How Mbella Moki Played His Way To Retain SW Fecafoot Presidency

By Macdonald Ayang Okumb

      The road was long, tension was high, the battle was fierce, but finally the outcome is known. Senator Charles Mbella Moki would steer South West football until 2019.

Senator  Charles Mbella Moki: Until 2019

      This, as he emerged victorious in the regional Fecafoot elections of Monday 14 September in Buea, shrugging off somewhat stiff competition from challenger, Barrister Nkongho Felix, known by the sobriquet as Agbor Balla. The incumbent secured six of the 10 available votes which were just enough to give him victory.

The genesis

      The race began just shortly after the regional elections of 7 November 2014 were annulled by the conciliation and arbitration chamber of the national Olympic and sports committee; a decision that was backed by the Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration for Sports.

     Those elections had Mbella Moki and Agbor Balla as contestants and the Electoral College was 13. Mbella beat Balla by seven votes to six then. And so when the polls were eventually invalidated, ground works immediately began in anticipation of whenever same elections would be conducted again.

Change and how to get it

      While Mbella, who has been at the helm of South West soccer since 2002, continued with his groundwork with the advantage of an insider, other stakeholders were poised to see change. Their plan was to see him voted out.     True it is that wanting change is one thing and knowing how to go about achieving such is a different ball game. Top on the minds of these proponents of change was who would be the most suitable candidate to challenge Mbella.     

       This became an issue because some club presidents posited that Mbella was able to win last year because he never had veritable opposition from Balla who was considered a wet nose in football politics. Some observers however sharply disagree with this assertion laying claims on the results from the ballot box (7-6).

      So the issue this year was to get another candidate other than Balla. And the name that was likely to emerge was that of Little Foot football club president, Protus Nouck. But this dream would not come true as the normalisation committee of Fecafoot in Yaoundé declared him ineligible to vote; not even his appeal to get him self in the Electoral College was considered.  Finally, it had to be the rematch of last year – Mbella Moki vs. Agbor Balla.

On the road to Sept. 14

       The road was a long and slippery one. Evidently, there were schemes, manipulations and several meetings of cliques and factions with both candidates struggling to lure the 10 voters to their side. The underground works went so deep that at some point, the national Fecafoot candidate and former Secretary General of the same body, Tombi A Roko Sidiki was in Buea where he held closed-door meetings with some actors.

       Tombi refused to speak to press men after one of such meetings, but his coming to Buea left the interpretation that he was clearly throwing his weight behind Mbella Moki’s re-election bid so he could secure regional delegates for him (Tombi) during the federal conclave on 28 September in Yaounde.

       Behold, this speculation became true as Tombi was again in Buea on the eve of last Monday’s election where he reportedly influenced some voters to vote for Mbella Moki. According to Agbor Balla who eventually lost, some of the voters had to deal with undue pressure from here and there. He also regretted the fact that there was so much horse-trading.

Election Day and outcome

       The tension around the elections premises (Capitol Hotel Buea) was so perceptible as a huge crowd of observers thronged in to find out for themselves what would happen. Before business began, the two candidates were understandably nervy as each of them moved about the hotel premises fidgeting with their phones. Delegates who were to vote were also spotted chatting in cliques. More than 30 press men who were present were keen on not missing out on even the most infinitesimal of details.

       Members of the electoral commission soon arrived and opened the curtains on the day’s business. Commission chairman, Prof Ephraim Nde Ngwafor, made his opening remarks, in which he called on the two candidates not to see the excercise as some form of war. He said who ever would win would do so for the interest of the game. Observers and press men were then expelled from the auditorium for the election proper.

       A few hours after, thunderous jubilation burst out, after presumably, some one inside the hall texted a friend outside that Mbella Moki had won. Few minutes later, the electoral commission then officially declared the results. When Mbella Moki emerged from the hall, he was greeted with deafening applause as he, in his traditional attitude, intermittently raised his both hands and looked up to the skies. He them granted an interview, promising to take football in the south west to another level.

       Agbor Balla on his part said the voting was free and fair but the entire electoral process was beset with influence peddling, backs-stabbing and horse-trading. He also criticised the heavy presence of the administration, which he said, was intimidating. However, he pledged his readiness to work with the team that won because his interest is the wellbeing of football in the region.

So what next?

     After the regional elections, what football observers now look up to are the federal elections slated for 28 September 2015. However, before then, they will also have to wait for the outcome of a hearing on September 17 bearing on a complaint lodged by Abdouraman Babah at the conciliation and arbitration chamber of the national  Olympic and sports commission asking for the invalidation of the August 5 2015 general assembly that adopted Fecafoot statutes and its electoral code.

     If the hearing goes in favour of Abdouraman, then we would be back to square one as all the regional elections of September 14 would have been conducted in vain. If otherwise, then the federal election of the 28 will hold, and which we hear Mbella Moki has great interest in.

    If information we have is anything to go by, then Mbella Moki wants to use the position of South West Regional president only as a bridge to cross over and get himself fitted in the national Fecafoot Bureau, which bookmakers bet would be won by ‘insider’ Tombi A Roko who reportedly backed him at the regional level. Game on, let’s watch!