Street politics pay off for Atnaga Nji

Written by Eugene N. Nforngwa

Friday, 08 October 2010 09:55

YAOUNDE--Paul Atanga Nji has had a meteoric rise in public life. Barely four years ago, before he would became a member of government, Atanga Nji – for lack of something fancier to call him – was a struggling businessman. His banking venture had long collapsed; and even though he was involved in some political activism as a pro-Biya youth leader, Atanga Nji was not yet a member of the country’s political elite.

But it’s been four years during which things have changed rapidly for the former chief executive of the failed Highlands Cooperation Bank. In an appointment that stunned many who knew him, Atanga Nji came from literally nowhere to become minister of special duties at the presidency, an office with no real functions, in 2007. Following the appointment, aides say he quickly turned himself into a Biya-confidant, a trusted ally. “The president soon began seeking his opinion on one matter or the other,” says one aide. “He was everywhere with the president”

Yet, not many seemed to see his appointment August 30 as pioneer permanent secretary of the National Security Council (NSC) coming. In the new role, Atanga Nji is, de facto, the president’s top security adviser. “All security intelligence now winds up at his desk and he is required to give his opinion about new lines of investigation,” says one Unity Palace official. “He is now one of the most powerful men in the country.”

None of those we spoke to us wanted to be identified in this article because of what they termed the very delicate nature of the subject.

But some pundits have openly questioned the good sense in the appointment. “It’s an error to hand him such a sensitive post,” reported Mutations, quoting a senior CPDM official. “It is the same kind of feeling that followed his appointment as minister several years ago,” affirms the Unity Palace official.

The unenthusiastic reaction to Atanga Nji’s appointment stems both from the way he’s carried himself and his lack of political fineness, say many critics. “Political friends and foes alike describe his tactics a thuggish, brash and lacking in appeal,” says one member of government and party comrade.

“He is the kind of person who would go to every length to get what he wants, even if it means not playing by the rules,” adds the minister.

In 2007, Atanga Nji himself ended a campaign speech by declaring that “Those who limit themselves to what appears possible to them have never progressed in life.”

For the short while that he has been in government, the minister of special duties - whose French, though broken is better than his English - has been a public relations disaster to the regime. In 2008, he told the BBC only a handful of young people had taken part in the riots of that year, but the spin backfired. “NGOs estimated that at least 100 people were killed when the government tried to break up the week-long protest over food,” says the Unity Palace official. “Atanga Nji’s comments implied that security forces had gone into homes and dragged out thousands of innocent young people and jailed. Just as the BBC, many people in the regime were scandalised.”

In 2009, in the middle of a national anti-corruption drive, he suggested in a public address that Prime Minister Philemon Yang, who had just been appointed, was corrupt. Speaking at an event to welcome Yang in Bamenda, Atanga Nji urged his constituents to be patient when they ask the PM for favours such as intervening for their children to be admitted in public professional schools.

Yet, in spite of his critics’ views, Atanga Nji has worked hard for his political fortunes. Prior to the 2007 municipal and parliamentary elections, he threw himself at North West politics in a way that shocked many. Ones considered an outsider; he became section president of the ruling party in a fiercely fought party election. And, even though he later lost the parliamentary bid, he is credited for giving the CPDM in the entire North West region the self-confidence that helped it win a record nine seats.

“Atanga Nji’s strongest point is his ability to bring out a crowd,” says a local CPDM party official based in Bamenda. He has the kind of charisma that would make him a great SDF provincial chairman. He is a tough [campaigner] in the streets].”

Atanga Nji has indeed played his politics mostly in the streets. As president of the pro-Biya group Arc-en-Ciel (rainbow), he held several rallies in the streets of Yaounde in support of President Paul Biya in the years before 2007. In 2006, he reportedly trekked from Bamenda to Yaounde in show of solidarity for the president and his regime, and has spoken up in favour of the 2008 constitutional change.

He has spoken up forcefully against separatists seeking the independence of the two Anglophone regions and denies any Anglophone marginalisation.

“He did whatever needed to be done to present himself as a zealous steward of the regime, at times attacking his own party officials of doing little for the CPDM and boasting about his personal achievements for the party,” says the former acquaintance.

Running for parliament in 2007, Atanga Nji declared that he bought over 70 cars to run as taxis during the 1991 ‘ghost towns’ campaigns and gave more than 200 interviews to “defend the democratic process in Cameroon and the political success of H.E. Paul BIYA.”

Defending the regime is perhaps all that is left for Atanga Nji to do. So far, it’s been paying up and covering up for his many weaknesses.