The Senator from the North West Region died in Yaounde on Saturday, November 15, 2014.

The Senate has again been struck by cold hands of death. After Senator Francis Nkwain, who was buried on Saturday, November 15, 2014, in Njinikom in the North West Region, another Senator, Prof. Stephen Jikong, passed on at the Yaounde General Hospital, Ngousso, the same day. He was elected to the Senate in 2013.

At his Terre Rouge, Damasse, Yaounde residence yesterday, November 16, 2014, mourners had already gathered to condole with the widow, Christina Ngwafes Jikong. Explaining what happened, the late Prof. Stephen Jikong’s Personal Assistant, Godlove Jator, said he was hospitalised on November 2, 2014 at the Yaounde General Hospital, Ngousso and was discharged five days later. He had been diagnosed with malaria and general body weakness soon after returning from the US.

Jikong returned home and was active; and even attended the opening of the Senate on November 12, 2014 and the coffining of the body of his colleague, Senator Francis Nkwain, at the Yaounde General Hospital on Thursday, November 13, 2014. After feeling weak, he went back to the same hospital the following day where he died on Saturday, November 15, 2014, at about 12.30 pm, Jator explained. He said the late Senator had been sick for some time, with a rumour making the rounds in 2012 that he died in the US.

The Personal Assistant pointed out Stephen Jikong has of late been living on by God’s grace after being diagnosed with liver cirrhosis, which affected his kidneys. Born on February 2, 1949 in Mbem village, Nwa Subdivision, Donga-Mantung Division of the North West Region, Stephen Jikong retired in 2008 as an Associate Professor of English from the University of Yaounde I. He was also Secretary General in the Ministry of Public Service and Administrative Reforms from 1992-1994, and then Technical Adviser in the Prime Minister’s office 1996-2012. Has was also board member of State corporations such as SCDP, ENAM, INJS and recently CRTV.