The Ghost of Um Nyobe (Musings from the Other Side of the Bridge)

By Dibussi Tande

They say you died in enemy territory
They say you died on the wrong side of THE BRIDGE
But what better place to die
- On the other side of the bridge -
Than in the Sanaga Maritime -
The sacred land of the Ngog Lituba
The springboard of Cameroun nationalism
The heartland of the Cameroun resistance;
Purified with the blood of thousands of patriots
Who said NO! to the imperialists and neo-colonialists?

You met your maker at Misole II
Down the road from Boumnyebel -
Birth place of Ruben Um Nyobe
The venerated Mpodol
The immortal soul of the gwet bi kundè
who is entombed in hallowed ground
in Eseka – still farther down road…

Surely his spirit watched over you
At that fateful moment
Gently guiding you towards your seat
On the pantheon of departed heroes
Where you rightly belong

The sleepy hamlet of Misole II
Is now etched in our collective consciousness
Not as a symbol of death and despair
Not as a symbol of dreams unfulfilled
But as a reminder of battles past
Of battles lost - of battles won
Of battles yet to come;
And a rallying cry
To the Obasinjom Warriors
Who shall restore this land
To its erstwhile glory

gwet bi kundè  = War of Independence in Bassa.
Mpodol = “The Prophet”, as the Bassa referred to Um Nyobe founder of the Camerounian nationalist party the UPC.
Ngog Lituba = the sacred and mythical Rock Cave, the natural and spiritual sanctuary of the Bassa people.

Chicago – March 21, 2007

Comments

[Dr. Joyce ashuntantang]

Thanks dibussi for interrogating BB's place of death, Misole II (near Edea). Your poem is not only a tour de force of orature but in your poem Misole II becomes a site of resistance. Another refusal for silence to engulf our collective history...and so it is that BB's death at Misole exhumes another fallen hero, Ruben Um Nyobe...this can only be "a rallying cry".

[EMMANUEL ACHEM EGBE]

Many of us MANYU ELEMENTS in the USA are leaving a dangerous and strange life. I would say that we should learn to respect Human Life. Stop backbitting others because of BLACK FEET CULTURES. I did met a scary looking MEXICAN female Professor who claims that she can kill BB in TIJUANA|mexico shortly, I did heard that BB is dead. This is a great lost to the MANYU ELITES. The manyu elites in the USA are extremely hateful, selfish, cruel, and shameful. Whether they know their colleagues. I donot really know. Shame to MANYU IN USA.