On
Monday, 30/12/2013, news of Pa Francis Yong’s transition reverberated across
the world like a bomb blast, leaving countless folk shocked beyond words –
literally completely shattered and devastated... Many
found it hard to believe and thought they were in the grips of a broad daylight
nightmare; for some time they hoped against hope, that reality would soon give
the lie to that not-so-funny April Fool’s joke.
Unfortunately, it was December, and soon no one doubted that fate’s knell had
inevitably tolled home
the incomparable Bobe Francis Yong, Anglophone Cameroon’s foremost education
guru and nation builder par excellence.
Reactions
could only have been of stunned disbelief, of devastation, given Bobe Yong’s
proven mettle in virtually everything he set out to do. They could only have
been of shock given the magic touch and aura that he exuded with this uncanny
redolence of resounding, unparalleled success that invariably informed the
outcome of his every endeavour. “The
voice of the people is the voice of God” – Vox
populi, vox Dei – so there is no doubt that earth and heaven are today
in one accord that here indeed was a rare sojourner who took an unassailable
lead in serving mankind in varied dimensions, thus
co-creating in grand style, as his creator commanded him to. The
indicators are legion for all to see – the labyrinthine legacy Bobe Yong leaves
behind, vast as the heavenly kingdom into which he was red-carpeted the day he
passed on – does Holy Writ not teach us that the man who transforms his one,
two or five talents into many will receive reward untold?
Those
who watched Bobe Yong experimentally build up a veritably vast kingdom from
apparent initial nothingness, in the style of the laborious ant, cannot today
refute the veracity of the “hard work pays” maxim. Thus
the titles, encomiums and superlatives lavished on him are but fitting tribute
to a nation builder worth his weight in gold and diamond, whose bustling life
and activity, whose essence, verve, vitality and drive inexorably transformed
him into one of Cameroon’s unmatched developers and work’s most fervent
disciple. The symbolism of YOSA’s victory in the Cameroon Cup Finals on the eve
of Bobe’s transition – the one victory Bamenda had longed in vain to relish
with the countless Division One teams it spawned over the years – is one other
sign of this heaven-earth accord. Can anyone doubt that the angels and saints
fêted that victory when they received Bobe, like we all did?
Why
does fate always choose to untimely “snip” the best of men, if the biblical
three score and ten plus is anything to go by? Why should the Almighty always
take away only those men of mettle who are of sterling help to mankind, when
the bible says that more years than three score and ten are given to those who
are strong? Evidence is there for all to see that Bobe Yong was of the very
strong breed; that he was an accomplished go-getter, always indefatigably
sourcing out new ways of bringing light, comfort and security into the dark
recesses of the heart and the earth. There is no gainsaying the fact that many
children from Anyajua through Bambui, Njinikom through Bamenda, from the North
West and South West Regions and from Cameroon at large, saw this cherished
light and gained this much elusive comfort and security thanks to the visionary
drudgery of this departed educational colossus.
Did
we say educational? Yes and no. Bobe Yong incarnated education but had plans
that were too prodigious to fit only into that microcosmic framework. Yes,
vintage Bobe Yong nursed his dream stenographic, commercial and secondary
general institutions from scratch into sprawling, booming academic complexes
but eventually transcended secondary education, with the creation of the
National Polytechnic Bambui. Thus Bobe, who ironically was no an academic
egghead, stands tall among those stakeholders who have etched North West
education in gold on the Cameroonian educational landscape with his secondary
and higher educational institutions of practical, productive bent.
Yes,
vintage Bobe was a professional educationist but he also showed much interest
in sports and in the promotion of local sporting endeavours. Thus despite his
enviable position as President and member of the North West Olympic Committee,
he still went strides ahead to create football teams the pride of the Bamenda
metropolis – YOSA and the budding Polytechnic FC. That was not all. He was one
of the pioneer moguls who privatised and vulgarised radio and teevee in the
Region, thus bringing its services very close to the people. His romance with
the film industry, as the first sponsor of a local film of world renown that
pooled together famous actors from Cameroon and Nigeria was another red feather
to the countless laurels that he deserved/got. Thus Bobe Yong stood tall as a
pace-setter, a veritable pace-setter – in education at high and higher levels,
in sports, the media and communication and in culture – and how he had this
legendary magical Midas touch! Today, in death, he stands tall as one who
pursuit of excellence distinguished him in the corridors of at least five
Ministries, where posturing and mediocrity seem to be hallmarks and
meretricious gains the happy take-home.
Yet
despite Bobe’s grand stature, he remained down-to-earth and approachable – a
real epitome of humility. This writer recalls with heart-warming nostalgia how
Bobe graciously and instantly recruited him at first sight when bleak
unemployment and broken promises threatened to turn him into a bitter young
man. Great was equally my surprise and heartfelt appreciation when I realised
at the end of the first month that my benevolent boss had gone out of the terms
of our contract to give me a salary raise of 10,000 FRS, in appreciation for
what he described as my “dedicated service”. I recall that after I left in 1990
because of the call to serve elsewhere, he at different moments employed at
least three other jobseekers just because I recommended them. This anecdote
simply seeks to amplify Bobe’s empathy – thanks to which he godfathered many
hapless youths and set them on their different professional paths. Why then
does God not realize that Bobe’s likes should live long, to continue to bring
physical, material and psychological healing to the millions of wretched
children in this world?
Our
whys and wherefores must necessarily be voiced, since death continues to
confound the living. Nevertheless the realisation that we are chickens in God’s
coop ultimately forces us to rationalize Bobe’s exit in our Christian
conviction that our Father of inscrutable ways saw Bobe’s accomplishments as
worthy and so called him while he was at the apex of his earthly glory to
become the next meritorious newcomer into His celestial realms, where we are
told, only the good and the free frolic. So despite abundant flow of tears
because we mortals can but see Bobe’s demise only as untimely exit, we try to
be comforted that in the end, it is Lord’s opinion that counts. Despite the
fact that our hearts are smitten sore and we droop and pine, no longer able to
benefit from Bobe’s superlative pace-setting, mentoring and companionship,
nevertheless we submit ourselves, in Christian stoicism, to the irreversible
verdict of Divine Providence. For it is in this manner that the glory of the
world fades away - sic transit Gloria mundi – the
Latin sage says!
Through
me, the Teachers Association of Cameroon (TAC) expresses sincere, heart-felt
condolences to you, the children and the large family of relatives, friends and
admirers that Pa has left behind. And
may Bobe’s soul rest in the Lord’s indescribable peace, till we meet to part no
more.
Tameh
Valentine Nfon,
National
Secretary, The Teachers Association of Cameroon (TAC)
