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| Prof. Njikong Stephen Yeriwa |
HRH Senator Prof. Jikong Stephen Yeriwa, 69, and traditional ruler of Jato-Gwembe
village in Nwa subdivision of the Donga Mantung Division died at the Yaounde
General Hospital shortly after midday, family sources told News Watch.
According to a family member, Godlove Jato who this reporter met amongst
mourners at the deceased’s residence in Damas Yaounde a few minutes after the
senator’s demise, Prof Jikong had been sick even before becoming a senator but
he was shocked that death took him too early.
Mr. Jato explained that about six weeks ago, the senator was in the
United States and when he came back, he (Godlove Jato) accompanied the senator
to the hospital where it was established that he had a kidney problem.
But Senator Jikong attended the opening ceremony of the senate on
Tuesday 12 November, took part in the corpse removal of senator Nkwain the
following day.
“When we came back from the
corpse removal on Thursday, he complained of tiredness, we went to the hospital
on Friday and he died on Saturday at about 12:40pm”, Mr. Jato explained.
The demise of the Donga Mantung
senator has not only left a vacancy at the upper house of parliament but also
Uncompleted Plans
During the campaigns for the senatorial elections in Donga Mantung, Prof
Jikong had always told the population that “I promise to be at your service
constantly and faithfully”. This statement has remained in the minds of many
Donga Mantung denizens who are wondering why the cold hands of death took away
their senator just over a year after he was voted.
In August this year, the senator started a scholarship program for the
division which he promised will run for as long as he remains in the senate.
During a civic reception in Nkambe, he offered CFA 2million F to the Nkambe and
Misaje councils to revamp the council scholarship fund. Many a Donga Mantung
man is now questioning what will become of the scholarship scheme.
Family sources say before his demise, the Professor of English language
and French Sociolinguistics at the University of Yaounde I, part time Lecturer
in the English department at Austin Peay State University, Clarksville, USA and
author of several books was writing a book titled “A Higher Ground for Human Existence”. The family and education
community in Cameroon and the USA is thus wondering why death did not permit
him accomplish this work.
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| Senator Jikong at the lauch of scholarship fund in Nkambe |
Before death snatched him on Saturday 15 November, Senator Jikong, this
reporter is aware, was due to grant an audience to the Donga Mantung Divisional
bureau of the Cameron National Youth Council on Tuesday 18 November. This was
going to be a period of familiarization for both elected officials. The youths
of the division are reportedly wondering why he died so early and as a father,
teacher, and politician
He will be greatly missed
After his retirement from the Public Service in 2011 and while in the
USA, it was rumoured that Prof. Jikong had died but the rumour mongers were put
to shame when the senior citizen came back later in 2013 to be elected amongst
the 70 pioneer elected senators of Cameroon on the CPDM ticket.
During the campaigns to the senatorial elections in Donga Mantung last
year, Dr Fuh Calistus Gentry, Secretary of State in the Ministry of Mines,
Industries and Technological Development and elite of the Division described
Prof Jikong as “the best senatorial material”. He will certainly remember
Senator Jikong as his colleagues at the Upper house of parliament will be
missing him.
Godlove Jato who described senator Jikong not only as a father but a
mentor remembers the late senator as “a man that loves to do his things
straight, a man of integrity”.
His mother, wife, children and other family members will remember the
late senator as a loving father as students he taught at the University of
Yaounde I will remember him as a good teacher. His subjects of Gwembe village
will miss their charismatic traditional leader, just like Christians of the
Etoug-Egbe Baptist church in Yaounde.
His death brings to three, the number of senators who have died since
the upper house of parliament was set up last year. Senator Fon Fontem Njifua
of Libialem who was also questor of the legislative institution died on April
2, while the former chairperson of the foreign affairs committee of the house,
Francis Nkwain who died in October was being buried same Saturday that Njikong
died.
Though the third to have died since the putting in place of the Upper
House of parliament in Cameroon last year, many still wonder
Who is Prof. Jikong
This reporter had a chat with the deceased senator when he was
campaigning in 2013. Born on February 2nd, 1945 in Jator, Gwembe
village via Sabongari in the Donga Mantung Division of the Northwest region,
the father of six and grandfather of many is a teacher by profession. Jikong
Stephen Yeriwa holds a postgraduate in combined English and French from the
Federal University of Cameroon, now the University of Yaounde I. after his
graduation from the said University in 1974, the CPC Bali ex-student was
recruited to teach in the same University where he offered courses in English,
French Sociolinguistics and communication until he obtained his PhD in 1995. He
taught and supervised students at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels
until his retirement in 2011 with the rank of Associate Professor.
Besides teaching, Prof. Jikong Stephen was also chief of service for
National scholarships in the Ministry of Higher Education (1991-92), Secretary
General in the Ministry of Public Service and Administrative Reforms (1992-95)
and later, technical Adviser to the Prime Minister incharge of Culture,
Communication, Youth Affairs and Sports (1998-2011)
The one time president of the Association of Students of the Faculty of
Letters and Social Science of the Federal University of Cameroon was a militant
of the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement, the CPDM and became member of the
Central committee of the party in 2011.
By Ndi Eugene Ndi in Yaounde
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