Buea-Cameroon: UB students confront Higher Education Minister Over Fake Certificates Saga

Students of the University of Buea (UB) on Monday, July 10, 2017, confronted the Minister of Higher Education, demanding him to strip the Mayor of Buea, Patrick Ekema Esunge, of all his degrees.

The students said the Mayor fraudulently gained admission into the citadel of learning and obtained the Bachelors and Masters’ degrees without having passed the Advance Level.

The students welcome the Minister of Higher Education, Prof Jacques Fame Ndongo, with placards bearing  inscriptions such as “no to fake certificates in UB, we don’t want fraudsters in UB, strips the Mayor of his certificates obtained in UB,” among others.

The Minister was in Buea to commission recently appointed members of the university headed by the Pro-Chancellor, Prof Oben Ako and the Vice Chancellor, Prof Horace Ngomo Manga.

After the students’ demonstration, Minister Fame Ndongo waded in and promised to look into the matter. 

The students’ demonstration is coming barely a few hour after executive members of all the Subsections of CPDM that make up Fako III, Buea, where Ekema  Patrick is Mayor, resolved to slam a vote of no confidence on him.

The vote of no confidence issue also erupted few days after reports went viral that the Mayor surreptitiously entered the University of Buea with fake certificates.

According to the reports, Ekema wrote the GCE A level examination seven times and never succeeded to pass the exams even in two seating combined.

It is reported that after dabbling into politics, Ekema used one of his political God fathers to gain admission into UB with just a paper.

After obtaining the Bachelor and Masters’ Degrees and enrolling into a PhD programme, his fake certificate saga came to the fore.

The demonstrating students argued that many Cameroonians who genuinely passed the GCE were denied admission into UB, while those who did not even pass like Mayor Ekema are studying unperturbed.

The students told the new VC that he will never know peace in UB, if Ekema Patrick is not stripped of his degrees.