However the need to do something in the right direction, the need to work for what you are and what you want for yourself, far outweighs the thought of all difficulties. The Yaounde Constitutive Assembly, therefore laid the groundwork for MBOSCUDA in a two days intensive meeting that saw heated and often emotional debates on almost every aspect of its work. One major bone of contention was the choice between the appellations “MBORORO” and “FULANI”.  Various definitions and descriptions of Mbororo and Fulbe were put forward in defense of the one against the other.  However, the most monumental argument was, perhaps presented by Umar Buba Jeldu in favour of the “Mbororo” appellation:

Agreed, we are all Fulbe. But can any one in this hall tell me what is/was the selecting criteria for choosing the people sitting in this hall today? It is because we speak Fulfulde or have Pulaaku? Many other people do! No! It is because, so far, our lives and the lives of our forebears have been intricately and inseparably linked to the cow. And this is exactly what makes us above all, else Mbororo!

This therefore, is the crux of the matter. Talking about “Mbororo development” meant addressing their relationship with cattle and cattle herding tradition. This is a deciding factor to our identity as a people and was therefore the deciding factor to the nature, values, mission and objectives of a Mbororo Oganisation (App. IV).

The name “Mbororo” alone took more than six hours of strenuous and muscled arguments before adoption. But finally, on May 31^st 1992, in the home of Alhadji Bouba Ndoudi, less than 500 meters from the Presidency of the Republic and in a hall jammed to full capacity, with people on the brink of tears (from emotion) and collapse (from exhaustion), and under the able leadership and guidance of a woman! an assorted assembly of some 200 Ardobe (Mbororo Community Leaders), men, women and youths solemnly declared their commitment to the MBOSCUDA initiative. The emotion and solemnity of the moment was captured in the memorable words of (once again!) Umar Buba Jeldu, as he declared his submission with a trembling voice and at the brink of tears:

I have given myself because first, it fits (dum fotti) second, it’s beautiful (dum bwudi) third, it’s heroic (dum hilni) and fourthly, it’s sorrowful (dum yurmi) to sacrifice for what you are.