How Nguelemedouga, the sub district officer of Couseri became known as Ali

A date for the conversion of Nguelemedouga from a Roman Catholic Christian to a Sunni Muslim was retained. During the conversion, Nguelemedouga was proposed a list with three Muslim names to choose from. He decided he will be called Ali. Ali who is today, considered as one of the heads of the Shiite branch of Islam, was the nephew of the founder of Islam: Prophet Mohamed. The locals were very happy, to a point that, they gave the sub district officer whose real names were Nguelemedouga Ntangan more gifts in cash than he had anticipated. They recalled fully well that Nguelemedouga never liked gifts that were not in cash. In return, Nguelemedouga gave to his visitors and to all those who came to see his conversion, transistor radio sets that he had ordered from a Nigerian manufacturer based in the city of Aba, in Abia state, Eastern Nigeria. He had instructed the Nigerian transistor Radio set manufacturer to make it possible that, the radio sets that he was to give as gifts, to his guests should receive two stations: the Hausa service of Voice of Nigeria (VON) and the Hausa service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The locals were blissful. Although Nguelemedouga was now an Islamic convert, he did not visit the mosque regularly. In fact, since his conversion, he went to the Mosque to pray only once.

An attitude that prompted some locals to start questioning his sincerity especially that, since he told the public that, he was going to get married to Fatima, he had not done the prerequisite for marriage and Fatima was closer to give birth. Tired of waiting for the sub district officer whose Muslim name was now Ali, the Sharia court of the town of Makari and whose jurisdiction covered that of Couseri, received the complain of the Imam of Couseri and decided to convene a meeting to deliberate on the case of Nguelemedouga aka Ali. And since Nguelemedouga was now a Muslim, he could not absolve himself from any Islamic laws. Fortunately for both Fatima and Nguelemedouga aka Ali Lenin, while the Sharia court seating in Makari was deliberating on their case, the World Trade Centre towers in New York, US was being attacked by Islamic terrorists, who were in majority from the holy land of Islam, Saudi Arabia. The Hausa service of Voice of Nigeria was the first broadcaster to make the Hausa world to know what had just stroked the great Satan as the US is identify by some Muslims. Then, the BBC Hausa service also began broadcasting detailed news about the attack. It was one of the beneficiaries of the transistor Radio that Nguelemedouga had given his guests as sign of appreciation during his conversion who first heard the news. He shouted “thank you, Mr Sub district officer. Without you, we would have taken weeks to know this, because those infidels in Yaoundé have never thought of putting a relay station here to permit us receive signals of Radio Cameroon or their Television”.