Our History
In July of 1990, members of BASU Washington D.C under the leadership of Nhon
James Ndone Mbide, were invited to New Jersey by their brothers and sisters who had heard news of their existence. This invitation was also honored by the Sobe's of Rochester, NY who drove to New Jersey also to see if it were true that there were many Bakossi people here in the U.S.A.
At that initial meeting, the NJ/NY chapter was created under the able leadership of Moses Metuge Alobwede aka Ahidjo and all persons gathered decided to meet once a year. The next year BASU-Washington DC hosted the convention where a date was set to meet in Rochester, NY to know where the Sobe's lived and draft a constitution for the group. A few years later our bakossi brothers and sisters in Atlanta, GA started a group using both the Washington D.C chapter and National constitutions. The Atlanta chapter asked to host the convention the following year and their invitation was honored by the D.C and NJ/NY chapters.
The name BASU-USA was changed at the Atlanta convention to BACDA-USA since
most members were no longer students. In addition members liked the name the Atlanta chapter had chosen for the group since we the members wanted to start helping back home. Today we have other chapters in Boston, Delaware Valley, Chicago, Houston, Dallas,
San Francisco and Minnesota. We also have members from the states of Ohio and Michigan.
We can not talk about BASU or BACDA without thanking the above mentioned for their
dedication. We also thank and remember Late Dr. Moses Akwensioge in whose home the idea of a meeting was started and Dr. Dominic Ntube for his patience in guiding the
Washington chapter which is considered the "Mother Chapter". Thanks are also warranted for our culture that has been enhanced by new members like Mr. Linus Ngide and Nhon George Enogene.
The Goal of BACDA-USA is to expose and sustain our culture so our offspring’s can learn
something from us about our heritage and always remember us and where we come from.
Thank you
Yours Truly
Susan Eduke