Two Prominent Anglophone Elites, ALBERT WOMAH MUKONG, And VINCENT FEKO, Were In February 1990 Arrested In The YONDO BLACK Affair

At That Period, MUKONG And FEKO Were Members Of A Group That Was Also Secretly Working In Bamenda To Create A Political Party (SDF)

 Why MUKONG And FEKO Were Arrested In The YONDO BLACK Affair, When In Reality They Were Not Members Of The YONDO BALCK Group In Douala

Two prominent Anglophones, Albert Womah Mukong and Vincent Feko, were arrested in late February 1990 and detained for a number of months, on allegation that they were members of Batonnier Yondo Black’s Group in Douala that, was secretly working on a project to create a political party.  The former President of the Cameroon Bar Council, Yondo Mandengue Black Albert, and members of his Group, were all arrested, when an informant that had infiltrated the group, leaked the information to the secret service, about the political project the group was working on.

In reality, Albert Mukong and his bosom friend, Vincent Feko, were not part of the Yondo Black Group. Rather, they were part of another group that had since the second half of 1989 been holding secret meetings in Bamenda, to work on a project to create a political party (the SDF). More so, truth be told, it was Albert Mukong that floated the idea to create a political party (the SDF) in Bamenda, and so he could not have left it for any political project in Douala.

Both Misinformation And Disinformation  

Quite a number of people till date erroneously think that Albert Mukong and Vincent Feko were actually part of the Yondo Black Group. The original source of the false information was an allegation that was made by the State Security. But from all indications, the State Security did not make the false allegation deliberately. Rather the allegation was erroneously made because of a piece of paper which the State Security found in the ‘Secret File’ of Yondo Black’s political project, and assumed that Mukong and Feko were part of the Yondo Black’s Group. This was so especially as Mukong was known to the Cameroon security for his political activism which was anti Ahidjo and Biya regimes, over the marginalization of the Anglophones.

Meanwhile some people in the SDF maliciously continued for years to deliberately exploit or propagate the false allegation that Mukong and Feko were part of the Yondo Black Group. This was a game of political manipulation of public opinion, to try to rob Mukong of the credit that it was thanks to him that the SDF was created, as he was the one that floated the idea to create the party.  It was also Mukong that contacted and convinced some of the Founding Fathers, including Ni John Fru, to be part of the political project.

So the allegation that Mukong was a member of the Yondo Black Group was NOT TRUE. How could it have even happened that Mukong, who floated the idea to create a political party (the SDF) in Bamenda, following an advice by two Western Governments in relation to his repeated complaint about the marginalization of Anglophones, would have gone again to join the Yondo Black Group!

Vincent Feko Tells The Story Of What Really Happened

Meanwhile, in an exclusive interview in 2006, the then Douala based Vincent Feko, who is of blessed memory like Mukong, told me the real story of how he and his friend, Albert  Mukong, came to be erroneously accused  by the State Security of being linked to the Yondo Black Group. The allegation was based on a wrong assumption by the State Security .But again the State Security did not do that deliberately. It was based on a wrong assumption or wrong sense of judgment.  Let’s revisit the story of what really happened.

Mukong Visits Douala For A Rendezvous  

At the end of January 1990, the Bamenda based Albert Womah Mukong, travelled to Douala where he among other things had an important rendezvous. Feko did not give any details about the said rendezvous.  Mukong lodged at ‘Hotel Beausejour’ at Akwa – Douala.  On the eve of the rendezvous, Mukong requested that Feko should the next day accompany him to the rendezvous. The rendezvous was fixed for 2pm that next day.  Mukong and Feko agreed that the latter should meet the former at the hotel at 1.30 pm the next day.  Feko, an economist, was then working at the Customs Headquarters In Douala.

But at about 1 pm on the day of the rendezvous, somebody came to the hotel with a message from the boss to inform Mukong that the rendezvous had been shifted to 4 pm, due to unforeseen circumstances. Worth noting, that by then there was no mobile phone, and so Mukong could not immediately contact Feko to inform him.  Feko got to the hotel at 1.30 pm as was arranged the previous evening, only to hear that the rendezvous had been moved to 4 pm. It thus meant that they would have to leave the hotel at 3.30 pm.  This meant that they had two long hours to wait.

Unplanned Visit To Yondo Black

Mukong then proposed to Feko to accompany him to see a friend nearby.  It was not a planned visit.  The said friend was Batonnier Yondo Mendengue Black Albert, who was simply known by many as Yondo Black.  For those who know Akwa -Douala well, Yondo Black’s   compound in which is also his Law Firm is located before Eneo Akwa. It is a walking distance from ‘Hotel Beausejour’. So Mukong and Feko decided to just stroll to the place.  When Mukong and Feko got to Yondo Black’s compound, they were told that he was in his office (the Law Firm), which is a separate building from the one in which he lived with the family. Yondo Black was very happy to see Mukong. They had not met for quite a while.

As for Feko, that was that was the first time he and Yondo Black were actually meeting, though he knew the name.  In the course of the conversation which was mostly between Yondo Black and Mukong, the former tactically wanted to know the latter’s relationship with the other man, Feko.  The thing was that Yondo Black had something secret to tell Mukong, but did not know how trustful his friend was. Mukong understood, and told Yondo Black that Feko was one of his most trusted friends on earth.

Yondo Black Discloses His Political Project To Mukong

Yondo Black then left Mukong and Feko, and got to an inner room. They did not know what he was up to. A few minutes later, Yondo Black returned, holding a file. When he sat down, he disclosed to Mukong that he was working on a political project, with a number of trusted persons, to create a political party. Yondo Black invited Mukong to come onboard the project.

Mukong in response told Yondo Black that he would have accepted his invitation, but that it was absolutely impossible to do so because he was also involved in a similar project in Bamenda. He said he and some other trusted persons too, including Feko, were far advanced in a project to create a political party to fight against the marginalization of Anglophones.

Feko Boils With Anger

Feko who was not part of the conversation, was boiling inside. Feko could not understand how on earth Mukong could have gone to the extent of disclosing to Yondo Black, more so Francophone elite, that there was a group that was secretly meeting in Bamenda, working on a project to create a political party.  Feko who became very uncomfortable with the discussion between Mukong and Yondo Black, insisted to Mukong that they leave, so as to catch up with the rendezvous, even though he knew that there was still some time left.

Mukong Contact On A Piece Of Paper

Before Mukong and Feko left, Yondo Black asked how he could contact him (Mukong) from time to time, or when need arose, since he (Mukong) did not have a fixed phone at home. There was no mobile phone then. Mukong told him that whenever he had any message or whatever thing for him, he should contact Feko, and that Feko would know how to get the message to him within the shortest possible time. Yondo Black then gave Mukong a piece of paper to write down the contact.  So Mukong wrote his name and put his address as care of (C/O) Feko. He put Feko’s phone number.  He handed the piece of paper to Yondo Black, and they left.

Quarrel Between Feko And Mukong

No sooner did Mukong and Feko get out of the gate, than a quarrel sparked off between the two friends. Feko fumed that Mukong disclosed to Yondo Black that there was an ongoing political project in Bamenda; a project to create a political party.  The two argued all the way back to the hotel.  Mukong tried to explain that he trusted Yondo Black, just as the man too trusted him by disclosing that they were working on a project in Douala to create a political party.

But Feko would not agree, and kept grumbling. For one thing, Feko was one of those Anglophones who had the conviction that no Francophone elite could sincerely support the fight against the marginalization of the Anglophones.

  The Arrest Of Yondo Black And Members of Group

Meanwhile I it happened that one of the persons that joined the Yondo Black Group pretending to be a staunch opponent of the regime, was in reality an informant. So after gathering information from his privilege position as member of the Yondo Black Group, the person secretly informed the secret police (CENER) that Yondo Black and his group comprised of a number of persons, were secretly working on a project to create a political party.  Top members of the regime were thus informed, while the CENER, together with the Gendarmerie, picked up Yondo Black and members of his group, and banged them incommunicado in cells at the Gendarmerie Camp at Mboppi, Douala.

Arrest Of Albert Mukong And Vincent Feko

Meanwhile, it is worth noting that the Founding Fathers of the SDF held the last crucial meeting which brought all of them together on February 17, 1990 in Bamenda, to finalize preparations towards depositing the file of the SDF with the administration (Mezam SDO) for registration.  They did not know that the Cameroon security, precisely he CENER (secret service), had gotten information about the Yondo Black Group in Douala, and had secretly started making arrests.  The arrests were so secretively carried out, that the population in Douala did not immediately know about it.

Vincent Feko who returned to his base in Douala after the secret meeting in Bamenda, did not also know about the arrest, that was actually ongoing.  He was taken aback when he was arrested a few days later, precisely on February 21, 1990. Then Mukong too was arrested.  Feko said when he and Mukong were arrested, there was a big eruption of panic in the  Group of SDF Founding Fathers, as the initial thought was  that their secret political project to create  and register a political party, had leaked,

Strong Criticism of Mukong and Feko By Other SDF Founding Fathers.

Then later news started circulating, that the arrest of Mukong and Feko, was connected to the political project of Yondo Black and his Group to create a political party. The arrest of Yondo Black and his Group became known as the Yondo Black Affair.  Following the allegation that Mukong and Feko were arrested in connection to the Yondo Black Affair, many people thus assumed that they were part of the Yondo Black Group. A fake story also came up in Bameda, that Mukong was caught in Douala distributing flyers of the new party with Yondo Black, and so on, whereas by the time of their arrest, Yondo Black and his Group were still working on the project to create a political party. They had thus not yet created the political party, or even as yet adopted a name for it.

The fake news raised disappointment, disgust and some anger in the circle of the other SDF Founding Fathers against Mukong and Feko, who were strongly criticized for having allegedly gone and joined the Yondo Black Group. Some Founding Fathers even lashed out at Mukong for allegedly being a Confused Man. They could not understand how Mukong, who floated the idea to create a political party (SDF), and who was the one that contacted most of the Founding Fathers, could have gone behind to join another group that was also working to create another political party in Douala.

Yondo Black And Others Were Detained Incommunicado

In reality the issue was very complicated at the beginning, because even Mukong and Feko initially did not know the real reason that caused their arrest. When they were arrested, they embarrassingly, and shockingly, heard from security elements, that they were members of the Yondo Black Group.  They strongly denied to the security elements. But the security guys neither believed it nor cared about their denials.  It should be noted that Yondo Black and members of his group as well as Feko and Mukong, were held incommunicado in cells at the Mboppi Gendarmerie Camp. Since people could not get access to them especially within the first month of their arrest, nobody thus got Feko or Mukong’s side of the story, as regard their wrongful accusation for being members of the Yondo Black Group. During that first month of their detention, neither Mukong nor Feko, who were locked up in separate cells like the others, to avoid any discussion between them, could not each decipher what could have made the security service to accuse them, of being members of the Yondo Black Group.

Worth noting that Yondo Black himself initially did not know why Mukong and Feko were arrested. He of course knew they were not members of his Group.

Batonnier Yondo Black’s ‘Secret File’

However Munkong and Feko as well as Yondo Black learnt later in the course of their detention, as to how the two (Mukong and Feko) came to be arrested. Their arrest was connected to the piece of paper on which Mukong wrote his contact when they visited Yondo Black. It was the piece of paper that got the Cameroon Security to erroneously think that Mukong and Feko were part of the Yondo Black Group.

What happened was that when Mukong wrote his contact on the piece of paper and handed to Yondo Black when they visited him in his office, he (Yondo Black) placed it on top of the file that was in front of him on the table. That is, the secret file of the project to create a political party. When Mukong and Feko left, Yondo Black just picked up that piece of paper, dropped it in the file, and took the file back to where he was hiding it, in one of his inner rooms at the Law Firm.

Now, the informant in the Yondo Black Group, that leaked the information about the political project to the security, informed the security about Yondo Black’s ‘Secret File’ that contained everything about the secret project to create a political party. So the security team, that raided the Law Firm of Yondo Black, had as principal objective, to find the secret file. They turned everything upside down in the Law Firm, especially in the inner rooms, and finally discovered the ‘Secret File’.  The security elements went back to the station and handed the file to their hierarchy.

Mukong Was Known To The Security

When senior security officers were going through the documents in the ‘Secret File’, they came across the piece of paper on which Mukong wrote his name, and put the name of Feko as his contact person.  As the US Security would say, Albert Womah Mukong was known to the Police, meaning that he had a security record. As aforementioned, Mukong was well known both by the security and the regime for his political activism, since the days of the dreaded Ahidjo regime.  He had been jailed a number of times for his political activism, but he had not changed one bit.

So immediately the Security Chiefs saw the name of Mukong on a piece of paper in the file, and more so with the name apparently having been written  by Mukong himself,  they were neither surprise nor did they have  any iota of doubt in their minds, that he was part of  the Yondo Black Group. Then there was Feko, who was assumed to be Mukong’s contact person in the Group.   And so based on that assumption, that Albert Mukong, and Vincent Feko were part the Yondo Black Group, the security arrested them and threw them into the cells at Camp Mboppi, with the others.

Mukong And Feko Could Not Tell The Security The Truth

Note should as well as be taken that when Mukong and Feko finally knew why they were arrested, it was difficult for them to convince the security chiefs that they were not part of the Yondo Group, because they could not also tell the security the truth as to how the piece of paper with their names written on it by Mukong himself, got into that secret file of the political project of Yondo Black and his Group.  For one thing, by then the other Founding Fathers of the SDF had not yet come public to submit the file of the party to the local administration in Bamenda. So Mukong and Feko tried to avoid any discussion or dispute that could lead the security to suspect that there was another secret political project elsewhere.

There was no way Mukong could convince the security that he and Feko were not part of the Yondo Black Group, without telling the true story.  There was no way the State Security could have been convinced, that Mukong of all could have seen such a political project in Douala, and not join, except if they were  told that he refused to join because he was  involved in another political project in Bamenda. That of course was why Mukong and Feko rather preferred to suffer than say the truth.

Propagation Of False Information In The SDF

So Mukong and Feko finally decided to go along with the false assumption by the security, that they were members of the Yondo Black Group. That is why many people have all along wrongly believed that Mukong and Feko, that were secretly working on a political project in Bamenda to create a political party,  were at the same time working on another one in Douala. However that was spurious. It was not true in all its forms.

It should be noted that Albert Mukomg and Vincent Feko were discharge and acquitted by the Douala Military Tribunal in the trial   concerning the Yondo Black Affair, because the informant apparently insisted behind the scene that Mukong and Feko were not part of the Yondo Black Group. Also, the interrogation of Mukomg and Feko during the trial gave judges at the military tribunal, that they were blank on the details of Yondo Black’s political project to create a political party.

Its worth noting, that when Mukong and Feko were released, the other Founding Fathers got the truth about the real reason why they were arrested. But for years, the fake story that Mukong and Feko were members of the Yondo Black Group, continued to circulate in the SDF party, and even lingers on till today. From the look of things, the false accusation, even after the military tribunal discharged and acquitted them, was been propagated by some people of  bad fate, who wanted Mukong discredited, sidelined and robbed of the credit that he was the person that floated the idea to create the SDF.  It was thus a political manipulation.