Cameroon: Jesco Invokes Inoni to Appoint Him Paramount Chief
Azore Opio
26 September 2008
Prince Jesco Manga Williams, one of the parties in the contentious Limbe paramount chieftaincy stool has released a letter, which he thinks is the "final issue to put a nail on the coffin of [the] Limbe chieftaincy issue.
Dated September 19, 2008 and titled "The Paramount Chieftaincy Issue Reaches Its Finality," the letter is addressed to the Prime Minister.In it, Prince Jesco begins, "With regard to this chieftaincy affair if the subject matter was not so important, I would have given up a long time ago. But because a personality like Paramount Chief John Manga Williams was amongst the people that founded the importance of Limbe..."
Jesco goes on to dig up historical data to try and prove that he is of the blue blood to take over the paramount chieftaincy of Limbe.He says his great grandfather was King of Bimbia and "through him the Slave Trade was halted because he gave the British every assistance that was required."
The chieftaincy aspirant goes on to narrate that when his father was invited by the British Government, he went with him as his private secretary and "took the opportunity too go to the Public Record Office in London where he took notes of some record and (Pursuant to Statute 1 & 2 Victoria C.94).
This reference seems to be in relation to the treaty ending Slave Trade. Jesco says that in one of the record photocopies one can see that "among the principal signatories was that of his Great Grand Father King Bille Williams."
Jesco takes the reader down memory lane in 1923 to meet King George the Fifth when "he signed a certificate acknowledging the work done by my late father of his services to the people of Cameroon were highlighted."
And lastly, according to Prince Jesco, even Njalla Quan, CDC General Manager, "one the contenders bravely refused to be a contender to the chieftaincy stool and would not oppose me."
Jesco attached a letter purportedly written by Njalla Quan, dated January 13, 2005 to him (Jesco), in which Njalla Quan says "...with regard to the succession of the late Chief F. B. Manga Williams, I wish to make it clear that it has never been and it will never be my intention to vie for the throne. I have never claimed to be an heir to the throne..."
With these points that Jesco believes are evidences that the colonial masters "strongly believed in the capability and honesty and sincerity of the Manga Williams family as a ruling house..." he invokes the Prime Minister Ephraim Inoni to "use his good office to bring this chieftaincy mater to an end by appointing me as the next paramount chief of Limbe."
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