Southern Cameroons’ “Statesman”, Mola Njoh Litumbe Dies at 93

High profile activist of Southern Cameroons’ National Council and Frontline Civil Society Actor, Mola Njoh Litumbe is dead. He died on May 26, 2020 as confirmed by his cousin, Senator Mbella Moki Charles.

“Mola Njoh quits the stage…A great family man is no more. My last church service with cousin Mola Njoh Litumbe in Douala a few months ago. We shall miss you. RIP.”– Senator Mbella Moki Charles confirmed on his Facebook account on May 26, 2020 at 9:24 PM, Cameroon time.
Several unverified reports say late Mola Njoh died at a Private hospital in Douala and that his corpse has been moved to the Buea Regional Hospital Mortuary.

News Upfront has no confirmed information from the deceased family regarding the same.
The renowned chartered accountant is remembered as the unrepentant political leader and key advocate for the independence of Southern Cameroons. Arrested and put under house arrest on several occasions, Mola Njoh Litumbe never accepted he was Cameroonian; rather, he insisted he was a citizen of Southern Cameroons.

Asked to comment on Cameroon-Nigeria relations in an interview granted to Chariot Radio in Buea in May 2015, Mola said, “You are always leading me into temptation because I believe that there is a country called La Republique du Cameroun which does not include Southern Cameroons….well, I will be talking to you as a Southern Cameroonian because I have never accepted that I ever joined La Republique…You must tell me which Cameroon.”

According to Albert Njie Mbonde, Storyteller from Bokwaongo and Political Desk Editor at CTRV’s National Radio Station, Mola Njoh was born to a family of 8. He was son of Rev. Eseke Litumbe (the 1st ordained native clergy of the Basel Mission; today known as the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon) and of Hannah Liengu La Njoh (Princess from Soppo Wonganga)

He was leader of Liberal Democracy Party (LDP), replacing pioneer president, Prof. Gabriel Obenson. The party later became known as Liberal Democratic Alliance (LDA).

Controversy over Mola Litumbe’s Birthdate and Age

Most news sites report that Mola Njoh was born on February 1, 1919, saying he died at the age of 101. Questionable and maybe misleading, News Upfront confirms that the late politician was born on February 4, 1927, making him 93 years old at death as confirmed by Bokwaongo Storyteller, close family friend, Albert Njie Mbonde.

Cameroon-Info.Net also confirms that Mola Njoh was born on February 4, 1927. Several other news websites and blogs such as (All African Network, Cameroonvoice.com, The Recorder Newsline and National Telegraph) all report that Mola died at 93.

Founder and Editor-In-Chief at Mediapeople, Frankline Sone Bayen, reports that late Mola Litumbe died at 94. Mr. Sone Bayen while clarifying some confused readers on Facebook said; “…I know where the others are picking the wrong number from. He is 94. Remember he feasted 90 in about 2015 or 2016.” “They are misled by what I believe is a mix up on Wikipedia where information I believe to be of the late Paramount ruler of Limbe, Ferguson Bila Manga Williams, slipped into Mola Litumbe’s page”, Bayen added.

Cameroon Postline and Journal du Cameroun.com both confirm that the late activist died at 94, while Mimi Mefo Info reported that he died at 101.

In its article published on December 5, 2019, Cameroon Concord News reported that “Mola Njoh Litumbe is above 100 years”. Cameroon Concord News contradicts itself in its May 26, 2020 article headlined; “Renowned Southern Cameroons Leader Njoh Litumbe dies at 94”. Seems unclear how an over 100-year-old in December 2019 suddenly becomes 94 in May 2020.

Mola Njoh’s Famous Quotes

In February 2014, at the University of Buea’s Amphitheatre 750, Mola was speaker at the Colloquium organized as part of activities to commemorate Cameroon’s 50th anniversary of Reunification. In the Presence of then Prime Minister, Philemon Yang, Mola stated; “…there is no documentary evidence at the United Nations Organization, as required, that Southern Cameroons and La Republique du Cameroun legally yoked together to become one country.”

In May 2011, while presenting his Book titled; “Case of the Annexation of the UN British Administered Territory of Southern Cameroons.” in May 2011, late Mola Njoh told Journalists at a press conference in Buea; “Southern Cameroons has never got independence from Britain.”

“We have challenged la Republique du Cameroon that if you are accusing the woman in your house of divorce, you must have in your pocket a marriage certificate that produces any instrument acceptable under international law to prove that we ever join. Otherwise, you are exercising colonialism which has been condemned by the United Nations by denying the people of southern Cameroon their sovereign right to independence…”, Mola told Voice of America (VOA) in August 2010.

“I told the Political Affairs Department in the UN that, to solve this issue, they need to invite La Republique du Cameroun and Southern Cameroons to the UN to get into an agreement, which will be put into writing, such that both parties come together as equal partners and that if both parties cannot agree, then, let them go their separate ways, because, what we have now is akin to an ‘Akwara’ or ‘Njomba’ kind of arrangement,” Mola Njoh Litumbe made the declaration at his Membea House at Bokwaongo, Buea, while briefing The Post Newspaper’s Bouddih Adams on the state of events on the Anglophone Struggle at the level of the United Nations Organisation.

“…if you lose your shirt to a thief, and he’s been wearing it, and suddenly you discover it on him and you say ‘this is my shirt’; but he says ‘boy I’ve been wearing this shirt, my sweat has been on it. Does that absorb him from the crime of stealing?”. “…what is decentralization when everything emanated from Yaounde? I am about 6 or 7 years older than the President. I am still alive because I have unfinished work to do. All my contemporaries have ascended to heaven.”– Late Mola Njioh Litumbe told CRTV’s George Kelong and Samson Websi in an interview on Cameroon Calling’s February 23, 2014 special edition dedicated to the union of the then two Cameroons.

Until his death, many have questioned Mola Njoh’s silence on the Anglophone crisis, whose fallout has seen thousands of lives lost, property damaged and sundry displaced to other regions of Cameroon and neighboring countries.

(This is a modified publication from the original article that was published on May 27, 2020)