Batibo Cultural & Development Association
iforti ya kah
About Batibo
Batibo Village is south west of Bamenda in the North West Region of Cameroon, along the N6 Bamenda - Enugu Highway.
Bird's View of Batibo
Batibo is a town in Cameroon, Africa. Along the Trans-African Highway, 27 miles west of Bamenda and about 100 miles east of Nigeria lies Batibo the economic, social, political and cultural heartbeat of Moghamo as well as the Greater Widikum tribe. Batibo, formerly referred to as Aghwi, is home to hardworking people mostly farmers, traders, craftsmen and professionals of diverse dispensations.
It is located between latitudes 575 and 590 north of the equator, longitudes 975 east of the Greenwich meridian and at the transition between the equatorial forest in the south and the savannah to the north. Batibo like most of the savannah experience two seasons - the rainy and the dry seasons and the average number of rainy days is 165 within a calendar year with an annual rainfall recorded at approximately 2500 mm.
Timezone
The time zone id for Batibo is Africa/Douala.
Population
Estimated at 40,000 people.
Batibo on Google Earth
Our History
Batibo is a Fondom constituted since its founding in the 17th century as a loose confederation of semi-autonomous quarters under the central authority of HRH the Fon R.A.M. TebO II of Batibo.
Its origin is intricately linked to the origin of not only the Moghamo clan but also the Widikum tribe as a whole. Batibo village originated from Tadkon a quarter in Batibo where Tembeka and Akumaka the first ancestors of the Widikum Tribe first settled. Their home was Tigheben, a cave in a forest at Tadkon. They also founded a market at that location now called Tad.
Tembeka and Akumaka had many offspring. Tewire (male) and Tikum (female) moved; first settled in Bengang and subsequently migrated to a hill-top in Widikum. Their descendants founded Ngen-Mbo, Baforchu, Baba, Banja and Mankon. In a quest by colonial masters to come to terms with these people who lived in different geographical regions but virtually speaking the same language, the name Widikum was designated to symbolize them.The late Pa Johannes Kisob who was an interpreter in Batibo at the time told them they were called Teweri-Tikum. With the passage of time the name evolved to Tewirekum then Mewerekum meaning the people of Tewire and Tikum and finally as Widikum tribe today.
Upon the death of Tembeka, his successor Njei-Tegha left his fathers compound and settled in Gowi. Njei-Tegha who became the main descendant of the twenty-two villages of Moghamo, had as his successor Njei Tifuh who equally left fathers compound and founded his own settlement at the present Batibo Palace. His other brothers moved in different directions and found the other twenty-two villages of Moghamo.
Njei Tifuh therefore is the prime-mover of the Batibo royal Household founded in about 1675. The following rulers ascended to the throne of the Fondom after Njei Tifuh:
Ndam Aso
Adam Anwei
Tenyang
TEBO Mawum (Tebo I)
Teke Mukum
Koh Tendong
Fongang
Acha
Mba-Atam (Mba I)
Mba II
RAM TEBO II.
By virtue of the Ministerial order No L.G. 788/SIL/71 of 18 July 1964, the Fon of Batibo was made clan head of Moghamo. Another WAC motion changed the appellation of chief to Fon for any ruler who was made clan head.
Batibo is seat to the administration of Batibo Sub-division. With an estimated population of twenty thousand, it remains the largest and most populated village in all of Momo Division in the North West Region of Cameroon.