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THE LIFE AND WORK OF SAMSON AGBOR ADEOYE GEORGE

Samson Agbor Adeoye George This is the threnody I have woven for you; It is I, Bate Besong: troubadour from a dehumanizing regime.

                                                                                                                Bate Besong

Introduction

Hon Samson Agbor Adeoye George popularly known as SA George was born in Mamfe in 1922 to  Nigerian father from Yoruba extraction called Henry George and a Cameroonian mother " Ma Oku".SA George was very instrumental in the political dispensation of the Southern Cameroons in Particular and the Republic of Cameroon in general. His name is not so popular in discussions of everyday political life of Most English speaking Cameroonians. This is most probably due to the fact that he died very young. Early Life

Hon SA George attended primary School in Mamfe at the  Government Primary School Mamfe a town in the South West region of Cameroon. He then proceeded to Nigeria where he studied in St. Gregory's College Lagos and  Enitona High School Port Harcourt. After his studies, he worked as a Postal clerk and Telegraphist from 1942-45 with the Post and Telecommunication Department of Lagos before becoming a freelance journalist.At some point he was a Private Secretary to Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe and did this alongside his journalism work. Political activism and life

Hon SA George was a prominent member of the Zikist Vanguard and active trade unionist in Nigeria.He was also Secretary in the  Lagos Town Council Workers' Union. Furthermore,  at the tender age of  23, and as a worker of the P& T Department of Lagos, he led the all first Nigerian strike at Enugu which made headline news across Nigeria

He occupied the very significant position of Secretary General of Cameroon Youth League (CYL) which launched him into the political arena of the Southern Cameroons which was at that time administered legislatively together with the Eastern region in Enugu. SA George was one of the  pioneer member of parliament in the Nigerian Eastern House of Assembly  Enugu, representing the division of  Mamfe D alongside  Hon. Forju Martin.

He surprisingly  advocated for the secession of southern Cameroons from Nigeria and its unification to French Cameroons and outlined his ideas in the “Kamerun Unification: Being a Discussion of a 7 point solution of the Unification problem”. It is surprising because one would think since his father was a Nigerian he would rather advocated for Southern Cameroons to be part of Nigeria. More so, he was first to move the motion on “Benevolent neutrality” in 1953 which gave rise to party politics. As a matter of fact two major conferences took place in a building in the heart of Mamfe which belongs to his mother which helped  shape the political future of Southern Cameroons and Cameroon as we know it now. The first conference took place in 1953 called the Mamfe conference which was after the leadership crisis in the Eastern house of Enugu which prompted the 13 members of Southern Cameroon in the House of assembly to form the Benevolent Neutrality Bloc and moved out.It was in that conference that the United Nations was petitioned that Southern Cameroonians do not want to be part of the Eastern House of Assembly at Enugu .And the second conference which took place in 1959 called the Plebiscite conference which was to determine the plebiscite  questions and the qualification of voters. Taking all these into consideration with regards to Hon. SA George Contributions, one is tempted to boldly assert that He is one of the greatest leaders in the political development of Cameroon and his story should be made known in Schools as his contemporaries such as Hon.John Ngu Foncha and Hon ST Muna. His key attributes

-He regarded disagreements as a necessary ingredient in the process of Democracy
-Was calm
-Was a good orator 

Personal Life

Hon. SA George was married with Kids.His children all chose Nigeria as their country of residence.

Death

He died in London in  October 1956 from alleged poisoning. He died very young in his 30s.It was even alleged that he died after reading a heavy worded letter of his dismissal sent to him by EM Endeley againts the advice of his doctor which discourage him from doing or reading anything that might be stressful to him.

 It is the foundation of our existence and it is upon that I hope and pray that we shall build our nation.
                                                                                              SA George

'References

Constitutional Developments in Southern Cameroon 1946-1961 by Victor Julius Ngoh

The Cameroonian Condition Page 128 by George Ngwanae

The Obasinjom Warrior.The life and works of Bate Besong by Doh E Fru