Buea braces up for coronation of paramount ruler, Chief Dr Robert Esuka Endeley

By Tata Mbunwe

The city of legendary hospitality, Buea, the South West region is in celebration mood ahead of the coronation of its paramount ruler, Chief Dr Robert Esuka Endeley. The ceremony takes place Saturday.

The coronation process is programmed to start on Wednesday, March 16, with activities including traditional dance and rites, which will culminate in the official ceremony on Saturday, March 19.

The new paramount ruler is to become Chief Endeley V, after succeeding his father late Chief Samuel Moka Lifafa Endeley IV, who died in July 2015. His father ruled the Bakweri people for about 24 years.

Indigenes of Buea, also called the Bakweris, are warming up for the Saturday event. At Buea Town, where the paramount ruler’s palace is found, community activities have been going in the past days.

Both men and women have been taking turns to clean the Chief’s palace, its surroundings and the road leading to it. For most of the younger Bakweri indigenes, this is to be the first coronation they have ever witnessed in their land.

The royal palace is also busy with several notables and visitors coming to pay tribute to the young Chief. Esuka Endeley has been functioning as ‘Chief’ for some time now. He was only recognised by the Government as First Class Chief on November 25, 2021, a recognition which officially made him the Paramount Ruler of Buea.

The recognition also settled the squabbles that had surrounded the Buea Chieftaincy inheritance since the death of Chief SML Endely in 2015. After he was made paramount ruler by the November 2021 Prime Minsterial decree, Chief Dr Endeley V said his goal will be to develop Buea communities.

“The people were waiting for good leadership and I think they will get one. I am working hand in hand with my quarter heads, my council members, the king makers of Buea and all the elders and notables to make sure that we deliver on the promises and wishes of the people

“Chieftaincy the way it used to be is not the way it is now. Chieftaincy we are looking for leadership; we are looking for progressiveness; we are looking for development; we are looking for somebody who can lead the people, bring investment and development into their community. That’s the new definition of Chieftaincy,” he said.

He is to become the 7th paramount ruler of Buea, as far as it can be remembered. Successive paramount rulers of Buea include: Chief Likenye I alive in 1844; Chief Kuva Likenye (1883-1894); Endeley I Likenye (1895-1913); Chief Mathias Lifafa Endeley II (1817-1825); Chief Endeley III (1925-1982); Samuel Moka Lifafa Endeley IV 1991-2015 and now Chief Robert Esuka Endeley V.