Prof. Asonganyi Opens Can of Worms – Fru Ndi Accused Me of Killing His Wife

I read with considerable interest the above titled article by Sylvanus Ezieh and the memoir; Cameroon: Difficult Choices in a failed democracy, by Prof. Asonganyi. I will base my initial write-up on one and only one word “rumors”.
As it turns out, rumor has been around as long as human civilization, and for much of that time it has been frowned upon. In The Holy Bible, the Book of Proverbs has some stern words for those who
spread rumors: “A man who lacks judgment derides his neighbor but a man of understanding holds his tongue.” Rumors have long been seen as at best trivial, and at worst vicious and immoral.
Around the 1940s, experts began to look at rumors more analytically, in a wave of research fueled by concern about how rumors could be managed during wartime. These researchers amongst other things sorted rumors into “dread rumors,” driven by fear and “wish rumors,” driven by hope. As it turns out dread rumors, are far more contagious as the two cases outlined below exemplifies. Rumor is deeply entwined within our community and serves some basic social purposes in that people use it as a vehicle to get to the truth, the same way people read news.
In his [Memoir] the learned Professor proudly publicizes two major rumors. On page 146 he wrote about a rumor that “he poisoned” Ni John Fru Ndi and next he talks about the rumor of him “killing” the Chairman’s wife. In neither instances did he mention the sources of these real/or imaginary rumors. Sir, fighting rumors by publicizing them in written letters and in historical memoires is to say the least, a surprising tactic. The first question that comes to mind is “Why him”? It’s hard to imagine someone victimized by such malicious rumors (if true) summarizes and publishes them decades later when the center character has debunk the rumor in private and public (Appendix I page 320). The conventional wisdom about rumors is to take the high road and not respond. There are dangers in rebutting rumors by recounting them, the foremost being the inevitability that some people will remember the rumor as truth by remembering the rumor but forgetting the rebuttal (if there was any).

Prof. Asonganyi Tazocha

Why would anyone want to broadcast negative claims about themselves? It is sad to know that our learned Professor doesn’t seem to view rumors as inherent to human nature – a naturally occurring, inevitable human social phenomena, that thrives especially at times of uncertainty. For the press to choose these pesky distractions to deviate from more civilized discourse of his book launch is a travesty. The idea of him dignifying these rumors with a written response through a third party reflects a deep hint at moral failings. It is my perception that the Professor spreads these rumors then and now to shore up his image within the social and/or political networks not only to boost his importance but to whip up sentiments that he is/was a victim thus masking his real social/political shortcomings notwithstanding his academic portfolio. This “perceived victim” as he wants us to remember him is using these unfortunate events in the life of Ni John Fru Ndi to build a political status. The learned Professor would have killed these rumors by beheading its credibility, identifying and going after whoever may have started them. But he didn’t. What was he expecting as an outcome of the letter he wrote stating that there is a rumor? Was he expecting someone to investigate these rumors on his behalf?
By coming out and immediately laying the facts on the table directly with the parties involve would have been the best strategy to short-circuit these rumors and reroute the conversations to a more deeply and heartfelt visit to someone who is gravely sick or grieving the loss of a belove wife.