Yaoundé have it that Fon Njifua, who doubles as a Senator from Lebialem Division for the ruling CPDM party and President of the Southwest Chiefs Conference, SWECC, died Wednesday, April 2 2014 at about 11 am at the University of Yaounde I Teaching Hospital fondly called CUSS after a malaise.
Fon/Senator Njifua was in Yaoundé for the ongoing session of the National Assembly. Recently, he was in the news across Cameroon as leader of one of the socio-political groups that President Paul Biya met and had audience with during the activities marking 50 years of Cameroon’s reunification in Buea. The dust raised at the reunification celebrations had not settled when a storm arose in the ranks of SWECC, with Chiefs from Fako Division, accusing the administration of Fon Njifua of sidelining them at the celebrations to mark 50 years of Cameroon’s reunification. Before this current mandate, Fon Njifua is said to have been the Chair of SWECC some years ago, following the rotatory system of the SWECC Presidency.
Fon of Fontem, Lucas Fontem Njifua
Born some 50 years ago, Fon Njifua was enthroned as the First Class Fon of the Fontem Fondom in 1982. His Fondom is one of the two First Class Fondoms in Lebialem Division, alongside the Fondom of Bamoubou in Wabane subdivision, Lebialem Division.
Fon Njifua, member of the CPDM Central Committee, was elected as Senator on April 14 2013 during Cameroon’s first ever senatorial elections. Before his newfound political platform, Fon Njifua had been serving as a Guidance Counsellor in the West Regional Delegation of Secondary Education.
The prominent Lebialem traditional ruler was one of the seven elected and pioneer Senators for the CPDM party in the Southwest Region. His alternate member is Mrs Judith Ndongo Embola Torimiro.
Fon Njifua has left the scene at a time when the Chiefs and Fons in the Southwest Region and other observers were looking forward to a would-be action-packed elective General Assembly of the Southwest Chiefs Conference slated for Kumba in the month of April 2014.
