By Hope Nda
The Minister of Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji, the Governor of the Southwest Region, Bernard Okalia Bilai, and other administrators have been taken to court over allegations of complicity in the illegal seizure of ancestral land in Ewonda village, Buea.
The Administrative Court of the Southwest Region, where the case was filed, entertained it for the first time on Wednesday, January 14.
The plaintiffs, represented by Barrister Nyonbadmia Evine of Shalom Legal Consultants in Buea, are seeking an urgent suspension of a contentious order signed by the Senior Divisional Officer for Fako, Viang Mekala.
The Prefectoral Order No. 701/PO/0.37/C90/JAP established a commission to resolve a boundary dispute between Ewonda, Lower Ewonda, Bokwai, Bonduma and Buea Town villages.
Ewonda natives, however, argue that the order was out of place because they have no land boundary problems with their neighbors—they only want to reclaim their ancestral land that has been seized under the guise of a newly created village called Lower Ewonda.
The applicants, numbering 18 Ewonda natives, argue that the prefectural commission’s work is a pretext to legitimise the dispossession of their ancestral lands in favour of Lower Ewonda Village, which only began existing in 2021.
In court documents, the plaintiffs assert they have held and worked the land “from time immemorial,” with homes, farms, and other developments on the parcels.
They allege a coordinated effort by the MINAT boss, the Southwest Governor, the SDO of Fako, the DO of Buea and two individuals, Tonga Tobias Vefonge and Paul Molua Tonga—the chief of Lower Ewonda and his brother—to “disinherit, dispossess and grab” their land.
The law suit decries the controversial creation of Lower Ewonda village in 2021, followed by attempts to sell the land.
Before seizing the Administrative Court, Ewonda natives had taken several actions in an attempt to reclaim the land.
They had prayed the Buea Court of First Instance, which issued an injunction order stopping all works that were being carried out by representatives of Lower Ewonda. However, this court order has been repeatedly disregarded, The Post learned.
Lower Ewonda natives alleged the use of military and police to prevent them from accessing their property.
Citing “irreparable harm,” the applicants have petitioned the Administrative Court president for an urgent stay of execution to halt the SDO’s boundary commission’s work while pending a full trial. Their argument hinges on constitutional protections of property rights and customary land tenure, as well as alleged procedural violations in establishing the commission.