Second statue to be erected in honour of unsung independence hero, Um Nyobe, 64 years after death

By David Atangana

A second statue in honour of late Reuben Um Nyobe will be erected in Sanaga Maritime, MMI has learnt.

This move is in memory of the activist who was executed by french colonialists while leading a rebellion for the independence and reunification of Cameroon.

The first statue of him was put up in Eseka in 2007 after a law was passed in 1990 authorising the rehabilitation of his image.

This was after pressure from scholars and activists who believed that the independence and reunification of the Caneroons was his brainchild though he never lived to see it.

Reuben Um Nyobe was killed on September 13, 1958, in his native Boumnyebel.

Tuesday September 13, 2022 marked exactly 64 years since the unsung hero executed.

Though some steps have been made by the government to recognize the forgotten hero of the independence struggle, no day has been set aside by authorities to celebrate him let alone a public ceremony.

WHO IS REUBEN UM NYOBE?

Um Nyobé, known as the forgotten father of Cameroon, was born in 1913 in Song Mpeck, Cameroon. At the time, Cameroon was under German occupation and was divided after World War I between France and the United Kingdom.

He became a civil servant under the French administration after completing studies in Edea in 1944. He developed interest in politics at an early age.

In 1948, together with other officials, he formed the Union Des populations du Cameroon, UPC, the first indeginous political party in French Cameroon.

Their Main aim was immediate independence and reunification.

This alone entered his name and others in the bad books of the French

Um Nyobè made multiple trips to the United Nations both in 1952 and in 1954 speaking on behalf of the people of Cameroon and other colonized African countries. He expressed his view of independence as an appeal to the natives of all countries.

After failing in local elections several times, violent protest erupted all over the national territory promoting the French colonial administration to ban the party in 1955 and declared war against its leaders.

UPC leaders entered the bush and resorted to an armed struggle to achieve their goals.They earned the name ‘marquisards’

Um Nyobè was killed by the French army on 13 September 1958. After his death, he was replaced by Félix-Roland Moumié. Until the 1990s, any mention of Um Nyobè was prohibited in Cameroon.


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