Andre-Marie Mbida

Andre-Marie Mbida (1 January 1917 – 2 May 1980) was a Cameroonian statesman, nationalist, first Cameroonian to be elected Member of Parliament at the French National Assembly, Prime Minister of Cameroon, second African-born Prime Minister in Sub-Saharan Africa, first Head of State of French speaking autonomous Cameroon from 12 May to 16 February 1958 and first political prisoner of independent Cameroon from 29 June 1962 to 29 June 1965.

Andre-Marie Mbida was born on 1 January 1917 in Edinding (Cameroon) and died 2 May 1980 in Paris (France).He hailed from Nyong and Sanaga region of Cameroon. He was born into the traditional as the son of a mixed race Traditional ruler Simon Monbele Ongo Nanga chief of Ngo logou and Edinding who led a rebellion against the German invaders and Ngono Veronique . André Marie MBIDA went to the rural primary school of Efok (Lekié division) and was a brilliant student. He then continued his secondary education at the Minor Seminary Akono from 1929 to 1935, where he became a mathematics and Latin teacher, and later on at the Major Seminary Mvolyé from 1935 to 1943. While studying in the grand Seminaire he became a friend of the future presidents Fulbert Youlou and Barthélémy Boganda. He was for a while tempted by the idea of becoming a priest, but after he left the Seminary, he became Head Teacher of the Balessing rural school in 1943. He was very intelligent so he completed his studies and at least graduated as a lawyer in 1945. After completing his training in Law, he worked at the treasury in Yaoundé for a year in 1945, and then became a business representative in Yaoundé and Ebolowa till 1954. As business representative, his monthly income varies between approximately 500,000 CFA francs and 800,000 CFA francs, or even a million.

On 14 August 1946, he married Marguerite Embolo, daughter of Assiguena Fabien, an Eton tribal chief and owner of plantations (one of the most prosperous cocoa farmers in the Lekié division) and of Mbono Marie, former midwife at Mvog-Betsi an Ewondo clan in Yaoundé Mbankolo and moreover granddaughter of the powerful ruler, Omgba Bissogo.one of the founders of the actual Capital Yaounde along with his halfbrother Essono Ela. They had six children, four sons and two daughters, among them, Louis Tobie Mbida, the present Chairman of the Cameroonian Party of Democrats (CPD) (French: Parti des Démocrates Camerounais (PDC)), Simon Pierre Omgba Mbida, Cameroonian diplomat, Alphonse Massi Mbida, Company Head in Ile de France, Paul Etoga Mbida, a mathematics and physics student who died in France in 1985.

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