Emmanuel Mbela Lifafa Endeley

Dr. Emmanuel Mbela Lifafa Endeley was born on April 10, 1916, in Buea at the foot of Mount Cameroon. Graduating from the Nigerian School of Medicine in Yaba, Lagos, in 1943, Dr. Endeley was the first indigenous medical doctor in British Southern Cameroons, serving as medical officer in Buea and Port Harcourt.

In 1949, Endeley founded the Cameroon National Federation and the Bakweri Land Committee, fighting for the rights of indigenous communities on the Commonwealth Development Corporation plantations. In 1954, he became the first Premier of Southern Cameroons, leading the parliamentary delegation that established Buea as an autonomous regional capital.