The good news has finally arrived in Ashong—and it has come from Yaounde.
After more than half a century of competing claims, administrative interventions, court battles and community tensions, the Ministry of Territorial Administration (MINAT) has taken a potentially decisive step towards ending the protracted Ashong chieftaincy dispute.
In a ministerial letter dated June 19, 2026, MINAT called on the Momo administration to cancel the prefectural orders creating Ashong Central and subsequently homologating Enongang Reuben Tekwe as its third-class chief.
The development has triggered waves of relief and jubilation among those who have long argued that Ashong, already recognised as a second-class fondom, should not simultaneously have another chiefdom imposed over the same territory.
The roots of the dispute are deeply historical. In 1968, following the death of Enogang, Ashong's kingmakers enthroned David Ajeck Mbafor as Mbafor II, setting off a succession dispute that has endured for generations. Academic research confirms that the conflict subsequently divided the community between the Mbafor and Enongang camps.
In 1971, the West Cameroon administration established the Lainjo Commission of Enquiry to investigate the competing claims. Its findings favoured Mbafor II, who was subsequently recognised and gazetted as the second-class Fon of Ashong in 1972.
But recognition did not end the contest.
The dispute survived successive administrations and eventually produced another attempt at a political-administrative settlement. In 1994, following a meeting convened by Governor Bell Luc Rene, Ashong was divided into sub-villages, including Ashong Central, which was conceived as a third-class chiefdom.
The solution, however, created another problem.
Ashong Central overlapped with territory regarded as the seat of the second-class Fon.
It was, in the words of those contesting the arrangement, effectively two drivers fighting over one steering wheel.
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The 1994 arrangement was subsequently suspended. Yet the controversy resurfaced in 2021 when another prefectural order reportedly homologated Enongang Reuben Tekwe as third-class chief of Ashong Central.
By then, the consequences had moved beyond palace politics.
Disagreements reportedly affected community initiatives, sporting activities, road rehabilitation and other development efforts. At a time when Ashong was attempting to recover from the effects of the Anglophone crisis, the continuation of an old chieftaincy dispute threatened to become a new obstacle to development.
That prospect is particularly unfortunate because Ashong is now demonstrating considerable appetite for rebuilding.
Recent reporting shows community organisations mobilising resources for a multipurpose community hall, while sporting activities have been used to rebuild social bonds among young people after years of conflict. Fon Mbafor Christopher III has also publicly called on investors to return to Ashong, describing the fondom as peaceful and rich in opportunity.
Against this background, H.R.H. Mbafor III's petition to MINAT was essentially an appeal to prevent an old dispute from becoming a permanent impediment to the community's future.
The ministry's June 19 intervention now offers a possible way out.
But perhaps the greatest significance of the decision is not who eventually wins the argument over the throne.
It is whether Ashong can finally stop looking backwards and start looking forward.
Its children need schools. Its farmers need roads and markets. Its youth need opportunities. Its diaspora needs confidence that investments made at home will serve the entire community.
After decades of fighting over who should drive, Ashong must now decide where it wants to go. The throne should not be bigger than the village. The real winner must be Ashong. One people. One territorial identity. One peaceful future. And, finally, one Ashong moving forward together.
By Gwain Colbert Fulai, Guest Writer
Tel: +237 694 71 95 88
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