Stop Peter Alange Abety Before He Destroys UBa

Dr. Abety

His full names are Peter Alange Abety. Physically, he is a handsome man. Intellectually, he is quite sound. Morally, he is greatly handicapped. Let the facts first be stated, then examined.

Abety was seemingly a harmless personality until the early 90s when his appointment as Minister for Special Duties at the Presidency catapulted him into the limelight with his vices. His notoriety became glaring in 1994 when he recruited a group of thugs to terrorize Takumbeng women in Bambili triggering a march of the women to Bafut in protest. The thugs were led by a certain Martin Chop D’or, proprietor of St. Martin square, a drinking sport in Bambili.

Ingratitude is one of his outstanding vices. Simon Achidi Achu in his then capacity as PM undoubtedly recommended Abety’s appointment and gave him all the protection he needed as a godson. But when the political pilot was dropped by Biya, Abety was the first to treat him with scorn and derision. Celebrating the fact that he had been maintained in government, an elated Abety announced to his Bambili country people that the plane crash, the pilot (Achici Achu) died and he (Abety) one of the crew on board survived.

As he spoke in the Bambili vernacular Abety didn’t expect to be quoted outside the confines of Bambili village. He was genuinely embarrassed when he saw the story in The Post newspaper. He went on his knees before Achidi Achu saying he was misquoted. Achidi Achu accepted his apology for the purpose of CPDM party harmony, but certainly did not believe him.

Perfect Schemer

As a literary scholar, Abety is masters Nicola Machiavelli as well as other writers who uphold the view that the end always justifies the means. At a time when North West had only three members of government, Lucy Gwanmesia as at the helm of supreme state control, Shey Jones Yembe as Secretary of State for Public Works, Abety considered himself the most senior member of government in the province (we had provinces then). To hoodwink Biya into believing that he was the true leader of the North West, Abety assembled a few business men and some journalists at the Bamenda congress hall and floated an organization called North West Development Association, NOWEDA. He immediately imposed himself as the President of the said association and finally went back to Yaounde in that capacity, enumerating the achievements of Peter Ngufor and other entrepreneurs of the North West as those of his association. NOWEDA died with Abety’s ministerial portfolio; a clear indication that it was a one-man-show.

Alhadji Baba Danpullo is a success by every definition of the word. He is committed to the welfare of the Mbororo community in Cameroon. Alhadji Baba is too strong for any member of government to fight, let alone a minister without a portfolio. But as a saying goes, fools rush in where angels fear to tread. Peter Abety is not a fool, to be fair to him. But he behaved like one when he decided to engage in a sliding tackle game with Baba Danpullo over the issue of Mbororo welfare. Abety thought that because he worked at the Presidency he could intimidate Baba. He was sadly mistaken. He never knew what hit him. Just at a time he felt he was poised to crime he came crashing like a confident boxer knocked down by a sucker punch.

Abety The Ungenuine Intellectual

A genuine intellectual is one who calls things by their true names. The opposite is a person with a bag of degrees, but who cannot be relied upon to get facts about a situation. A genuine intellectual has truth as his cardinal principle. But the ungenuine intellectual is a ‘useful idiot’ who blindly defends the system in place.

Peter Abety sees things through distorted binoculars. If something cannot bring him political or economic gain that thing is not worth pursuing. Abety has succeeded to send sons and daughters of Bambili to higher institutions of learning, ENS for instance. But because he did so in anticipation of profit most beneficiaries from his interventions owe him little or no gratitude.

Tubah, Abety’s sub division and Bambili, his village have remained in the firm grip of the SDF not because Fru Ndi’s party has achieved anything significant or is a better campaigner but because Abety is not liked. Abety knows that as long as the SDF takes part in national elections, the CPDM can never win in Tubah with him as the CPDM kingpin of that subdivision. This explains why during the last national day celebration in Tubah, he prayed for the SDF to boycott future elections.

Abety And The University Of Bamenda

The Anglo-Saxon University of Bamenda is the fruit of the collective effort of North Westerners and Cameroonians who believe in quality education. It is neither the property of Bambili people, nor Tubah nor CPDM. But Peter Abety thinks it belongs to Bambili people with him as custodian. This explains why as soon as UBa was created by presidential decree, Abety reportedly zoomed abroad and assembled all the materials  and the encouragement to become a professor. He either forgot or deliberately overlooked the fact that Vincent Titanji, UB Vice Chancellor, is a North Westerner and that from the viewpoint of regional balance, another North Westerner cannot head a university.

People with vaulting ambition most often ignore reality. When Professor Tafah Edokat was appointed Vice Chancellor instead, Abety felt as if his world was crumbling. He has since been doing all in his power to make the pioneer VC of UBa fail in his mission to make the idea academic citadel that lovers of sound education want it to be. His constant intervention where his attention was not needed pushed Professor Edokat to address him in very unflattering terms.

Despite the fact that he is Board Chairman of the Cameroon GCE Board, Abety is not satisfied. His preoccupation remains how he can take over UBa. He has refused to buy the idea that UBa is University of Bamenda and not University of Bambili. For this reason, he is championing a campaign to convince government that Bambili has enough land to contain all the faculties of UBa. This campaign is aimed at fighting against the idea of decentralization of the university.

People want development, but few persons are ready to sacrifice for it. Claiming that Bambili has enough land to host all the faculties of UBa means many Bambili natives will be asked to quit their land to provide the necessary space. Such persons are sure to require compensation which the government will be unwilling to pay since it stands for decentralization and there are several parts, virtually all divisions of the North West whose inhabitants are ready to cede land for any of the faculties of UBa to be constructed. Thus Abety by lobbying for Bambili to host all UB structures is actually fomenting trouble for himself.

A Political Nonstarter

Politicians are born as well as made. We have already hinted at the fact that Abety’s hopes for CPDM victories in upcoming elections lies in SDF boycotting. Even if this is a fact, did Abety need to voice it? A true politician keeps his strategy to himself. If he were politically sound-minded, he would rather have put in place agents to persuade the SDF to stay away from future elections. John B. Ndeh told an English language newspaper that the CPDM tricked the SDF to boycott the 1992 parliamentary election, reason why the ruling party swept all twenty in that crucial election. But Ndeh made the disclosure only after the CPDM had secured the seats.

Another example: The CPDM controls the Bali council following SDF’s disqualification on the eve of the 2007 polls. The party’s topnotch exploited an anomally in the SDF council list and took advantage of it. Even if it were a well-orchestrated plot, it would have been unwise for Bali CPDM barons to voice it.

A good politician shuns overzealousness. Abety in his over enthusiasm for the ruling party confronts even the Catholic Church to which he belongs or purportedly does so. During his early years as minister of special duties, he got into a scrape with the Catholic Church in Bambili simply because during a sermon, extremities on the part of the CPDM regime were pointed out. In a bid to show how much love he had for the ruling party, Abety declared such criticisms as campaigns fro the SDF and announced that if ever such critical remarks were made during a sermon he too would mount the pulpit and campaign for the CPDM. The overzealous politician forgot that the congregation where such a sermon was preached belonged to the Catholic Church. He should assemble his own crowd and preach his own political sermon there. Christ pulled crowds because of his eloquence and charisma. Rev J.C Jackson and John Fru Ndi did same for the same reason. Abety cannot pull mammoth crowds because he lacks both eloquence and charisma. Nobody ever becomes a true politician by decree.

Still on his war with the catholic church, Abety caused most catholics in the Bamenda Archdiocese to boycott The Herald newspaper following his declaration that the Bishop’s house at Big Mankon was running a bank. That was uncommonly dishonest of him because he knew that it simply carried out money exchange which is to help people who receive foreign currency. Bishop’s house doesn’t do that for the sake of interest.

Unless he mends his way, Abety should consider himself unqualified to ever speak on political and educational matters either for the North West Region or even his Bambili village.

It should be noted as a concluding remark that Abety’s embarrassing conduct caused his adversaries to dig into his past and the conclusion as far back as 1994 was that his father hailed from Awing. In most cultures, a child belongs to the area his father hails from. If that is the case, then Abety hasn’t the right to speak for Bambili people with the vehemence he is doing: let him mend his ways, sit up or shut up.