Administrative Reconstitution and Political Solidary of the Ejagham in Cameroon under British Rule 1916-61

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume V, Issue I, January 2021 | ISSN 2454–6186

Administrative Reconstitution and Political Solidary of the Ejagham in Cameroon under British Rule 1916-61

 Dr. Raphael Achou Etta
University of Bamenda

Abstract : Emerging as an ethnic group that spread across the Cameroon-Nigerai borders, the different Ejagham entities were re-organized when the German colonial administrative context without agenda for their ethno-geographical limits. As part of the Ossidinge administrative Division under the Germans, the people did not enjoy ethnic specificity as they were merged with other ethnic polities like the Bayang and Bakuku .Circumstances developing from the end of the German rule and the establishment of British rule, brought about remarkable changes in the administrative composition of the Ejagham villages. The paper using primary and secondary sources and a qualitative analytical approach contends that, the British administrative re-organisation of ethnic groups to align with their philosophy of indirect rule had a double–pronged incidence on the Ejagham. On one hand it constituted the villages into a common administrative bloc and in the other hand; it gave them the opportunity to knit political solidarity around the Cameroon option during the February 1961 UN organised plebiscite. This decision became a paradox of the social straddling that would have linked the Ejagham of Cameroon with their consanguine relative in Nigeria.

Key Words: Ejagham, British, Germans Rule, Solidarity, Plebiscite, Cameroon, Nigeria.

I.INTRODUCTION

The Ejagham of Cameroon came under British rule as a result of the outcome of the First World War that began in Europe on 4 August 1914 between the Allies and Germany. The Allies decided as a war strategy to attack and occupy German colonies in Africa, including Cameroon. This invasion of German colonies was undertaken to weaken the Germans economically. The Germans reminded France and Britain at the start of the war of the provision of the Berlin Act that forbade any European conflagration on African soil that might bring down the honour of the white race. France and Britain rejected the suggestion on the ground that German colonies are sources of raw materials and ready markets for the Metropolis and must be invaded. The invasion was carried out via Nigeria that shared the longest boundary with

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