His Royal Highness Chief Gustave Essaka Ekwalla and John Epee Mandengue

Some have claimed that, it was the paramount chief of Deido who persuaded John Epee Mandengue to establish himself within his chiefdom. But it appears as though John Epee Mandengue did not choose to construct a house within the Deido neighbourhood because of the persuasions of His Royal Highness Chief Gustave Essaka Ekwalla, the traditional leader of Deido natives and Deido neighbourhood. Why would chief Ekwalla have persuaded John Epee Mandengue to come and stay in Deido? It was because of three things, that is, if he ever did: the first reason could have been that, there is an ancestral links that bounds the Mungo people of Anglophone Cameroon and those of Bonaberi and Deido and second, there is also an ancestral love and admiration of native of Douala, for anything English or English-speaking. The anglophile nature of Douala people might have been sparked by the fact that, it was the English who first sign a treaty with Douala chiefs, before the Germans overtook them and Alfred Saker, the English Protestant evangeliser, was the one who brought the Christian Protestant faith in Cameroon. Alfred Saker was also the one who translated the bible from English to Pidgin English and then into the Douala language. And finally, what might have also made Chief Gustave to persuade John to settle in his chiefdom was his wealth. For John Epee Mandengue’s presence, at least demonstrated that, he (chief Ekwalla) a promoter of tribal xenophobia and supporter of the ruling CPDM party, had a native who was rich.

Chief Gustave Essaka Ekwalla could now challenge none natives wealthy business men and women within his chiefdom, who were almost always from the French or English-speaking grass field regions of Cameroon and whose loyalty to the ruling party was not assured. As John Epee Mandengue settled in Douala at the Deido neighbourhood, he started attending meetings of the natives of Douala, who were in support of the ruling party and the head of state Paul Biya. It was also at a time when the opposition Social Democratic Front (SDF), dominated by English-speaking Cameroonians, had strong support and sympathies from natives of the French-speaking grass field region of West province, other wise referred to ethnically as Bamilekes. The Littoral province in general and Douala in particular was largely in support of the opposition. This was not because of the sympathies and ties that exist between the Anglophones, who were and are still the arch rivals of the regime and natives of the West province, who are French-speaking and who also control the economy of the country and are the dominant ethnic group in Douala, but more because, Biya’s rule has ruined the country. Fearing to loose power, Paul Biya hatched out a tribalo-regionalist policy that sparked tribal and ethno-regional xenophobia.