THE COLBERT FACTOR:Capo Daniel’s Capitulation: Boon or Bane?

The story is still fresh in the minds of most people in Muteff village in Fundong Subdivision of the Boyo Division of the North West Region of Cameroon. Last year, a young man in his ’20s insisted he was ripe for marriage and went ahead (even against the wishes of his parents), to engage an equally young girl in the neighbouring community. They both set a date for the traditional wedding and went on to invite all who matter in the community for the wedding.THE COLBERT FACTOR:Capo Daniel’s Capitulation: Boon or Bane

A few days to the wedding, and apparently discovering that he hasn’t adequately prepared all what it took to roll out the wedding (and what a shame such a disappointment could bring to himself, family and friends), he disappeared from public view. Thinking that the fiance might just be busy rounding up with preparations, the poor fiancee and her family intensified preparations and broad-based invitations. On the eve of the traditional wedding the boy who had stopped communicating with anybody in the community (and had apparently kidnapped himself), sent word to his parents that he had been kidnapped by unknown individuals who were conditioning his release on a huge ransom.

Since the girl’s family didn’t have as much information on the development, they went ahead on D-day to prepare enough food for any number of guests. By afternoon, the bride’s family compound was full to the brim. At the same time (and not wanting to bring shame on his good name and that of his family), the boy’s father checked from one Amba camp and one police and gendarmerie cell to the other. The boy was nowhere to be found. Both families were forced to call off the marriage.

Two days later, the boy resurfaced in the community and narrated a cock and bull story to his parents about how he was kidnapped and detained somewhere in a facility near Fundong and how they used to just come and drop him food and disappear. The parents had no kind words for the alleged kidnappers on grounds their actions kept the two families and the communities at the middle-of-the-road. What was intended to be a boon for the two families turned out to be a bane as a result of the immaturity and ill-preparedness of a young and restless boy.

The boy in question might not have had the courage of the former Ambazonian warlord, Ngong Emmanuel Langha, popularly known as Capo Daniel, to boldly and openly announce that he was calling off the traditional wedding for want of adequate preparedness.

Last May 4, 2024, Ngong Emmanuel Langha alias Capo Daniel, made a surprise (but predictable) announcement that he was in consonance with his war cabinet that hostilities against the central government in Yaounde ceased. He cited the untold suffering of the masses, lack of strategy and disunity among the separatist factions as the reason why little advancement has been made in the eight years old war in the two English speaking regions of Cameroon. He asserted that his organization had ‘resolved to choose the nonviolence approach to our fight for the right of self determination of the English-speaking people in Cameroon (Ambazonian). We call on all our forces to stop all hostilities and hold their weapons for self defense purposes until a negotiated settlement with the Cameroon government is achieved.”

Like it or hate it, Capo Daniel goes down in world history as the second or third warlord who is feeling for the untold suffering and senseless killing of the people he sought to improve their lot, called off fighting in the middle of the conflict.

Ojukwu and Effiong remain great in Biafra not because they won the war, but because they surrendered at the right time. When Ojukwu realised that over two million Biafrans had died and counting, he saw the need to call for cessation of hostilities. He realised it was better to end the war and save his people than continue insisting that ‘we would fight until the last man standing’, whatever that means. Ojukwu said he and his family were safe while others were dying. Like Capo Daniel and because his conscience wasn’t at peace,  he opted for some sort of agreement that enabled him to flee to Ivory Coast. General Ojukwu’s assistant, General Philip Effiong who became Biafra’s ‘Head of State’ on January, 12, 1970, capitulated to General Gowon, four days later. At that time Effiong said:

“I am convinced now that a stop must be put to the bloodshed which is going on as a result of the war. I am also convinced that the suffering of our people must be brought to an immediate end.” Although Effiong’s action was met with mixed reactions as some considered the act as cowardice (just as obtained with Capo Daniel); some thought it was the right thing to do. In the midst of the opinions that rented the air, Effiong was convinced that he made the right decision. In a 1996 interview, Effiong reflected on those events:

“I have no regrets whatsoever of my involvement in Biafra or the role I played. The war deprived me of my property, dignity, my name. Yet, I saved so many souls on both sides and by this, I mean Biafra and Nigeria.’

He furthered: “I felt that I played a role which has kept this country united till today. At the end of it all when I saw that they (Biafran soldiers) could no longer continue and Ojukwu had fled, I did what was ideal after a wide consultation.’ By calling for cessation of hostilities (after months of hesitation following The Colbert Factor’s appeal last December for a Christmas truce), the once dreaded warlord, Capo Daniel today resonates with 1 Corinthians 3:7-18 which reveals that “The one who sows and the one who waters really do not matter. It is God who matters, because he makes the plant grow.”

History will tell whether Capo Daniel’s actions are a boon or a bane to Anglophone Cameroonian’s struggle for greater autonomy but since Ojukwu and Effiong provides us with enough jurisprudential evidence that their actions made Nigeria better, historians could as well start writing Capo’s history today. Could he be the Nostradamus that saw tomorrow? Time will tell.

On joining the struggle for the autonomy of the former British Southern Cameroons fondly referred to today by separatist fighters as Ambazonia, energetic and firebrand Ngong Emmanuel Langha took the name Capo Daniel, and for good measure(given Capo in discography refers to the regulation of musical chords). Since he was creating a Caporegime (the term ‘Capo’ indicates the head of a branch of an organized crime syndicate who commands a crew of soldiers and reports directly to the don or boss as obtained in the Sicilian Mafia), and in this case, Ayaba Cho; Capo Daniel resigned from the league last year and today, he has openly requested that his ‘Dark Forces’ adopt a non-violent approach and submit/or report to the nearest Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Centre, DDR.

Why Capo Daniel’s decision matters:

As the most neutral and authentic platform known to have ever existed on planet Earth, Wikipedia, has recorded about Capo Daniel’s biography:

‘Cameroon’s Anglophone regions have long been the subject of a separatist movement calling for the establishment of a state termed “Ambazonia”. In the 2016–17 Cameroon protests calls for separatism reached a new height, fuelled by militant online activists. Ngong Emmanuel adopted the pseudonym “Capo Daniel” and became one of these early militant online activists, with notable others being Mark Bareta Barra, and Tapang Ivo. In September 2017, tensions escalated into a civil war known as “Anglophone Crisis” between the Cameroon government and Ambazonian separatists. Daniel became a member of one rebel political faction, the Ambazonia Governing Council (AGovC), and was appointed deputy commander and spokesman of the Ambazonia Defence Forces (ADF), an alliance of separatist militias. A Cameroon loyalist and lawyer, Christopher Nshalai, made repeated thought unsuccessful attempts to force the government of Hong Kong to extradite Daniel to Cameroon. Despite living in exile, Daniel has seemingly been involved in directing separatist military operations.

In 2021, forces associated with Daniel fought in Operation Bui Clean. In 2022, Human Rights Watch attempted to contact several Ambazonian leaders to complain about crimes against civilians committed by rebel forces. Only Daniel responded to HRW; he apologized for an attack on the Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Services by the ADF and an allied militia, the “Buffaloes of Bali”, but also stated that he considered the kidnapping of Senator Regina Mundi by the ADF as a legitimate operation.

In April 2023, Daniel resigned from AGovC and, by extension, the ADF, in order to pursue independent activism. He publicly declared that disagreements with the rest of the AGovC and ADF leadership had made it “impossible for me to continue serving our Liberation Movement in those capacities”, though clarified that he continued to support and involve himself in the separatist rebellion. AGovC leader Ayaba Cho Lucas acknowledged his resignation and thanked him for his years of work.’

By May, Daniel had become President of the “Ambazonia People’s Rights Advocacy Group” and founded a new militant group called the Ambazonia Dark Forces. By June, Daniel was openly criticizing Ayaba Cho Lucas for obstructing negotiations between the Cameroon government following government and the rebel forces; he subsequently declared himself “the new leader of the war for the liberation of Ambazonian people.’

SENIOR JOURNALIST: COL ERT GWAIN

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