I can’t remember the first time I saw Ngando in the stadium stands supporting the Indomitable (take this with a bucket of salt) Lions. This is because he is intricately associated with my earliest memories of the Lions. As a young man, I believed he was an official FECAFOOT Lions promotion team member. It was only during the Qatar World Cup that I realized he had been traveling to support the Lions as a personal business, using funds from generous Lion fans, some government officials, and even the players.
I had never heard the man speak until the aftermath of the same Qatar World Cup when he started complaining and backtracking about payments that he was expecting from FECAFOOT. I concluded then that he was a typical Cameroonian gomboist. A typical ‘chop broke pan,’ and a typical nchinda. This unmasking of the person behind the character did not, however, reduce my appreciation for the sacrifice of dedicating one’s life to supporting the Lions, which we all revered as the pride of Cameroon. No matter what new thing I learn about him, it will not refute that his image has been tied to Cameroon’s national team and is recognized at home and abroad.
When I first got the news of him going to the AFCON by road, I knew his doublespeak had put him out of favor with Eto’o. While I felt pity for him, I was more worried about the potential reputational damage Cameroon could incur because of his actions. The man does not give the aura of a cultured person, so it is not surprising that his methods are crass and undiplomatic. I, therefore, do not expect Ngando to do any better than he is currently doing. For this reason, I hardly blame him for the episode he created in Côte D’Ivoire. For this reason, I put the responsibility of keeping him in check on FECAFOOT.
Ngando, whether we like it or not, is known to many as an ambassador of Cameroonian football, albeit an unofficial one. Only those of us in Cameroon know the unofficial nature of his work. There are not many countries that have the kind of support that we have in Ngando. Again, we cannot be surprised if people assume he is officially recognized in Cameroon. I am repeating this to emphasize that his image is intricately tied to that of the Cameroonian football team, so whatever he does reflects Cameroon.
Obviously, he has now overstayed his welcome. Being a man unable to take a hint, someone has to tell him the clearest way possible. It is the place of FECAFOOT to tell him officially, “Thank you for your service, but we can no longer fund your travel missions. You are completely responsible for your future trips to support the Lions, and any attempt to extort money from players or the federation through media antics will be considered defamation for which you may be held liable.”
Of course, I know such a move is very hard for the kind of society that we are in, but it is the only way we can avoid such public embarrassment from the man. His recent actions have shown that he believes there is a gentlemanly agreement between him and the managers of Cameroon football. You can tell in his mind that he knew he would do this till the day he died and he is now unable to abandon that fixation. If he is not officially stopped, he will keep doing it, and our reputation will remain on the line.
I know many of us do not know the value of a country’s reputation because, after all, we are a continent that does not subscribe to the general rules of global society. Nonetheless, whether he is a blackmailer or not is not something that the international public is aware of. It is up to us to save our reputation because Ngando has none to save.
