Squatters On El Hadji Baba Danpullo’s Land Embark On Blackmail Tactics

El Hadji Ahmadou Baba Danpullo, the multi-billion business magnet, the peace loving and patriotic Cameroonian who is considered one of the leading private sector employer in Cameroon is again in the news. The proprietor of Elba Ranch, the Ndawara Tea Estates and other business conglomerates has been seriously defamed and blackmailed by some press organs, stating that he has seized land from some inhabitants of Douala. The media reports have been seen by many as calculated attempts by squatters on Baba Danpulo’s land to paint him black in the eyes of the public as an insensitive land grabber. This unfortunate situation that is unduly amplified by some hired press organs is coming on the heels of recent genuine moves embarked upon by Baba Danpullo to develop his land in Douala. Although Baba Danpullo has remained unperturbed by these derogatory, false and fabricated press reports, he has not ruled out the possibility of resorting to the law to correct the injustices he is suffering from the squatters over his legitimate land and the false public opinion created by the media.

Facts Of The Ploy Against Baba Danpullo

The press organs that have published the erroneous information about Baba Danpullo claim that he has seized land from some inhabitants of Akwa in Douala. This is false. In actual fact Baba Danpullo is the rightful owner of the piece of land in Akwa Douala that is being claimed by illegal squatters. All began with the recent fire incident that consumed the Marché Congo in Douala. After the fire incident, some squatters swung into action to occupy parcels of land that belong to others. In their bid to occupy the vast land left by the fire disaster that razed everything to dust, the squatters occupied Baba Danpullo’s land that was adjacent to the burnt down Marche Congo. The piece of land has a surface area of some 720 squares metres. Knowingly that Baba Danpullo would not allow them occupy the land, the squatters decided to hire the press to circulate erroneous information about the piece of land and about Baba Danpullo. In their bid to derail the public, the allegedly hired media organs stated that the land title of the piece of land in question was long cancelled by a decision of the Administrative Bench of the Supreme Court in June 2010

Contrary to this erroneous information circulated by the hired press organs, information gathered at the right sources in charge of land issues in Douala indicated that Baba Ahmadou Danpullo is the proprietor of the land in question. In actual fact the land has a certificate matriculated No. 3712/Y10/MINDCAF/P530 of July 31, 2012 delivered by the competent services of the Ministry of Land Tenure. And on the certificate it could be read, “The land conservator of Wouri, here undersigned certifies that an urban building constructed on a surface area of 720 square metres situated at Douala I, in the Akwa neighborhoods belongs in all legality to Mr. El Hadji Baba Ahmadou who acquired it on December 6, 1995 through mutation after sales.” According to this certificate, it therefore implicitly means that there is no land problem or landownership problem between El Hadji Baba Danpullo and whosoever according to the statutes applicable to land tenure and ownership.

It is worthy to note that the comedy of the land fracas pitting Baba Danpullo and some unscrupulous squatters in Akwa started when the Douala City Council cleared the debris left behind by the fire disaster that consumed Marché Congo. After that, squatters embarked on occupying the empty spaces where buildings once stood and were consumed by fire. This was more so as the Douala City Council thoroughly cleaned these spaces and rendered them habitable and usable by squatters. And conscious that they were occupying the space illegally, the squatters resorted to the media to put across their diabolic plans of permanently occupying land that did not belong to them.

It should be recalled that at some time in the past, Baba Dnapullo, the rightful owner of the piece of land wanted to develop it. By then some squatters had been there. Being a peace loving Cameroonian, Baba Danpullo invited the late Quarter Head, Mr. Bakouna Caché for mutual discussions so that he could ask the squatters to leave his piece of land and settle somewhere else. As a loving father who hates to see others suffer, Baba Danpullo even promised financial compensation to enable the squatters resettle somewhere else. But this humanitarian gesture was obstinately rejected by the illegal squatters as if the land was theirs.

It was after the fire incident that consumed the Marché Congo that Baba Danpullo wanted to regain his piece of land. But his attempt to develop his rightful possession has instead resulted into a spiral of attacks on him as a land grabber. This reversal of roles where the land owner is tagged a land grabber by squatters is being promoted by some media organs that have been duly hired to soil the long established clean reputation of Baba Danpullo

Persistent Sponsored Media Attacks On Baba Danpullo 

William Graham Summer once opined that, It is remarkable that jealousy of individual property in land often goes along with very exaggerated doctrines of tribal or national property in land.” This is true of Baba Danpullo, an unparalleled developer who has suffered persistent media attacks over the years. At one time Baba Danpullo was unduly accused of seizing land from the Mbororos and violating Human Rights. These unjustified allegations forced the former US Ambassador, Neils Marquardt to personally pay a visit to Ndawara to have an-on-the-pot appraisal of the situation.  The US Ambassador after visiting Ndawara left with the impression that all the allegations of human rights abuse by Baba Danpullo were mere hearsay stories that smacked of blackmail and mudslinging. This erroneous information as usual was ventilated by some media organs that are bent on soiling the reputation of Baba Danpullo. In response, Baba Danpullo stated that his doors were wide open and, “Let people come and verify to know the truth…” The scandalous reports went as far as accusing Baba Danpullo of involvement in a horse trading scam. The press reports indicated that he had confiscated some 38 horses that belonged to some Mbororos and locked up the owners for violating his ban on the selling of horse in the North West Region. In response to this and other allegations circulated by the press that the then North West Governor, Abakar Ahamat had distanced himself from Baba Danpullo, the calm and serene Baba Danpullo reiterated that it was pure blackmail for he had close to 2000 horses. He however quickly added that having 2000 horses did not mean that people should steal them. He said the governor is an administrator and cannot transform himself into a judge. Baba Danpullo indicated that after the theft of some of his horses that were carted to areas like Bafmeng and Nkambe, he contacted the appropriate judiciary authorities to investigate into the matter because the stolen horses were put on sale by the thieves. Baba Danpullo stated to the press that the recovered horses were his horses that were bred and reared in Ndawara and those who claimed they were theirs were unable to show proof of their origins and where they were bred.  

Fake NGOs Created To Smear Baba Danpullo

It is on record that some NGOs created along tribal leanings have over the years struggled to present Baba Danpullo nationally and internationally as a devil. Baba Danpullo argues that these fake NGOs have been created with sole aim being to denigrate him and his activities. He said these NGOs that have no leaders or the names of their leaders on the leter head of the organizations have published false information about him and have been circulating this information in high quarters to the point of copying national and international instances. And that these same NGOs are at the forefront of allegations that he persistently violates Human Rights. In his response to these false allegations, Baba Danpullo declared solemnly that individuals do not violate human rights because they neither have the police nor the cells.”Do I have the police, prisons? He retorted.

On the issue of land grabbing, Baba Danpullo fumed, “He who says I am taking land should show who complains, I took land from whom? He regretted that the NGO named Justice and Dignity Campaign spent time citing press reports that denounced him without any proofs. He doubted the NGO, calling it a fake organization that has been created by his detractors to paint him black publicly. He reiterated the fact that the fallacious news reports quoted the Justice and Dignity Campaign as condemning him in what they called the latest strategy of further impoverishing and subjugating the Mbororo pastoralists of North West Cameroon, and calling on the authorities to stop him Danpullo and his agents, as simply a destabilization ploy by his detractors.

Thus the recent media reports on the land fracas in Douala is just one of the so many attempts that have been perpetuated over the years on Baba Danpullo who is out to develop Cameroon through the provision of jobs and the investment in real estate and other business ventures.