The North West Fons’ Union, NOWEFU, president, Senator Fon Teche Njei of Nguen-Muwa, in Momo division, has in a sharp reaction to criticisms about the manner in which he has been managing the union warned that he is too strong to be fought by those he has qualified as trouble-makers and ‘apprentis sorciers’ within NOWEFU.

While energetically denying that he has transformed the once revered North West fons’ body into a beggars’ union, Senator Teche in a telephone interview with The Guardian Post boasted: “I am too strong to be fought by detractors...They spent a full week sponsoring damaging newspaper publications against me but that same week, President Biya not only appointed me senator but also as a senate bureau member...”

He boasted further: “What has become of the decision the so-called Council of Elders took in September 2013 disowning me? For your information, most of those fons who were manipulated to stage a coup against me have since apologised that they were misled”.

He announced that as proof of the power and respect he wields: “President Paul Biya will be receiving North West fons in two weeks and I will be the one to determine which fon accompanies me to that audience.”

When reminded that his reign at the helm of NOWEFU has been christened even by his colleagues North West fons as the worst thing that ever happened to the region, Senator Teche retorted: “That is part of the backstabbing and manipulation I have been talking about...How can that be true when over 90% of NOWEFU members are in support of all my actions?. Truth, he said, has long arms while falsehood has short arms and a short life-span. “The time is coming when my detractors would be put to shame”, he promised.

Quizzed on what he intends doing to bring order within NOWEFU, the senator replied: “Watch out for what I would do in the days ahead”. “Like what for instance?”, this reporter pressed on. “Like what was done to Nico Halle...I will expel those fons fanning trouble within NOWEFU and those sponsoring newspaper publications against me...just wait and see,” he vowed.

When questioned if he would take such a decision in consultation with the big or paramount fons in the region to avoid cat calls, boos and jeers, Senator Teche fired back: “ Let me not hear that word big or paramount fon again. As far as I am concerned, there is no big or small fon in the North West region...besides, are all villages not autonomous?”

Asked if he shares in the opinion that the trouble with his leadership style is that he sidelines his own secretary general and the paramount fons while undertaking missions that have been judged as beggarly, Senator Teche thundered: “It’s my turn (to chop?). I did not complain how NOWEFU was run when others were at the helm. When my predecessors were chopping from NOWEFU, nobody raised a finger...but today, everyone can talk because it is the turn of Fon Teche. Let them wait for 2015 when my mandate will come to an end...And even when my mandate will end, I will be the one to determine who becomes the next NOWEFU president...”

By press time, reports that some North West fons have been barred from ever setting foot in the US because they attempted trafficking individuals there through the US embassy in Yaounde were still being investigated.