Enoch Olinga - Father of Victories

Father of Victories

In 1953 he became the first Bahá'í pioneer to British Cameroon, and was given the title Knight of Bahá'u'lláh for that country. Ali Nakhjavani, and his wife along with Olinga and two other Bahá'ís travelled from Uganda to Cameroon - the other Bahá'ís were dropped along the way in other countries. As the number of Bahá'ís grew in Cameroon new Bahá'ís left the immediate region to pioneer in other surrounding areas, each becoming a Knight of Bahá'u'lláh including Ghana, and Togo. Because of the successive waves of people becoming Knights of Bahá'u'lláh, Enoch Olinga was entitled "Abd'l-Futuh", a Persian name meaning "the father of victories" by Shoghi Effendi. In 1954 a Bahá'í book belonging to Olinga, Paris Talks, became the basis of a Baha'i Church in Nigeria in Calabar which operated in 1955-56. The church was disconnected from the Bahá'í community but applied the Bahá'í teachings with virtually all of the Cameroonian men on one large palm plantation. The church was established, flourished, and then collapsed utterly unrecognized and unknown to the Bahá'ís and to the international Baha'i community until one of the founders tried to return the book. Both leaders of the church later officially joined the religion and helped form the first Local Spiritual Assembly of Calabar in 1957 and served in other positions.

A biography published in 1984 examined his impact in Cameroon and beyond. The first person in Cameroon to join the religion withstood beatings to persevere in his choice. The first woman to become a Bahá'í in Cameroon did so from his impact on her life though she had been an active Christian before - both she and her husband converted and were among the first to move to Togo and then Ghana. Another early Bahá'í, the first of the Bamiliki tribe, moved to what was then French Cameroon to help there. Another early contact joined the religion later but his wife was the first Bahá'í of Nigeria. The researcher again found that there was an emphasis not on rooting out cultural traditions among the peoples but instead focusing on awareness of the religion and awareness of scientific knowledge should not relate to social class. There were accusations of political intrigue of which Olinga was acquitted. It was judged that Olinga was always sincere and never belittled.