The Neglect and Ramifications of The Political Opinion of Chief Nyenti Stephen Eyong and The Cameroon Commoner’s Congress (1959-1961)

The article traces the activities of Cameroon Commoners Congress (CCC) under the auspices of Chief Nyenti Stephen Eyong and reasons for neglect of the political opinion advocated by his party during the 1961 plebiscite in Southern Cameroons. It also examines the political, economic and socio-cultural impact of the neglect on the territory. The article made use of secondary and primary sources for the collection of data. Concerning the secondary sources, use was made of an extensive literature that offered some general and specific information about the article. After critical analyses of archival data, tangible evidence emerged as to the fact that Southern Cameroonian inhabitants be they indigenes or non-indigenes were affected negatively due to this neglect. To ensure an easy understanding, we adopted a conventional analytical pattern. We used both the chronological and topical approaches aimed at chronologically illustrating the political neglect and thematically examining the changes that Southern Cameroons experienced over time. Our findings reveal four central issues: Firstly, that by neglecting political opinion of Chief Nyenti, the independence of Southern Cameroons was neglected also. Secondly, minority former British Southern Cameroons citizens have raised their voices for being marginalized by their majority French Cameroonians counterparts. Thirdly, personal interest took precedence over common interest. Fourthly, the neglected political opinion of Chief Nyenti was regretted because some citizens later called for a separate political entity for Southern Cameroons. The article argues that the neglect of the third option in the plebiscite laid ground for Anglophone problem, mutual suspicion and mistrust between Anglophones and Francophone in Cameroon.