Monthly Archives: April 2022

30, April 2022

North Korea’s Kim Jong Un warns of ‘preemptive’ use of nuclear force ⁰

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has repeated his warning that Pyongyang could “preemptively” use its nuclear weaponry to counter hostile forces, state media reported Saturday.

Kim told top military officers that to “maintain the absolute superiority” of North Korea’s armed forces, the country should be able to “preemptively and thoroughly contain and frustrate all dangerous attempts and threatening moves… if necessary,” the official KCNA news agency reported.

Pyongyang should continue to build up its arsenal so that it can have the “overwhelming military muscle that no force in the world can provoke,” Kim said, calling it the “lifeline guaranteeing the security of our country”.

The leader’s comments followed similar remarks at a military parade on Monday, when he said he could use his atomic arsenal if North Korea’s “fundamental interests” were threatened.

Kim made his latest comments at a meeting with top brass to praise their work on Monday’s parade, which commemorated the 90th anniversary of the country’s armed forces and showcased its most powerful intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Despite biting sanctions, North Korea has doubled down on Kim’s military modernisation drive, test-firing a slew of banned weapons this year while ignoring US offers of talks.

Last month Pyongyang test-fired an ICBM at full range for the first time since 2017, and satellite imagery has shown signs of activity at a nuclear testing site.

The string of weapons tests comes as South Korea prepares for an incoming president, Yoon Suk-yeol, who takes a more hawkish approach to Pyongyang and has not ruled out a preemptive strike if necessary.

Analysts say Kim’s warning shows he is not open to dialogue with Seoul’s new government.

“Kim’s remarks demonstrate no interest in engaging with the incoming Yoon administration in South Korea or restarting denuclearisation talks with the United States,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of international studies at Ewha University in Seoul.

Source: AFP

30, April 2022

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Amba fighters claim this week’s Mamfe Motor park attack ⁰

Ambazonia fighters in Mamfe claimed responsibility for the massive rush-hour attacks this week that ripped through the busy Mamfe Mile 2 Motor Park.

“We are in Mamfe, but your so-called Francophone military don’t know where we are,” a spokesperson for the Southern Cameroons Self Defense group in Manyu said in a new audio that threatens more attacks in Mamfe town.

“Yes, we Ambazonia fighters carried out the attack in Mile 2” he says in the Kenyang language in the audio, which was forwarded to Cameroon Concord News correspondent in Mamfe.

The Manyu Warriors made no mention of the casualties after the attack but Cameroon Concord News understands it was shooting and burning of vehicles.

Cameroon government army officials deployed to Mamfe have also come under attack for failing to respond even though an army post is located nearer the motor park.

It was unclear why the military did not deploy troops at least to the Badi River, where the fighters emerged and staged the attacks.

The explosion at the Mamfe Mile 2 Motor Park at the outskirts of the town has left many tongues wagging on the security situation in the entire Manyu Division.

By Alain Tabot-Tanyi

29, April 2022

Four months on, an ongoing nightmare for MSF colleagues detained in Southern Cameroons ⁰

Four months ago today, Marguerite M. and Ashu D. plunged into a nightmare which continues. They are Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) staff; Marguerite a nurse and Ashu an ambulance driver, in the South-West region of Cameroon. The area is impacted by violence that started almost five years ago, between separatist armed groups and state armed forces, where MSF provides access to free healthcare to people.

On the morning of 26 December 2021, Marguerite and Ashu were sent with an MSF ambulance to the Tinto area to pick up a man with a gunshot wound. While the vast majority of MSF ambulance movements are not related to the impact of the violence – most are linked to the urgent transport of children with malaria, women in labour or those injured in road accidents – taking care of victims of gunshot wounds is not unusual for MSF in the area. Yet, Marguerite and Ashu could not have imagined what awaited them this time.

The ambulance had some trouble locating the injured man, but finally found him at around eight o’clock in the morning. They stabilised him and put him in the ambulance, which then headed towards Kumba, in case the patient needed to be transferred to a higher-level hospital for complex surgery. The 27-year-old patient had no identification documents, which is not uncommon in Cameroon.

MSF communicated, as agreed with the authorities, this movement: the departure point of the ambulance, its destination, the type of patient it was transporting, whether or not the patient had an identity document, and whether or not they were accompanied by anyone. Despite this not being standard MSF practice, this procedure was vital in this context to prevent ambulances from being blocked at checkpoints for long periods of time, which could be detrimental to patients. Since October 2021, when the procedure for communicating with the authorities was formalised, 132 MSF ambulance transfers involving patients in various emergencies have taken place without any problems.

Neither Marguerite nor Ashu knew who the patient was, or what was his role within the separatist group. They only knew that he was a wounded man in need of medical emergency assistance. The ambulance set off at around nine o’clock in the morning, with Ashu driving and Marguerite in charge of the patient. She began to fill in the transfer forms on the patient that would later be handed over to the hospital in Kumba. While Marguerite was still filling in the form with the name given by the patient, they were stopped at the Nguti checkpoint.

Despite the explanations they gave, they were denied passage, ordered to turn around and escorted back to Mamfe. The two MSF colleagues were subsequently arrested and detained in Buea prison, where they remain four months later.

Culled from MSF

29, April 2022

Former tennis star Boris Becker sentenced to jail by UK court over bankruptcy ⁰

Former tennis star Boris Becker was on Friday jailed for two and a half years after being found guilty by a British court of charges relating to his 2017 bankruptcy.

The six-time Grand Slam champion, 54, will serve half of the term having been convicted at Southwark Crown Court in London over his transfer of huge amounts of money from his business account.

He also failed to declare a property in Germany and concealed 825,000 euros ($866,500) of debt and shares in a tech firm.

He was acquitted earlier this month of a further 20 charges, including nine counts of failing to hand over trophies and medals he won during his glittering tennis career.

Becker told jurors he did not know the whereabouts of the memorabilia, including two of his three Wimbledon men’s singles trophies.

Judge Deborah Taylor had released Becker – who won Wimbledon as an unseeded teenager – on conditional bail ahead of her sentencing decision on Friday.

He arrived early for the hearing, wearing a striped purple and green tie in the Wimbledon colours, a white shirt and a charcoal grey suit.

He held hands with his partner Lilian de Carvalho Monteiro as he walked into court past a bank of waiting reporters and cameras.

The former world number one told the jury how his $50 million (£40 million) career earnings were swallowed up by a costly divorce from his first wife Barbara Becker, child maintenance payments and “expensive lifestyle commitments”.

Becker said he was “shocked” and “embarrassed” when he was declared bankrupt in June 2017 over an unpaid loan of more than £3 million on his estate in Mallorca, Spain.

The German, who has lived in Britain since 2012, said he had cooperated with trustees trying to secure his assets, even offering his wedding ring, and relied on the advisers who managed his life away from tennis.

But the former player, who was supported in court by his partner and eldest son Noah, was found guilty of four charges under the Insolvency Act.

‘Vast amount’

Giving evidence, Becker said he earned a “vast amount” of money during his career, paying cash for several properties.

But the German, who went on to coach current world number one tennis player Novak Djokovic, work as a TV sports commentator and act as a brand ambassador for firms including Puma, said his income “reduced dramatically” following his retirement in 1999.

Becker, who was resident in Monte Carlo and Switzerland before moving to the UK, said his financial commitments included his £22,000-a-month rented house in Wimbledon, south-west London.

He also owed the Swiss authorities five million francs (about $5.1 million) and separately just under one million euros in liabilities over a conviction for tax evasion and attempted tax evasion in Germany in 2002.

He said bad publicity had damaged “brand Becker”, meaning he struggled to make enough money to pay off his debts.

His lawyer Jonathan Laidlaw said at the time of his bankruptcy that Becker was too “trusting and reliant” on his advisers.

Becker, with a shock of strawberry-blond hair, shook up the tennis world in 1985 when he became Wimbledon’s youngest men’s singles champion at 17 and repeated the feat the following year.

Nicknamed “Boom Boom” Becker for his ferocious serve, he won Wimbledon for a third time in 1989.

He also won the Australian Open twice and the US Open during his glittering career, becoming the top-ranked player in the world in 1991.

Becker turned to commentary after his retirement, landing a high-profile role on the BBC, but he returned to the court in 2013 to guide Djokovic, helping the Serb win six more Grand Slam trophies before the pair parted ways in 2016.

Source: AFP

29, April 2022

An encomium to Reverend Father Maurice Agbaw-Ebai ⁰

An encomium to Reverend Father Maurice Ashley Agbaw-Ebai [Bachelor in Philosophy, Pontifical Urban University, Rome, 2004; S.T.B. – bachelor’s in theology, Summa Cum Laude, Hekima University College, Jesuit School of Theology, Nairobi, Kenya, 2009; Th.M. – Master of Theology, Boston College, School of Theology and Ministry, 2015; S.T.L. – Licentiate in Sacred Theology, Boston College, School of Theology and Ministry, 2015; M.A. in Philosophy with Distinctions, Boston College, Morrisey School of Arts and Sciences, 2018; S.T.D. – Doctorate in Sacred Theology, Boston College, School of Theology and Ministry, 2018; Ph.D. in Philosophy, Boston College, Morrisey School of Arts and Sciences, 2021]; Cameroonian philosophy and theology scholar in the USA, erudite professor, eminent Chaplain of the Cameroon Catholic Community of the Archdiocese of Boston, celebrated former chancellor of Mamfe Diocese, renowned Coordinator of the Benedict XVI Institute for Africa (which promotes research work on the theology of Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI); on the occasion of his appointment as Permanent Formator at St John’s Seminary, Boston, USA by Cardinal Seàn O’Malley of Boston Archdiocese, USA. Written by Nchumbonga George Lekelefac, Doctorate Candidate, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, Münster, Germany

“Ad majórem Dei glóriam; AMDG” (For the greater glory of God). Motto of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and one of the favorite mottos of Revered Father Doctor Professor Maurice Ashley Agbaw-Ebai

1. Introduction

This encomium is devoted to Revered Father Doctor Professor Maurice Ashley Agbaw-Ebai on his recent appointment in the Archdiocese of Boston. “As of Friday, March 4, 2022, Cardinal Seàn O’Malley, archbishop of Boston appointed our own Fr. Dr. Prof. Maurice to St. John’s Seminary, Boston MA, as full-time professor of philosophy and theology, while continuing in his teaching career in the other universities in the Boston area. He is a proud son of Manyu, a division of the Southwest Region in Cameroon, which covers an area of 9,565 km² and as of 2005 had a total population of 181,039. The capital of the division is Mamfe, which happens to be his diocese of incardination. He is also a proud son of the Ecclesiastical Province of Bamenda and Cameroon in general. His tremendous achievement needs to be appreciated objectively without any envy or jealousy. This man of God has achieved a lot through hard work, discipline, and steadfastness. Every objective mind needs to pause for a second and appreciate this son of the soil of Mamfe Diocese.

Reverend Father Doctor Professor Maurice Ashley Agbaw-Ebai is a Priest of the Diocese of Mamfe Cameroon currently serving in the Archdiocese of Boston, USA. He became the very first priest of Mamfe Diocese to obtain a PhD in Sacred Theology in Boston College, USA in 2018. Fr. Dr. Prof. Maurice Agbaw-Ebai comes from a family of 8. His brother, a refined intellectual by name Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai based in Ireland is one of the founding fathers of the Cameroon Catholic Community in Mulheim an der Rhur, Germany.

Fr. Dr. Prof. Maurice Ashley served as Secretary to Bishop Emeritus Francis Lysinge, Financial secretary and also moonlighted as Chancellor of the Mamfe Diocese between 2009 to 2014.

He currently teaches courses in Theology and Philosophy at Woods College in Boston College and at St. John’s Seminary in Brighton, MA.

On April 17, 2022, he handed over as Parish Priest of St Anne’s Parish in Salem, MA in order to take up a new appointment as Permanent Formator at St John’s Seminary, Boston, USA. He is also the Chaplain of the Cameroon Catholic Community of the Archdiocese of Boston. He is the Coordinator of the Benedict XVI Institute for Africa, which promotes research work on the theology of Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI.

Mr. Tambe Tanyi of the Cameroon Catholic Community, Mulheim an der Rhur, Germany wrote after the appointment all the way from Germany: “Cardinal Seàn O’Malley of Boston appoints Fr Maurice Agbaw-Ebai to St. John’s Seminary, Boston MA. We come to you this day with good news of the promotion of Dr. Rev. Fr. Maurice Agbaw-Ebai to full professor.

As of Friday, March 4, 2022, Cardinal Seàn O’Malley of Boston appointed Fr. Maurice to St. John’s Seminary, Boston MA, as full-time professor of philosophy and theology, while continuing in his teaching career in the other universities in the Boston area.

This brings to an end Fr. Maurice’s tenure as parish priest of Ste Anne’s Salem MA, as of March 19, 2022. A new parish priest for Ste Anne’s will be announced, April 17, 2022, Easter Sunday. We thank Fr. Maurice for his dedicated service at Ste Anne’s, and to the Cameroon Catholic Community of Boston in particular. We wish him the best in his assignment of forming priests for the dioceses in the New England area. We entrust his academic vocation, clearly so dear to his heart, to St Joseph, protector of the Universal Church.

In his time as Secretary / Chancellor of the Diocese of Mamfe, Rev. Fr. Maurice Agbaw-Ebai worked so hard with his Bishop – Emeritus Lysinge Teke to ascertain that a Priest of the Diocese of Mamfe be appointed to the Cameroon Catholic Community Mülheim- Germany. The dream became true.

His meritorious promotion makes us happy. He is a good and leading example of what Cameroonian Priest abroad should emulate. Giving a good name not only to his Diocese but to the generality of Cameroon. It brings not prestige but as well impacts how other Catholic Dioceses look at Priests from Cameroon. It motivates the acceptance of Cameroonian Priests in Catholic Dioceses abroad.

To address him Rev. Prof. Dr. Maurice Agaw-Ebai would be an acknowledgement of deserved recognition for a wonderful Priest. Go abroad, make a name for yourself, lead your community to success, let your Diocese and the entire Catholic Church be proud and happy of your endeavours.

Rev. Professor. Dr. Maurice Agbaw-Ebai, you make us happy and proud. May God continue to help you be the good shepherd. We say THANK YOU!To God be the Glory.”

2.The Indomitable Role of Rev. Fr. Professor Dr. Maurice Agbaw-Ebai in assisting Bishop Lysinge from 2009-2014

The history of the Diocese of Mamfe cannot be complete without mentioning the name of Rev. Fr. Professor Dr. Maurice Agbaw-Ebai, who played a tremendous role in assisting Bishop Lysinge in building the structures and making the diocese of Mamfe known worldwide.

It was only after his nomination as the Diocesan Chancellor, the Diocesan Finance Administrator and the Private Secretary to Bishop Lysinge in 2009 that the Diocese came back on track. In a very short time after the Mamfe Diocese had derailed financially for 10 donkey years, with almost no project been completed, the presence of the newly ordained Rev. Fr. Maurice Agbaw-Ebai and his nomination as the Diocesan Chancellor, the Diocesan Finance Administrator and the Private Secretary to Bishop Lysinge, fresh from Hekima University College, Jesuit School of Theology, Nairobi, Kenya, in 2009 changed the modus operandi (that is, a particular way or method of doing something, especially one that is characteristic or well-established) of the Diocese of Mamfe.

Construction of the bishop’s house and the Cathedral was accelerated. In less than no time, the Mamfe bishop’s house was completed. For the past ten years, from 1999 to 2010, Bishop Lysinge lived in tiny bishop’s residence found opposite St Johns College, Nchang. The construction of bishop’s house at Mamfe became a mystery, until Fr. Dr. Prof. Maurice arrived to set financial records straight and transparent. Few years later after his arrival, the bishops house project was completed. Finally, Bishop Francis Teke Lysinge moved to live in the bishop’s house behind the Mamfe Cathedral.

As if that was not enough, Fr. Maurice Agbaw-Ebai fast-tracked the completion of: 1) The Mamfe Diocesan Secretariat; 2) The dusty Mamfe Cathedral which was sometimes watered before sweeping. There was no concrete; 3) The Minor Seminary in Fotabong; 4) The Spiritual Centre; 5) Countless presbyteries, and many parish churches and parishes were established.

Due to his academic exposure, having studied Theology abroad in Kenya with the Jesuits, Fr. Maurice Agbaw-Ebai saw the importance of sending seminarians to study out of Cameroon. In this regard, he assisted Bishop Lysinge in searching for scholarships in Rome for seminarians of Mamfe diocese and in preparing all the paperwork and visa processing that was needed to send seminarians abroad for studies. It is important to note here that the Congregation of Propaganda Fide issues many scholarships to diocese of mission territories to further their studies in Rome. They live at the Colegio Urbano. Until now, the francophone dioceses in Cameroon had enjoyed this opportunity of sending their seminarians to Rome on scholarship, while our Bishops of the Ecclesiastical province of Bamenda folded their arms and watch these opportunity pass by. Mamfe Diocese became the very first diocese in the Ecclesiastical Province of Bamenda to send seminarians abroad to Rome to study theology. According to some bishops of the Province, it had to be Bambui. Some bishops of the Ecclesiastical Province of Bamenda were even uncomfortable with the fact that Mamfe was sending seminarians to Rome but this did not deter Fr. Maurice and Bishop Lysinge to forge ahead knowing fully well that they were an autonomous diocese and could take initiatives for the good of their diocese regardless of what some bishops were saying. I would lie to specify that it was only during the tenure of Fr Maurice Agbaw-Ebai as his private secretary that this was made possible through his selfless and totally indefatigable, utterly unflagging, outstandingly unrelenting, and absolutely untiring assistance to Bishop Lysinge that Mamfe Diocese had numerous seminarians sent to study in Rome, beginning with Mr Marinus Ndifor and many others followed.

Many seminarians were also sent to Nigeria. Mamfe Diocese became known not only in Cameroon, but beyond, in fact worldwide thanks to the presence of Fr Maurice Agbaw-Ebai as private secretary to Bishop Lysinge.

Above all, the first Mamfe Diocesan priest was sent as Fide donum to lead the Cameroon Catholic Community in Mulheim, in the Diocese of Essen in the person of Fr. Constant Leke Ngolefac. Through these pastoral exchanges, Mamfe Diocese became known worldwide.

As you could see, the presence of Fr. Dr. Prof. Maurice Agbaw-Ebai as Diocesan Chancellor, the Diocesan Finance Administrator and the Private Secretary to Bishop Lysinge from 2009 played a tremendous role in assisting Bishop Lysinge retire on 25 January 2014 with almost all diocesan structures completed. In barely 4 years of service, Fr. Maurice Agbaw-Ebai and Bishop Lysinge accelerated a lot of projects to completion. Who is Fr. Dr. Prof. Maurice Agbaw-Ebai?

3. Reverend Father Doctor Professor Maurice Ashley Agbaw-Ebai: Educational Background

Reverend Father Doctor Professor Maurice Ashley Agbaw-Ebai is a former student of St. Joseph’s Primary School in Mamfe town.

He attended Government Bilingual Secondary School and Government High School Mamfe.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy (B.Phil.), Cum Laude Probatus, from St Thomas Aquinas Major Seminary, Bambui, Cameroon, an affiliate of the Pontifical Urban University, Rome in 2004. His Dissertation was titled: “Virtue in the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius” and his Dissertation Supervisor was the late Prof. Christian Mofor, Rector, St Thomas Aquinas Major Seminary, Bambui, Cameroon, of glorious and evergreen memory.

He also earned an S.T.B. – bachelor’s in theology, Summa Cum Laude from Hekima University College, Jesuit School of Theology, Nairobi, Kenya in 2009.

He earned a Th.M. – Master of Theology, from Boston College, School of Theology and Ministry in 2015.

He earned an S.T.L. – Licentiate in Sacred Theology, Boston College, School of Theology and Ministry in 2015: Major Field: Systematic Theology. His Dissertation was titled: “Joseph Ratzinger: The Word Became Love and Truth in the Church,” Dissertation Supervisor: Dr. Barbara Radtke.

He earned a M.A. in Philosophy with Distinctions, Boston College, Morrisey School of Arts and Sciences, 2018: Major Field of Study: Philosophy of Religion

He obtained an S.T.D. – Doctorate in Sacred Theology, Boston College, School of Theology and Ministry, 2018; Institut Papst Benedikt XVI, Regensburg, Germany: Systematic Theology. His Dissertation was titled: “The Aufklärung as the Hermeneutical Framework of the Christo-Ecclesiology of Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI,” Dissertation Advisor: Prof. Brian Dunkle, S.J., School of Theology and Ministry, Boston College.

He also earned a Ph.D. in Philosophy, Boston College, Morrisey School of Arts and Sciences, 2021: Major Field of Study: Philosophy of Religion in the era of the Enlightenment and Modern Philosophy. His Dissertation was titled: “The Relation with God in Living Subjectivity in Søren Kierkegaard and Maurice Blondel.” Dissertation Advisor: Prof. Jeffrey Bloechl, Philosophy Department, Boston College.

4. Revered Father Doctor Professor Maurice Ashley Agbaw-Ebai: Editorial Work

He was: Assistant Editor of the Searchlight Magazine, St Thomas Aquinas Major Seminary, Bambui, Cameroon and the Assistant Editor, Hekima Review, Hekima University College, Jesuit School of Theology, Nairobi, Kenya.

5. Revered Father Doctor Professor Maurice Ashley Agbaw-Ebai : Distinctions

Fr. Dr. Prof. Maurice has received the following distinctions:

1. Excellence Teaching/Mentor Certificate of Recognition, Woods, Boston College

2. Summa Cum Laude, bachelor’s in theology, Hekima University College, Jesuit School of Theology

3. Passed with Distinction, master’s in philosophy

4. Teaching and Research Interests Systematic Theology Philosophy of Religion

5. The Person and Theology of Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI

6. June 2018 – Present: Coordinator of the Benedict XVI Institute for Africa

6. Revered Father Doctor Professor Maurice Ashley Agbaw-Ebai : Teaching Experience

He has taught the following courses at Boston College include: Leadership and Decision Making: Ignatian-Based Applied Ethics; Systematic Theology; Foundations in Theology; Philosophical Ethics; Liturgy and Sacraments; Augustine’s Confessions; History of Theology; Christianity in Africa.

7. Revered Father Doctor Professor Maurice Ashley Agbaw-Ebai: Course Taught at St John’s Seminary, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston

Fr. Dr. Prof. Maurice taught “Joseph Ratzinger and the Enlightenment” at St John’s Seminary, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston.

8. Revered Father Doctor Professor Maurice Ashley Agbaw-Ebai: Publications – Articles

Fr. Dr. Prof. Maurice is a prolific researcher and writer. He has written and published about 39 articles. They include:

1. Benedict XVI: Co-Workers in the Truth (Papal Visit to Cameroon, 2008);

2. On the Reasonableness of Faith in Creation;

3. Catholicism And the Public Culture: Forming an Alternative Public Consciousness;

4. Catholicism as a Beautiful Experience;

5. Catholicism: An Advent and Easter Experience;

6. Benedict XVI and the Criticism of Faith and Church;

7. The Church and the Clown;

8. The Second African Synod – Rekindling the Flame and Vision;

9. Catholicism & Public Culture;

10. Catholicism and Irrational Public Power;

11. Catholicism and the Grammar of Tolerance;

12. Vatican Council II: An Ecclesial Mea Culpa?

13. The Popes and the Jews: The Religious Foundations of the Holocaust: Lessons for the World;

14. The Perenniality of Christian Martyrdom: From Freedom of Speech to Satanic Worship;

15. Catholicism and the Political Order;

16. The Confessing Church & the Two Popes;

17. The Popes and the Prisoners: The Case of Guantanamo Bay;

18. Conversion and the Kindly Light of John Henry Newman;

19. Mary of Nazareth and the Question of God;

20. Catholicism and Conflict Situations in Africa: Contributions from our tradition;

21. When Benedict XVI Was Right, and the World Wrong: Eight Years After Regensburg;

22. Pope Francis and the Culture of Encounter: From Gaudium et Spes to Evangelii Gaudium;

23. The Fear of the Future: Catholicism and the Practice of Divination;

24. The Triumph of Orthodoxy: The 2014 Synod of Bishops;

25. The 2014 Synod of Bishops: The Anatomy of a Crisis;

26. Africa and the Economy of Exclusion – Perspectives and New Horizons fro

27. The Joy of the Gospel of Pope Francis;

28. Blessed Are You, Beloved and Eminent Fr. Christian Mofor, PHD, Because You Believed! (Tribute)

29. Domine, Non Sum Dignus! The State of Grace and the Reception of Holy Communion;

30. Who Do You Say I Am? Evangelizing Today’s Culture;

31. Why I Still Believe in the Sinful Church;

32. Baptism Says It All;

33. The Goal of Ordinary Time;

34. Remembering Benedict XVI Three Years Ago;

35. Why Christians Must Be Strangers: The Church, the World and the God of Jesus Christ;

36. Amoris Laetitia, A Missed Evangelical Opportunity?

37. Father Benedict XVI, A Friend of Jesus Christ!

38. The Leap to Faith: A Kantian Reading of the Figure of Abraham in Soren Kierkegaard/Johannes De Silentio’s Fear and Trembling (Soundings, Penn State University Press, Fall 2020)

39. Conscience and the Discernment of the True and the Good in the Practice of Law

9. Revered Father Doctor Professor Maurice Ashley Agbaw-Ebai : Author of Books

Fr. Dr. Prof. Maurice has authored the following books:

1. Bishop Francis Teke Lysinge a Retrospective Legacy (2013)

2. Light of Reason, Light of Faith Joseph Ratzinger and the German Enlightenment (St Augustine’s Press, IN, 2020)

3. Lecture Africaine de la pensée de Benoît XVI (editor), (Presses de L’UCAC Yaoundé, September 2020)

10. Revered Father Doctor Professor Maurice Ashley Agbaw-Ebai: Conferences and Invited Speaking

He is a refined orator who can hold the audience spellbound. He has delivered the following conferences:

1. Address to the Sons of St Patrick, Boston College, October 22, 2015 at Boston College: The Church in Africa and the Synod of the Family

2. Ratzinger and the Future of African Theology, October 17 – 19 2019 at Mundelein Seminary, Chicago IL: Joseph Ratzinger’s Theological Reading of Political Power: Relevance for the Continent of Africa in the 21st Century

3. African Perspective of Benedict XVI’S Thought, November 27 – 29 2019 at the Catholic University of Central Africa, Yaoundé, Cameroon: Joseph Ratzinger and the Universality of Logos in Cultures: The Preference for Interculturality over Inculturation

4. St. John’s Seminary Faculty Lecture, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, July 1, 2020: The Sacraments of the Church: A Continuation of the Incarnate & Glorified Christ

5. Lecture to the Catholic Lawyers’ Guild of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, October 27 2020: Conscience and the Discernment of the True and the Good in the Practice of Law

11. Revered Father Doctor Professor Maurice Ashley Agbaw-Ebai: Grants & Funding Received

Fr. Dr. Prof. Maurice has received the following funding and grants which assisted him in his research and studies and to assist others and projects in Mamfe diocese:

1. Irish Memorial Fund, Boston College, 2013 – 2019

2. Institut Papst Benedikt XVI, Regensburg, Germany, 2016 – 2018 Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI Foundation, Vatican City, 2019 – 2020

12. Revered Father Doctor Professor Maurice Ashley Agbaw-Ebai : Interview

On May 21, 2019, an interview was conducted by John Tanyi Lebui titled “Boston: A Cameroonian Priest Speaks of His Journey with Pope Benedict XVI” to Fr. Dr. Prof. Maurice. Find excerpt of the interview:

“John Tanyi Lebui: Tell us about this today?

Maurice Ashley Agbaw-Ebai: Today, May 18, 2019, is Commencement day for Boston College. In this context, I received today the Doctorate in Sacred Theology, with humble pride.

John Tanyi Lebui: How did you come to this day?

Maurice Ashley Agbaw-Ebai: Through the antecedent and consequent grace of God! It is a day that has been long in the making! My journey with Ratzinger/Benedict XVI began with my undergraduate theological studies at Hekima College, Jesuit School of Theology, Nairobi, Kenya. I could say that it has taken fourteen years to get to this day. I did my Licentiate in Theology on Ratzinger, specifically his Ecclesiology, that is, his theology of the Church. I found in Ratzinger a steady and sure compass for my own theological orientation. When my Bishop asked me to do a doctorate, it appeared naturally to me to continue along the theological path with Ratzinger.

John Tanyi Lebui: What is the central question of your doctorate dissertation?

Maurice Ashley Agbaw-Ebai: I studied the philosophical framework thanks to which one can arrive at a deeper understanding of the Christological and the Ecclesiological underlining presuppositions and convictions of Joseph Ratzinger, especially in the light of post-modern secular reinterpretations of the figure of Jesus of Nazareth and the community called the Church.

John Tanyi Lebui: Could you describe the main findings of your study?

Maurice Ashley Agbaw-Ebai: Summarily, I found out that to understand Ratzinger’s Christo-Ecclesiology requires contextualizing Ratzinger in the hermeneutical framework of the Aufklärung, that is, the German Enlightenment, especially the figures of Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche and Heidegger. Of course, the starting point is Descartes’ Discourse on Method, which marks the beginning of modern philosophy, though of French origin. Then Kierkegaard too, of Danish origin, comes into the scene. I couldn’t convince my dissertation supervisor and dissertation committee members of the ratio-character of Kierkegaard as a proto-Ratzingerian, because they tended to see Kierkegaard as fideistic. But I hope to argue for the contrary in my post-doctoral work. These sentiments of the philosophical context of Ratzinger’s thoughts are captured in the topic of my doctoral thesis: The Aufklärung as the Hermeneutical Framework of the Christo-Ecclesiology of Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI.

John Tanyi Lebui: We know your home diocese of Mamfe is really proud of you and this achievement….

Maurice Ashley Agbaw-Ebai: After the defense of my doctoral thesis on April 25, 2019, I received a very generous email from my Bishop, Mgr. Andrew Nkea. He described what has happened as a milestone in my life and in the life of the Diocese of Mamfe. I felt that was very gracious. In addition, Fr. Marcel Sang, a priest of my diocese, was present for the defense. In him, I felt the support of the Presbyterium of my diocese. It was beautiful that he came all the way from Rome to be present at my defense. Fr. Edmund Ugochukwu too was present. He is a priest of Mamfe in spirit, even if juridically he belongs elsewhere. Mamfe Diocese to me is the fairest daughter of Zion. Everything is from her and everything leads to her.

John Tanyi Lebui: What next for you Dr. Agbaw-Ebai?

Maurice Ashley Agbaw-Ebai: (laughs) I really do not think I am comfortable with the title “Dr.” To me, the most esteemed title is that I am called “Fr.” Do you know even my mother calls me “Fr”! It is awesome. That means the world to me. And I think it is the same with all priests. To respond to your question: My bishop, Mgr. Andrew Nkea, has asked me to do another degree in Philosophy. I have to continue working on that. I have always been fascinated by atheism, especially in its theoretical form. If God does not exist, says the Russian Dostoevsky, then everything is possible! Even Nietzsche’s Übermensch is a logical consequence of the death of God.But what kind of a world results from the death of God? Even in Nietzsche, the reaction is ambivalent. After the Churches have become the sepulchers of God, what is left of the human being? What is left, even of God? What kind of God dies? The God of theodicy? The God of metaphysics? The God of religious dogma? Is it necessary for the God of theodicy to die in order for the God of religious experience who suffers and love to rise? Can God return? What is the possibility of the return of God? Can there be a dialectical and existential rapprochement between theism, atheism and anatheism? These are some of the questions that I am considering in my philosophy project. I know this might sound shocking to you: I turn to be deeply fascinated by the thought of atheism, by the promises that it offers. But don’t get me wrong! I believe in the God of Jesus Christ, even if with a small faith! Adauge nobis fidem, I turn to say to the Lord! And perhaps that small faith is enough for the Lord!

In addition, I have my job as a professor at Boston College. Recently, there is the discernment about me going as a visiting lecturer at St. Mary’s University, Minnesota, to teach a course on the major themes of Ratzinger’s theology. Then there is the work of the Benedict XVI Institute for Africa, which is planning two theological conferences this year, in Chicago in October, and at the Catholic University of Central Africa in Yaoundé, in November. Finally, with the permission of the Bishop of Mamfe, Boston is asking to administer a parish. I find this really interesting because it will be the first time that I will be a “resident pastor.” I have always been an assistant, in three parishes in Boston, at Newton, Medford and Georgetown. Now, I am being asked to move to another town. I hope I can help the community to deepen their friendship with Christ, the Way, the Truth and the Life. So, summarily, these are the things that will keep me busy and out of trouble (laughs), that is, working in the academia as a professor, while providing pastoral care to my new parish community. I count on your prayers.

John Tanyi Lebui: Any last word?

Maurice Ashley Agbaw-Ebai: Gratitude. Gratitude to God. Gratitude to my mother and family. Gratitude to Mamfe Diocese for all that I have become today. Gratitude to the priests of Mamfe. Gratitude to Bishop Lysinge, my first pastor and father. Gratitude to Bishop Andrew Nkea, who has done so much for me more than I could ever have imagined, especially given what he has asked me to do or permitted me to do.Gratitude to my seminary classmates. Gratitude to the parishes and peoples with whom I have worked and shared my life with here in the Archdiocese of Boston. Gratitude to Fr. Christian Mofor (RIP). I believe his legacy lives on. I am sure he must be very happy that I am finally doing a degree in philosophy. He always wanted that. And finally, gratitude to Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI, for shaping my life in ways beyond all telling. Best wishes and God’s abundant blessings to the readers of Cameroon Concord News Group.”

13. Bishop Nkea says Father Agbaw-Ebai loves the Church with his whole heart and he’s is not just a Catholic priest, but he is a true son of the Church

On 28, July 2019, at 10th Anniversary Mass of Fr. Dr. Prof. Maurice, then Bishop Nkea said that Father Agbaw-Ebai loves the Church with his whole heart, and he’s is not just a Catholic priest, but he is a true son of the Church. These were the exact words of Bishop Nkea who delivered the homily in Boston:

“HOMILY AT THE MASS OF THE TENTH ANNIVERSARY TO THE PRIESTHOOD OF REV. FR. MAURICE AGBAW-EBAI, BOSTON, USA, 28TH JULY 2019

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Today is a very important day in the life of Rev. Fr. Maurice Agbaw Ebai, Priest of the Diocese of Mamfe, Cameroon and Pastor of St. Anne’s Parish in the Archdiocese of Boston, United States of America. On this day, we have all joined to render thanks to Almighty God, who ten years ago, called Fr. Maurice to make a complete and irreversible donation of his entire life to the service of and to pour out his life as a libation for the redemption of souls. On this day, ten years ago, Fr. Maurice died with Christ on his altar of sacrifice, and after his ordination, he could say with St. Paul, “it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” Jesus Christ his Son, and to the Church that is One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic. On this day, ten years ago, Fr. Maurice prostrated himself before God and the Entire Church gathered in prayer, to empty himself of himself

My dear people of God gathered here with Fr. Maurice Agbaw-Ebai to celebrate his tenth anniversary, I welcome you all to this great day in the life of this priest and I want to apologize that I could not stay in America long enough to be present at this occasion which I had agreed to preside over and preach. But since urgent duties recalled me home to the Diocese of Mamfe and the Church in Cameroon, I decided to ask Fr. Dieudonne Akawung, the Diocesan Finance Administrator to come to Boston and to preach this homily on my behalf which I had written to preach myself. I know that Fr. Dieudonne will deliver the homily well on my behalf, but the only difference is that he will be delivering the homily without a miter on his head. Some people in Mamfe had asked me if I was going all the way to the United States to celebrate only a tenth anniversary, what would I do if it were a silver Jubilee? My answer to them was a quotation from the Psalmist who said, “One day in his house is better than a thousand elsewhere” and again, the same Psalmist who said in another instance that “a thousand years for God is like a day just come and gone” (Ps.90:4). To be a priest even for one day only, brings a lot of glory and honour to name of Jesus Christ who is the Supreme High Priest of the New Covenant. If after nine years of seminary formation, a priest had the chance to celebrate only one Mass and died, he would have fulfilled the reason for his ordination, because his first Mass and the Mass of his golden Jubilee in the priesthood is one continuous sacrifice, during which he re-enacts in an un-bloody way, the bloody sacrifice offered by Jesus Christ on the Cross for the salvation of the world. Therefore, this celebration is not about Fr. Maurice, it is about glory and honour to the Name of Jesus Christ whom he has been so blessed to serve with devotion and loyalty all these ten years.

However, while we give honour and glory to God, we must remember the quote from St. Augustine who said “Without God, we cannot. Without us, God will not”. It is in this light I wish to join you all and say to Fr. Maurice, a big Congratulations on your tenth anniversary. Within these ten years, God has used your hands to dispense his blessings to thousands of people, God has used your mouth and your voice to bring his Good News and consolation to thousands of Christ’s Faithful. Within these ten years, God has used you to bring absolution and forgive the sins of thousands of people everywhere in the confessionals. Within these ten years, many have been born through you in the waters of baptism, and above all every day, you have stood in the place of Christ to celebrate the Eucharist and raise the cup of salvation on behalf of the people of God entrusted to your care. Fr. Maurice and many of us will now understand better what St. Augustine meant when he said, “without us, God will not”. Thank you, Father Maurice, for making yourself an instrument in the hands of God for all these years so that God’s graces may come down from heaven and rest on his people on earth. Through you, heaven is wedded to earth and man is reconciled with God. For this, we can only say “Glory be to God on high, and congratulations to you, man of goodwill.”

In the Letter to the Hebrews, it is stated that every high priest has been taken out of mankind, and is appointed to act for men in their relations with God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins… No one takes this honour on himself, but each one is called by God as Aaron was (Heb. 5:1-4).

The priesthood thus is a gift and at the same time, it is a mystery. It is a gift in the sense that it is freely given by God. That is why Christ says in John 15:16 that you did not choose me, no, I chose you; and I commissioned you to go out and to bear fruit, fruit that will last.

It is a mystery because it is something that can never be understood. How can a human being command God to come into bread? How can human being touch water and it becomes holy? How can a human being throw a bit of water on your head and original sin is taken away? How can a human being wave his hands in the air and impart the blessing of God? How can a human being say, “I absolve you” and sin is taken away? This remains a mystery, more or less like the Trinity, the most ancient of all mysteries. Even the priest who carries the priesthood in him does not fully understand it. He simply exercises this ministry in faith, knowing that the Lord who called him and whom he is serving, will not let him down.

The priest is a man of God and he never acts in his name but in the name of the one who sent him. That is why every time the priest carries out liturgical function, he does so in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. He never does this in his own personal name.

There are two things I would like you people to understand today about priests on this day on the tenth anniversary celebration of Fr. Maurice.

The first is that Priests called by God are human and sinners like all other people. That is why St. Paul Says in 2Cor. 4:7; that we are only earthenware jars that hold this treasure, to make it clear that such an overwhelming power comes from God and not from us. Priests fall down in different ways from time to time. The twelve Apostles called on Holy Thursday to be priests were men, with faults and failings. Fr. Columba, an Irish Priest said in one of his homilies that The first Pope, St. Peter was rash and bad tempered. He also denied Christ in His hour of need. St. Mathew was a swindler who co-operated with his country’s enemies. And poor St. Thomas wasn’t too sure about what he believed or where he stood. If God only relied on the virtuous and the perfect, he would have very few (or no) priests. I for one standing here would not even come anywhere near the altar.

In this regard, I want to say that most often Christians see the man in the priest and not the priest in the man. Many people only look at the man in the priest, and some people may not even believe in the miraculous work of God through the priest. But when we look at the priest in the man, we transcend his own petty weaknesses and see the grace of God at work in us through the instrumentality of human beings. It is in this connection that the church teaches us about the principle of ex opereoperato to mean that the efficacy of the sacrament does not depend on the worthiness of the priest. He is a simple instrument that has to struggle for his own salvation in fear and trembling.

The second thing I want you to understand about priests is that their life is not their own. They have offered it to the church, and they do everything according to the mind of the Church. They must conform therefore not to the standards set by men but to the standards set by God and the Church. These standards come out in the way they minister to their people. Before you think of the one wrong of a priest, remember the thousand good things he does for his flock daily. Satan exists in the community to ruin it. The priest is a good and struggling man. His goodness is and should not only be seen when de dies. Always be ready to appreciate what a priest does for you, never take it for granted.

From the day Fr. Maurice Agbaw-Ebai was ordained a priest in the Diocese of Mamfe, he has done his work to the best of his ability, and like his Bishop, I want to use this chance to thank him for the priest that he has been. The real seminary for the priest is the Ministry, and thus we rise and fall in our attempt to give our all to God. The one thing I know for certain about this priest, all his human weaknesses notwithstanding, is that he loves the church with his whole heart. He is not just a Catholic priest, but he is a true son of the Church and he is ready to defend the doctrine of the Church with such passion that could be seen only in the likes of St. Irenaeus, St. Athanasius and his mentor in the faith, Pope Benedict XVI. I encourage him on this day that his faith may never fail, so that he may always remain a source of strength to his brothers and sisters in Christ. I invite all of you in this Church today to pray in a very special way for our celebrant, that he may remain faithful to Christ, loyal to the Church, fervent in prayer and constant in love for the Christians he serves in the Archdiocese of Boston.

I wish each and every one of you a very happy celebration, and once again to Fr. Maurice, Happy tenth Anniversary and God bless you all.

+Andrew NKEA, Bishop of Mamfe.”

14. Conclusion

Finally, Fr Paul Ajong of the BVM wrote on April 17, 2022 from Salem, Massachusetts: “Today, permit me shine the light and say Congratulations to Rev. Fr. Dr. Maurice Ashley Agbaw-Ebai who hands over as the Parish Priest of Sainte Anne Salem to take up his new appointment as a Permanent Formator at St John’s Seminary, Boston. Fr Maurice is a Priest of the Diocese of Mamfe Cameroon currently serving in the Archdiocese of Boston, USA. Giving his vast and deep knowledge in Theology and Philosophy and having obtained a Doctoral Degree in both fields; bearing in mind his love for the Church and the people of God placed in his charge and giving the number of years he has faithfully served as a Priest; it was no surprise to me when Fr Maurice told me he has been appointed by Cardinal Sean O’Malley of the Archdiocese of Boston to join the permanent formation team that trains young men to the Ministerial Priesthood. Many of us having been seminarians under his watchful and fatherly care, I have no doubt that he will make one of the best Formators for our young people discerning the call to the Sacred Priesthood. We pray that God continues to strengthen him. In addition to this new responsibility, Fr Maurice is also a lecturer in Boston College and other Universities around Boston area. He also sacrifices to give lectures in CATUC, the Catholic University of our Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province. His love and admiration for the Pope Emeritus Bénédicte XVI has led him into a deep probing and understanding of Ratzinger’s Intellectual Richness. He therefore also heads the Branch of the Ratzinger Institute in the Central African States under development. We thank him for the work he has been doing not only for the Archdiocese of Boston but also for the great source of blessing he has been for his home Diocese of Mamfe Cameroon. Join me Congratulate Fr. Maurice on this great day that the Lord has made and bid us rejoice. We pray that God strengthens him in this new responsibility with all the graces needed. God bless you all.”

I wish to end this encomium by wishing Rev. Fr. Dr. Prof. Maurice Agbaw-Ebai the very best as he begins this new ministry. Thank you for making the diocese of Mamfe proud. May the good Lord protect him and guide him with the necessary graces to accomplish this significant mission in the Church. Amen.

This encomium was respectfully, devotedly, affectionately, and prayerfully submitted today for publication.

Written by Nchumbonga George Lekelefac, B. Phil. (Mexico), STB. (Roma), JCL/MCL. (Ottawa); Diploma in English, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, German, and Dutch; [Degrees earned in order to serve mankind better and not otherwise]; Doctorate Candidate at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, Katholisch Theologische Fakultät, Ökumenisches Institut, Münster, Deutschland, Europe.

29, April 2022

Football: Klopp unsure if his own Liverpool deal will persuade Salah to stay ⁰

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp says he does not believe his new deal will be the deciding factor in whether star forwards Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane commit their long-term futures to the club.

Salah and Mane, along with fellow attacker Roberto Firmino and midfielder Naby Keita, have contracts that expire next year.

With Klopp now staying until 2026, there is a greater degree of security at the club, but the German is not convinced that will make a huge difference to individual players’ decisions.

“If it is a positive sign for the boys, great, but I don’t think this will be the one decisive thing for whatever decision they want to make,” he said on Friday.

“It is their own life but we just wanted to guarantee that everyone who wants to be here knows what he can expect.”

Egypt international Salah, whose negotiations have dragged on for several months, admitted last week it was not certain he would remain at Anfield, stressing the decision was not just about the money.

But Klopp said he did not make judgements about players’ loyalty based on whether they wanted to go elsewhere.

“If a player tells you early enough he wants to go then you have to deal with it,” Klopp said.

“I don’t judge people if they are loyal or not if they say during a contract ‘I want to go somewhere else and see what the weather is like or how the grass is there’.

“That’s not the case. I think you see loyalty in other areas.”

Salah was named the Football Writers’ Association player of the year on Friday.

Klopp takes his side to Newcastle for the early kick-off on Saturday, looking to put pressure on Premier League leaders Manchester City, who are playing later at Leeds, by opening up a two-point gap at the top.

With one foot in the Champions League final after a 2-0 win over Villarreal in the first leg of their semi-final and an FA Cup final against Chelsea next month, an unprecedented quadruple remains a possibility.

Klopp, whose side have already won the League Cup this season, said his new contract was the start of a new era at the club.

“We don’t think about changing the team in the next two or three years or whatever, but you have to prepare the little things so that you are ready for the future as well,” he said.

“That’s why I really think it’s a really good place to be or a good place to join, if not the perfect place.

“We cannot wait 10 years. We have to do it now. It’s no threat. This is only the start, to be honest. That’s the plan that we really, really go for it.”

Source: AFP

29, April 2022

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Yerima criticizes Amba frontline movements for politicizing the struggle ⁰

Ahead of his planned visit to Ground Zero, the Vice President of the Ambazonia Interim Government has criticized Southern Cameroons frontline movements for acting very poorly in supporting Ground Zero operations against French Cameroun occupation.

Vice President Dabney Yerima made the comments during a telephone conversation with Cameroon Concord News London Bureau Chief Isong Asu late on Thursday.

The exiled Ambazonia leader took Southern Cameroons frontline movements to task for politicizing the struggle against La Republique du Cameroun, describing the move as completely unacceptable.

“Sadly, some Ambazonia frontline movements are acting very poorly vis-à-vis the battle to liberate Southern Cameroons and are not even willing to talk to the Interim Government about Ground Zero operations. Some of them imagine that relying on tribal support is the way to help the Federal Republic of Ambazonia!! This is a big mistake,” Dabney Yerima noted.

Vice President Dabney Yerima said no county in both the Northern and Southern Zones is capable of freeing Southern Cameroons alone, expressing hope that Ambazonians will soon regain their country from the French backed French Cameroun occupation.

Yerima hailed the oppressed but powerful Southern Cameroonians in Ground Zero and in Ground One who have been preventing the Ambazonians struggle from sinking into oblivion through their resistance and sacrifices.

“My trip to Ground Zero pending clearance from our intelligence agencies will provide me and other members of your Interim Government the appropriate opportunity to express our sympathy and solidarity with all our refugee population and the oppressed people of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia,” Yerima concluded.

By Chi Prudence Asong with files from Isong Asu

28, April 2022

London: Manyus share touching photographs in loving memory to Princess Cecilqueen Ebika Ashukem ⁰

The family represents nature in its most distinct manifestation, and it is the cornerstone of human society. Consequently, individuals who invest in their families make the most significant contribution to their nation and humanity.

When a child is born, its parents always contemplate what role the new family member will play in contributing to the family’s success.

About fifty-two years ago, a princess was born to Chief Ashukem Nkwanyou Abanda and Mama Lucy Nga Eyong Ashukem.

She was Princess Cecilqueen Ebika Ashukem. The young beauty was one of eight children born to Mama Lucy Ashukem and was the only daughter of her mother to survive her first birthday.

In her earlier years, she devoted time to her father’s palace and learned almost everything there was to learn about the history of the Manyu nation and the culture of its people.

In the palace, she demonstrated strong character and leadership skills in a family jam-packed with boys, and she nurtured the importance of promoting communal and extended family love.

The princess obtained her primary education from the schools in Ebeagwa and Tinto villages, Manyu, Cameroon. It was a difficult decision for Chief Ashukem to let the young princess leave the palace to acquire secondary and high school education away from Ebeagwa.

Still, she left home and obtained her secondary education in PSS Besongabang, GHS Eyumojock and Worldwide Mission Mpondo. Upon completing her high school education, Princess Cecilqueen Ebika spent time between Buea and Mamfe and lived with her older brother, Chief John Beteck Ashukem.

Princess Ebika often recounted to her children how much love and inspiration her senior brother, Chief Beteck,had lavished upon her.

As Cameroon’s economy faced difficulties in the nineties, and many young people left the country for greener pastures in Europe and North America, this princess also looked outwards for solutions to her economic and financial challenges.

In 1996, the young Ms. Ebika Ashukem was granted a visa to the United Kingdom. One of her closest friends in Holland remarked that “when Ebika had that visa to the UK, it was a turning point for her family.”

Her coming to the UK was a huge blessing to her family in Cameroon. Like many families where she came from, hers was not economically affluent and struggled to afford the basic needs for human existence.

For her family, food, medication, clothing, and other essentials for a convenient life were in short supply, but hunger and anxiety were plentiful.

Upon arrival in the United Kingdom in 1996, the young Cecilqueen Ashukem had three words as her motto – Family, Prayer and Charity—because her goal was to end the economic challenges of her family in Cameroon.

While many who travelled to the UK from poor backgrounds in Africa in the mid-nineties concentrated on primitive material consumption, she invested her income in making her family better. The cold weather in her new country did not prevent her from going after her goals.

She went to work and sometimes took on two jobs with many agencies around London. She worked day and night with the sole purpose of saving enough money to support her numerous family members scattered all over the regions and villages in Cameroon.

While dereliction of family responsibility is now a norm in Manyu, she was the opposite through her actions. She took a keen interest in offering opportunities to the less fortunate in her family and beyond.

Over the years, she single-handedly sponsored nine family members to the UK. Her charitable deeds are an inspiring example for many to follow. Even on her deathbed, she was still supporting many children in Cameroon.

In 2016, she lavished gifts and money on Bate Nico as her appreciation for his outstanding contribution to Manyu music and culture. She made immeasurable sacrifices to all who knew her. Her home in London was open to all, and the quality of her cooked dinners was something that would never be forgotten by those lucky enough to have enjoyed them.

Her ability to engage in conversation about the rich history and culture of the Manyu nation was remarkable.

In 1997, Aunty Ebika Ashukem got married to Mr Jean-Louis Mellot. They were opposite personalities who had a great union by complementing each other and were blessed with two exceptional children, Jennifer and Rene.

Mr. Mellot sadly preceded her in death in May 2010. Over the last twelve months, Princess Ebika Ashukem was in and out of the hospital with various health complications and, sadly, was called to rest with our Lord on 10 April 2022.

She lives behind three children, a sizable family in the UK and a vast Manyu community in the UK to mourn her.

Princess Ebika Ashukem never claimed infallibility and righteousness, and maybe, she was unlucky to be surrounded by people who were experts at fault-finding.

She possessed several weaknesses like all mortals, but the devil is always in the detail. When a woman invests in sponsoring more than nine of her family members from Cameroon to the UK, the conclusion must be resounding.

The outward deeds of humans mirror their inward selves, and a life of charity is superior to its opposite. Her loss reminds us of just how delicate life is. Her life teaches us the importance of love and the need to show our loved ones that we appreciate them. The perfect society or perfect human being is an imagined creation by scholastic thinkers.

Our sister’s loss should serve as a warning to people who would remove the speck from the eye of others and fail to see the beam on their own.

Her life amplifies the need to be charitable, and she exits the stage, having made the Manyu community in the UK and the entire Manyu nation better.

Her kindness magnifies the world she created, evidenced by the many people now bearing her family name in the UK.

Fifty-two years ago, Chief Ashukem wondered what the young Princess Ebika had to offer. She placed value on family, and by investing in her family, she has left the world a better place than she met it.

Princess Cecilqueen Ebika Ashukem, rest in peace, for you came, saw, and made a difference.

By Isong Asu with files from Jennifer Mellot

28, April 2022

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Vice President Dabney Yerima to visit Ground Zero ⁰

The Vice President of the Ambazonia Interim Government Dabney Yerima is planning to visit the suffering peoples of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia in Ground Zero later this coming month after five years of fighting between the two Cameroons, Cameroon Intelligence Report has gathered from people in the know deep within the Interim Government.

Two IG sources familiar with the trip, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the visit is yet to get clearance from Southern Cameroons chief intelligence officer in Ground Zero, but scheduling issues could delay it to end of May.

The development comes as several French Cameroun media houses confirmed reports that the 89-year-old President Biya of French Cameroun has in the past few days suffered a series of ailments.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

28, April 2022

Cameroon becomes anti-French and goes with Moscow ⁰

The Cameroonian Defense Minister flew to Moscow to sign it, in complete secrecy and in the midst of the Ukrainian conflict. It was not supposed to be known, but the press gave an account.

Cameroon has been experiencing a bitter conflict, since 2016, in the two Anglophone provinces of the country that demand independence from the central state and then has to contend with the increasingly bloody incursions of Boko Haram in the Far North.

The current agreement, much broader and more organic than the previous one, albeit in generic terms, raises not a little perplexity precisely because it is not specific, as in the case of Mali and the Central African Republic, the supply of weapons, but only that “other areas of cooperation can be considered”. And it is precisely this clause that causes debate and creates perplexity because the “other areas of cooperation” can enter the employment and deployment of the Wagner Company, Russian mercenaries already employed in areas of conflict on the African continent.

Culled from ruetir.com