The death of the notorious former Buea City Council Mayor, Patrick Ekema, has thrown his entire family into utter confusion.

The late mayor, who was viewed by his political peers of the ruling crime syndicate as a bull in a china shop, has left a pretty mess behind following his sudden death due to a massive heart attack that occurred in his girlfriend’s home in the Cameroon port city of Douala.

While trying to escape to the United States, Mayor Ekema had produced a fake divorce certificate that proved that he had divorced his wife, Katherine Ekema, who is currently living in Minnesota, U.S., with their five children.

In the same vein, he had also manufactured a brand new marriage certificate indicating he had officially gotten married to his girlfriend in Douala.

This complicated situation has generated a brand new conflict in the family as the girlfriend is also laying claim to the late mayor’s property.

While many members of the Ekema family who did not really love the late mayor are rooting for Katherine, a small group that had an axe to grind with Katherine is surreptitiously engineering a strategy that will give Ekema’s girlfriend a portion of his ill-gotten wealth, a family source in Buea which opted for anonymity said during a WhatsApp call with the Cameroon Concord News Group Chairman, Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai today.

The source said that though Ekema was rough on the edges, he was loved by some of his family members who benefitted from his largesse. He added that Ekema was indeed a lightning rod for controversy within the family and his brash approach to life was responsible for many conflicts within the family.

The Buea-based source also added that Katherine had been talking to many people back home, especially to members of the ruling CPDM who, she holds, might help her to solve her thorny traveling issues.

The source also posited that some CPDM members who saw Patrick Ekema as a potential rival are celebrating his demise, adding that many of them did not really see Mr. Ekema as a true and refined politician.

He stressed that his political enemy saw him as a fish out of water and most of them held that he lacked the political finesse to address even the smallest political issues.

Meanwhile, in Minnesota, the financial noose around Katherine’s neck is tightening. Patrick Ekema’s death simply implies that Katherine’s ATM is completely out of service.

The children, especially those in the community college, have to pay next semester’s fees and the financial taps in Cameroon have been turned off following the death of the former mayor.

A Cameroon Concord News Group’s source in Minnesota has indicated that the tension is mounting and that there is evidence that Katherine is in a pretty financial mess.

“The money is not flowing as before and the children have to go to school. Katherine did not have a source of income prior to her husband’s death and his demise had thrown her financial plan into a tailspin,” the source said.

“It is obvious that she will not be traveling back home and the news that there is a divorce certificate has left her brokenhearted and distraught,” our source added.

“With no papers, she is grounded and might be in this state for a long time. Someone close to her has been insinuating that she has not completed her lawyer’s fees and her lawyer had asked for some money before her husband passed away,” the source said.

With the wind of poverty and hard times blowing in Katherine’s direction, it is obvious she will soon be looking for a job.

Our source in Minnesota has also said that Ekema’s children are completely at a loss. They cannot believe that the man who provided for them has gone for good and, above all, with their ATM.

The days ahead are not promising for the Ekema family and as the days go by, the apprehension and confusion which are constant visitors at the Ekema apartment in Minnesota will take up residence in that  little apartment.

American welfare is designed for citizens and not for people claiming to be running away from persecution, the source said.

Our source in Minnesota has also insinuated that the Ekema family is mulling the possibility of moving to Canada where they believe the asylum situation is easier and social welfare  is available to all, including people seeking asylum.

As this story develops, Cameroon Concord News Group will be updating its readers.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai in the United Kingdom