By
Eric Motomu
 |
| EL Hadj Baba Ahmadou Danpullo |
El Haji Baba Ahmadou Danpullo, the only economic
giant and pride of the North West
has been unperturbed by the works of detractors. The smear campaigns against
him have been perennial, yet, the truth comes out at the end. One of the most
recent and lethal was over his alleged confiscation of land around the Marche
Congo vicinities in Douala.
Pricked by postulations and revendicaitons by opportunists, who exploited Baba
Danpullo’s silence, over the ownership, the realities have emerged. This is a
correspondence (document issued by Dr. Fritz Ntone Ntone, Government Delegate
to the Douala
city council.
The city delegate was
responding to a series of correspondences and complaints, doubting the
authenticity of the rightful owner of the said area. But when Chronicle
gathered that El Hadj Baba Danpullo, produced authentic land titles to the said
land, it was forgone. In a correspondence, the Douala city Delegate wrote:
“The Government Delegate
Douala
Sir,
The DO of Douala
II informed me last July 16, 2012 of your correspondence with the following
subject:
Buildings erected on your land with land title No.8404/W were also
destroyed by the fire incident that took place on the night of 3rd
and 4th July 2012. And in this light, you want to rebuild a modern
commercial complex on the site.
In this light, I request that you constitute a building permit file
following the laid-down rules and deposit it in my office, and wish in the same
manner that you suspend all activities on the site until your permit is
granted.
The government has put in place preventive security measures for business
premises that have to apply to all buildings in this neighbourhood. Our concern
would be to integrate your building plan into the overall city plan that is
underway.
Thanks
Government Delegate Douala”
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.
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