Yaoundé Olympic Qualifiers Note Book - Day 6

Legends held in great regard in Cameroon

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Legendary Cameroon footballer Roger Miller is the Roving Ambassador to the Presidency.

This is a senior role in the government and the president has to consult Miller on any decision regarding sports in the country.

Additionally, Miller represents the presidency in various sporting events across the country. It’s such a great honour to see former players held in high regard in Cameroon considering the situation back home where retired stars are nowhere near the Ministry of Sports.

National anthem product of school punishment

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The national anthem of Cameroon is astonishingly a product of a school punishment. Back in 1928 at Folassi teachers training college, a French tutor found students making noise in class.

As a punishment, he asked the students to write essays in French about “My hopes on future of Cameroon” on a piece of paper. After marking them, he selected two as the best. Those written by Rene Jam Afane and Samuel Minkuo Bamba.

The two pieces by Afane and Bamba were recited as patriotic songs before independence. But when Cameroon gained independence in 1960, they were adopted by the legislative assembly as the national anthem of the federal republic of Cameroon.

First president Ahidjo buried in Senegal

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Cameroon’s first president Ahmadou Ahidjo was buried in Dakar, Senegal.

Ahidjo was allegedly deceived to resign as president in 1982 by his French doctor for health reasons. In 1983, he went into exile in France after his successor Paul Biya accused him of organising a failed coup to oust him.

Ahidjo would later die of heart attack in 1989 while in Dakar. Efforts by Ahidjo’s wife Germaine to have his remains brought to Cameroon have frequently been frustrated by Biya who has been in power since 1982. The former First Lady still lives in Dakar.