Who killed Rev. Fr Alexander Sob?

Was the former Catholic Education Secretary felled by stray bullets or slain for his unflinching stance that schools should run unperturbed in the NW and SW?

Late Fr Alexander Nougi Sop

There has been wailing across the town of Buea and beyond following news of the brutal killing of the former Catholic Education Secretary of the Buea diocese, Reverend Father Alexander Sob Nougi.

The prelate was shot in Muyuka, Fako Division of the South West region on Friday July 20, 2018, reports say. Until his demise, Fr Sob was serving as Parish Priest of Sacred Heart Parish in Bomaka, Buea.

The Catholic Church confirmed the death of the charismatic priest Saturday but did not state the exact circumstances leading to his demise.  

Some reports have it that the prelate who was in Muyuka supposedly to visit his family met his doom from stray bullets following a gun exchange between security forces and Anglophone separatist fighters while other sources say he was eliminated following his stance that schools should run unperturbed in the crisis-hit North West and South West regions. NewsWatch could not however independently verify the actual cause of Fr. Sob’s gruesome killing.

A sister publication, The Guardian Post gathered reported that Rev Fr. Sob, who was due to defend his PhD thesis in weeks, had just left the University of Buea where he gave part- time lectures in the faculty of Education, before taking off for Muyuka, a locality where he lived a majority of his days on earth.

A gun exchange between security forces and Anglophone separatist fighters in the town of the Muyuka on that fateful Friday saw Fr Sob emerge as one of the biggest casualties. An account said the humble priest was shot twice on his chest while in his car, which was parked beside the main road in the town Muyuka.

Fr. Sob was however later confirmed dead by medics at a Muyuka hospital where he was rushed to. Father Sob’s death has been received with shock and consternation. Since Friday, there has been outrage on the social media with thousands pouring out glowing tributes to the late clergy, and cursing those who may have been involved in one way or the other in his brutish murder.

Rev Fr. Alexander Nougi Sob who served for years as Catholic Education secretary of the Buea diocese was from a humble background. His father, to note, was a catholic primary school teacher who served the church dedicatedly for more than 40 years but retired poor. Having grown in the household of a catholic primary school teacher and seeing how difficult it was to survive, Fr. Sob was of the conviction that the best gift to offer teachers is to enable them live a life of maximum standards. To this, he fought tooth and nail to better the salary situation of teachers serving in schools across the Buea Diocese during his days as education secretary.

The Man

Fr Sob began his journey to priest- hood in 1985 when he got admission into Bishop Rogan College, the oldest minor seminary. He graduated from Bishop Rogan in 1992 and then moved to the St Thomas Aquinas Major semi- nary in Bambui, North West region. He left the seminary in 2001 and taught English Language at St Joseph College, Sasse, before later being transferred to the Minor Seminary in Efok, near Obala in the Centre region. Between 2007 and 2011, Fr. Sob was principal of Regina Pacis College, REPACOL, Mutengene in the South West region. While at REPACOL, Fr Sob, who later defended a Master’s degree thesis in Educational Foundations and Administration at the University of Buea, registered the best commercial results for the college at both the ordinary and Advance level. He was then catapulted in 2012 to the position of Education secretary for the Diocese of Buea. Fr Sob has a unique story as a priest. He had his ordination delayed for five years but was finally ordained priest at Obala in 2005 while he served as Discipline Master at the Efok Minor Seminary.

It was Father Sob who fought day and night for the creation of a credit union by the catholic diocese of Buea where teachers could do their savings. Sob was often quoted as saying the credit union with a membership of over 1,000 back then in 2015, has as vision to create, empower, dignify and sustain communities where poverty is eradicated through sharing for common good.

The late Fr Sob, it should be said, was a real epitome of versatility. Until his demise last week, he co-anchored a programme on CRTV’s Mount Cameroon FM in Buea, where he endeared himself to millions of the radio station’s listeners as a result of fine voice and creative dexterity. Authorities of the Buea Diocese have said they will announce his funeral pro- gramme in the days ahead.

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Adapted from The Guardian Post daily newspaper