The kom kingdom is populated by as many jujus as there are traditional compounds and villages. The jujus' main function is to entertain during burial and 'crydie' ceremonies, especially as it is believed that a deceased person's soul departs from this world after jujus must have performed during his/her crydie. When the jujus dance at such traditional ceremonies(invited or univinted), their payment usually constitute fowls, salt and sometimes, goats. After eating some of the fowls and goats and sharing the salt on the spot, one or two fowls are compulsorily reserved for the owner of the juju. That constitutes the juju owner's fee. The juju dancers' own fee is usually the money mourners support them with during the dancing.
Of the teaming number of jujus found across the Kom Kingdom, a negligible number perform other functions in and for society, apart from dancing during crydies and burial ceremonies. In this category is the dreaded Muteff mystical lodge in the Order of Nantang Yoh. In terms of dancing for entertainment, Nantang Yoh does not showcase any spectacular and admirable dance steps. Its greatest strength is in maintaining law and order in Muteff and across all of Kom kingdom through traditional foretelling and forth telling. During burial ceremonies and crydies in Muteff or in any part of Kom kingdom, Nantang Yoh would spend a greater part of its time revealing the ills in the affected family and in society and issuing warnings to all witches, wizards and sorcerers in that community.
By performing this critical societal function, Nantang Yoh had and still remains a veritable agent of social change. This never came without challenges, threats and criticisms from ill-intentioned persons in concerned communities. They have argued and forcefully that Nantang Yoh had derailed from it's main mission; that of performing during burial ceremonies and crydies, to forth telling, foretelling and sorcery. Despite such distractions, many well-meaning Muteff and Kom people, have always been appreciative of central role Nantang Yoh have been playing, given that its crime detective and preventive role have saved and continued to save lives.
Just like Nantang Yoh have had its own share of negative criticism for its role in society, lawyers from generation to generation, have had same, and much more. Only in 2016, when Common Law Lawyers in Cameroon downed their tools and went to the streets demanding a stoppage to structural and societal injustices in the two English speaking regions of Cameroon, Justice Minister was wont to declare that lawyers had largely derailed from their main function; that of uniquely defending their clients in court. Laurent Esso had argued that it was criminal for lawyers to abandon their clients in court and descend unto the streets to fight for social causes.
Cameroon Justice Minister's statement reflected the thinking of most dictatorial systems across the world. It was also a huge undermining of the central role lawyers have historically played in changing societies. From Nelson Mandela through Gandhi to Nader and the collective of lawyers in Pakistan; lawyers by their training, have contributed immensely to social change by challenging real and perceived injustices in society.
Ntumfor Barrister Nico Halle, a lawyer of international repute, have been Cameroon's own version of the Nelson Mandelas, the Gandhi's and the Naders. For over 30 years and counting, Ntumfor Barrister Nico Halle has demonstrated in triumphant detail that despite the contrary, a lawyer can be a veritable agent of social change as he has been articulate in fighting societal ills and injustices, bribery, corruption, mismanagement, election rigging, and above all, working to promote peaceful co-existence among Cameroonians.
Undoubtedly, Ntumfor Barrister Nico Halle knew almost 30 years ago that fighting for social change was one of a lawyer's role in a modern democracy; be it established or still emerging. Given that there's a difference in training and mindset between Common Law and Civil law lawyers in this regard, Ntumfor Barrister Nico Halle has been a marked departure from the hundreds of thousands of lawyers that populate Cameroon. While Civil law lawyers think of their court work as the application of existing law, Common Law Lawyers like Nico Halle think of theirs as a process of law making.
Nico Halle as a lawyer has many skills that lend themselves to the public official's role. Although lawyers are trained to advance the interests of clients for a fee, Ntumfor's new and lifetime role as an agent of social change has remained pro-bono. As an agent of social change, Ntumfor have regularly been able to define societal problems, consider solutions and providing strategies for action. As a social movement leader, Ntumfor Nico Halle has been framing societal grievances, formulating ideologies, debating, interfacing with the media, writing, orating, devising strategies, and engaging in dialogue with internal and external elites.
Ntumfor's forensic ability, talent for reasoning, and knowledge of the legal background-all of these aid his work as social changer. My point in highlighting Ntumfor as a shining catalyst for social change, is to show the mesh between the skills and training and mindset of lawyers and the attributes of social change agents. For the past 30 years, Barrister Nico Halle has deliberately allowed his practice as a lawyer to remain a subordinate occupation, as it became necessary that he should concentrate on public work.
Over the years, Ntumfor had used his lawyering skills to gather the facts about social injustices in Cameroon and to use those facts in reasoned arguments to support his social change cause. He has been pursuing social change causes in the same manner a lawyer pursues justice for his/her client.
Barrister Ntumfor Nico Halle's surpassing prominence in Cameroon and beyond does not come from his writing a groundbreaking law review article, or from dazzling court watchers with a brilliant closing argument in a high profile trial, but from his efforts at contributing to the civilization of the Cameroon society through continuous advocacy for social change.
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