Excerpt of Disciples of Fortune
....The aging Nana Njike knew that the world would come to the end of a phase that would unleash forces of liberation that would greatly offset the prevailing situations in the colonies and mandates inAfrica . He thought he could do something to ensure that French Camerounians and other Africans take advantage of the expected orientation of world diplomacy and liberate themselves from the yoke of colonialism. As a fervent union-nationalist strongly in favor of the reunification of the lands of the former German Kamerun, the aging sage knew that he did not have much time left to mobilize others to continue with the reunification and liberation drive in his absence.
....The aging Nana Njike knew that the world would come to the end of a phase that would unleash forces of liberation that would greatly offset the prevailing situations in the colonies and mandates in
When Nana Njike encouraged young French Camerounians and British Cameroonians abroad to form a political party, he knew he was starting a new phase that would change his people’s destiny forever. However, he focused more on the Rassemblement Democratique Africain (RDA), a party with organs in most territories of French Sub-Saharan Africa that was in alliance with the French Communist party in the French parliament. He advised the French Camerounian branch of the RDA to pressure their African counterparts to withdraw from this alliance, demanding that the RDA reorganize itself to look entirely African, with autonomous powers residing with the branches in the various territories.
Nana Njike’s calculation was that the supra nature of the RDA party would enable it to become more democratic, thereby facilitating decision-making at the union level, which would be reached by general consensus. To this end, he pledged his support at the union level while focusing on making it successful in French Cameroun.
At times, Nana Njike was a lone fighter charting waters that bewildered his potential disciples. Still, he remained relentless in setting the groundwork for the future political path of the territory. To this end, he held discreet talks with the French administration, explaining his noble intentions and actions. He reassured them that France and its subjects in Africa would enjoy mutually beneficial ties forever if only they accommodated the political aspirations of his people.
That was why Félix Éboué arranged with the mandatory government to make him a delegate to the conference on colonial affairs convened in Brazzaville by General Charles De Gaulle, the leader of the Free French Forces fighting against the German occupation of France and against the puppet Vichy regime that Nazi Germany installed in the South of the country. Nana Njike made it known to the French in very plain terms that the reunification of British Cameroons and French Cameroun was inevitable, and that it would be best for the colonial powers not to fight it.
When he realized that De Gaulle was noncommittal in his acquiescence of the wide powers French Camerounians needed to wield in determining the course of their destiny, he became greatly perturbed.
Nana Njike returned from Brazzaville and called his three sons over to his study in Nkongsamba that same night. He was slightly grumpy as he received them inside. He told them about the conference that he believed the French convened to reassure themselves that they still had a firm grip over their colonies and territories in Africa while giving US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt the impression that France was in line with his call for the colonies to be granted self-rule.
“Ah, Sons, we should be more ferocious in our demands if we want those reneging bastards who are directing French policy in Africa to take us seriously. It is as if I didn’t help them in recruiting fighters for the Free French Forces. Didn’t we commit our resources to facilitate their takeover of Central Africa from the supporters of the Vichy regime?”
“It was a matter of choice. The Vichy supporters in French Central Africa were Fascists for all I know,” Hans interjected.
“I know, I know,” Nana Njike growled with pursed lips.
“Not backing down against De Gaulle and his gang wouldn’t be an easy fight, I must confess,” Paul said with a cough.
“Remember these, Sons! Truth presented with tenderness enriches the soul of man and enhances humanity in the process. A Franco-Cameroonian relation based on truth and nurtured with tenderness will be to the benefit not only of Kamerun and France but also of mankind as a whole.”
“Truth is rarely a quality big powers cherish in an unbalanced relationship that they are benefitting from,” Hans said.
“Don’t expect to have it easy whenever you are trying to get what you deserve, especially with the French in control. When haven’t we had to wrench our basic rights and freedom from them?”
“You know them better,” Hans said.
“Now, I know what they do not want. My contacts in the British government informed me of President Roosevelt’s stance on the future and freedom of the colonies and trust territories in Africa, The Middle East, and Asia. The American president supports the granting of freedom to the colonies. He impressed that on De Gaulle and even got the general’s word that he would acquiesce to the demands of French colonial subjects. We don’t need to be marabous to understand that De Gaulle didn’t mean his words. I encouraged Kamerunians on both sides of the River Mungo to fight for the Free French Forces. I helped Jacques Philippe LeClerc in Douala when he started putting together the ragtag force that is now the best fighting machinery in the French Army, and what are we getting in return for our support and good intentions?”
“I warned you about LeClerc’s claims of being a hundred percent spokesperson for De Gaulle. All he wanted was French Camerounian blood in aiding France in the fight against Hitler’s Germany,” Hans said.
“I don’t regret our involvement in the war. I don’t object to Africans from the French colonies paying the heaviest human price fighting for France. Nazism is evil. Period! The world cannot afford to live with it. But we must not be made to pay for France’s loss of self-esteem or loss of sense of security.”
“What are you talking about, Papa?” Philip asked.
“I am talking about the psychology of it all. De Gaulle is trying to use the colonies to reassure himself that France is still great. It is like a husband who goes home and beats up his wife and children because he got knocked around and humiliated by other men outside of his home.”
“Papa, I still don’t get it,” Philip repeated.
“Do you know what René Pleven, the minister of the colonies wanted during the Brazzaville conference? He pledged new institutions that would not ensure the independence of our people. The new institutions he has in mind would work to carve out a new role for us in the French web. It is like moving us from the role of field slaves to kitchen slaves. He even added that we ‘are populations that France intends to lead, step by step, to a more complete personality, to political enfranchisement, but who would not be expected to know independence other than the independence of France.’”
“Incredible!” Philip muttered.
“Ah, Sons, he actually meant that we wouldn’t be given the rights to local legislatures. They wouldn’t even allow us to smell executive powers. Instead, they intend to allow us access to the legislature and executive of France, with our lips sealed whenever the legislative processes are going on there. It is tantamount to a mere extension of their assimilation policy intended to breed African leaders that would do their bidding and that are disconnected from their own people.”
“As businessmen, I don’t think we should get directly involved in the present political wrangling,” Philip said all of a sudden.
Nana Njike was dumbfounded for a moment, his eyes quizzical on his third son. Then he shook his head with a chortle. “You have been surprising me this past couple of months, Son!”
“That’s how I feel,” Philip stuttered.
“Yes, Philip, I know that’s how you feel. But that doesn’t change the fact that you have been surprising me. Do you know what I am starting to think of you? You are a junk to progress. You know exactly what I mean, don’t you? That means you are a useless man when it comes to practical progress.”
“I said it in good faith,” Philip said, sounding embarrassed.
“In good faith, you said. Still, it doesn’t change the fact that you are a junk to progress. Now, listen to me, and listen to me well. A man can have his degrees and diplomas, repeat over and over what he has learned, which unfortunately are the efforts of others towards progress, but if he doesn’t add something to the material he learned, something that will help to advance a generation in that field, that means he has wasted his span towards progress. Yes, Sons, such a man would have betrayed the generations he taught and lived with even if he made material acquisitions, material acquisitions that are for the man’s ego only. Such a person is a misfit in society, a dropout in the race to progress, a junk of unprecedented decadence.”
“Wow!” Paul exclaimed.
“Oh yes! Your brother seems determined to prove that he is a junk to progress. Yes, Philip! You are always afraid to test the limits of your potential if you think it isn’t in your interest to do so. But I want you to know that what you are today also came about from the efforts of some people you know nothing about. We have a responsibility to the world we live in, even if we can’t fully discern that responsibility.”
“The point I am trying to make is that it would be risky for our business if we stand up to France so pointedly, so directly. The worst could happen,” Philip retorted.
“Damn you, Son! You are running down my nerves with your cowardice. Take a stand that reflects the widest horizons of your soul if you don’t want to be a slave to external powers. Our cause is just. The French and their allies know that. We survived the French in the past because we were fully committed. An unflinching commitment now shall still make us victorious,” Nana Njike roared.
“But you fought them as a businessman, not as a politician,” Philip shot back.
Nana Njike stared at his son forcefully with fierce eyes. It dawned on him in a flash that he would have to dispel his rage in order not to take it on Philip. He heaved a sigh, allowing his rage to subside. “I called you over here not as businessmen but as politicians. If you abhor that, then you are free to leave,” he said it so mildly that it sounded strange even to his own ears.
Everybody was quiet for a moment until the tenseness around had subsided. “I’m not a coward, but I fear failure. I fear betrayal,” Philip said with a sense of foreboding that surprised Nana Njike.
“Remember, Sons! Survivors and prevailers are those who love themselves above failure and everything else except the abstract and mysterious. The abstract and mysterious are those people and things that enrich our lives, those people and things that we invest our time and energy in without expecting rewards, to the point where we turn to view any reward from them as a bonus. A man’s family and homeland are two of those exceptions. His reverend is another. You will never fail in the eternal sense of things if you sacrifice your love for yourself over those three because there will always be someone who shares your noble intentions to take over from where you left off. Betrayal over the abstract and the mysterious that are embodied in an ideal for something good and noble can’t be blamed on the betrayed because the course of an ideal can never be charted with a hundred percent certainty. You are not a failure if people betray you while you are brandishing such an ideal or even if the ideal or its cause ends in a shipwreck. Don’t we all accept the fact that we can live with errors?” Nana Njike said, looking tired all of a sudden.
His sons regarded him without uttering a word. He thought they did not understand what he was trying to say.
“How, Papa?” Paul asked finally.
Nana Njike shrugged. “You will understand what I mean after you give it a deep and careful thought,” he said.
“And what if we never get to understand what you mean?” Philip asked.
“I will make it simple,” Nana Njike said, “We find our greatest peace when we embrace something that gives meaning to our lives. Often, it is love for somebody or something we can give up our lives for or somebody or something that we are sure can never betray us. That love could be for a partner, for our offspring, for a country or for a belief,” he added in a composed manner.
“So, what do you expect us to do?” Hans asked for the first time.
Nana Njike raised his hands in the air and dropped them expressively. “The war will soon come to an end. But before that happens, we should be prepared. We need to organize ourselves into a powerful force capable of pressing ahead with our demands to realize our political aspirations. Well, I may not be around for long, but you my sons shouldn’t detach yourself from your obligations to this land. We can’t say that it has not been kind to us.”
“What do you mean?” Philip asked.
“Sons, any man who is considered a success in life owes a lot to society. We have been very blessed, my dear sons. We have to show our appreciation to our society for making that possible. A time will come when you will meet other Kamerunians who share the same vision for this land. I am advising you to make them partners in our common goals when that time comes. We shouldn’t shy away from playing a formidable role in financing that political force that would emerge. We shall use our influence to ensure that it succeeds.”
And Nana Njike did not fail to live up to his words. He continued to encourage his sons in their endeavors and made it a point to brief them on the challenges that they would encounter in the years to come in the struggle to realize a political future for the former German colony and for the rest of Africa. He introduced them to some of the promising personalities he considered indispensable in any political setup in the land.
Even so, Nana Njike was not nepotistic in his judgments. He realized with rue that his sons might never make good politicians, except perhaps Nkabyo and Paul. Still, he never became disheartened. All he wanted was for capable men to lead British Cameroons and French Cameroun to reunification and independence. He would not mind who led that drive. The realization of the noble Kamerunian purpose was what mattered to him the most. He would ensure the continuous supply of funds from the family business to realize those dreams....
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