Joe Dinga Pefok (Uncle Joe)
The mandate of the President of the Republic is five years renewable once, that is, a maximum of two mandates or 10 years
No family member of the President of the Republic, can succeed him as President
The bloodless coup d’etat that ended the Bongo Dynasty, and put Gabon on a new path
According to the new Constitution and Electoral Code of neighbouring Gabon, the minimum age limit for a presidential candidate is 35 years, while the maximum age limit is 70 years. This means that any politician or Gabonese that is above 70 years is automatically disqualified, from running for the April 12, 2025 presidential election in Gabon. This is unlike in Cameroon where a debate is ranging as to whether it is rational for the 92 year old President Paul Biya, who has been in power for 42 years, to again run for another seven year mandate in the presidential election expected to hold later this year. 92 years is 22 years above the maximum age limit for a presidential candidate in Gabon.
Also, according to the new Constitution and Electoral Code of Gabon, the mandate of the President of the Republic is five years, renewable once. This means that a Gabonese can only serve as President of the Republic for a maximum of 10 years.
Bringing back the issue of the maximum age limit for a presidential candidate in Gabon, which is 70 years, it means that if a Gabonese is elected President of the Republic for the first time at the age of 68 years, he will serve only one term. This is because he would have crossed 70 years by the time of the next presidential election.
No Close Family Member The President, Can Succeed Him
One interesting thing in the new Constitution of Gabon which is meant to prevent a dynasty like that of Bongo from ruling Gabon again, is that the President of the Republic cannot be succeeded by a close family member like his son, nephew or whatever, in the name of democracy. It would be recalled that when Omar Bongo who came to power in Gabon in 1967 died in 2009, a fake presidential election was organized by the regime he left in power, to bring in his son, Ali Bongo, to succeed him as President of the Republic. The argument was that it was the democratic right of Ali Bongo to be a presidential candidate or President of the Republic.
But according to the new Constitution and Electoral Code in Gabon, the son or close family member of an outgoing President, cannot be a candidate in the presidential election meant to get a new President to replace the outgoing President. This is a strategy meant to avoid a reoccurrence of what happened in Gabon in 2009. But in Cameroon, a so called Franckist Movement say they want Frank Biya, the son of the octogenarian President, Paul Biya, to be a presidential candidate to replace his 92 year old father as President of the Republic. Hmmmmmmmmmm!
The Coup D’Etat That Ended The Bongo Dynasty In Gabon
It would be recalled that there was a coup d’etat, or better still a palace coup in Gabon, on October 30, 2023, with the overthrow of the Government of Ali ben Bongo Ondimba. The bloodless coup that was led by the Republican Guard, which in Cameroon is known as Presidential Guard, ended with the Commander of the Presidential Guard, Brigadier General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, a cousin of the ousted President Ali ben Bongo Ondimba, becoming the new leader of Gabon.
The Bongo Family that came to power in Gabon in 1967 had created a dynasty that took the country hostage for over 50 years. Omar Bongo Ondimba who came to power in Gabon as President of the Republic on December 30, 1967, held tied to power with his ‘Parti Democrtique Gabonais’, PDG, until death took him away on June 8, 2009 in a health facility in Barcelona, Spain. Having laid a strong foundation for the Bongo Dynasty in Gabon, his son, Ali ben Bongo Ondimba, that he had groomed to succeed him as President of the Republic, took over as the new President of Gabon after a fake presidential election.
During his second mandate as President of Gabon, Ali ben Bongo Ondimba unfortunately suffered a severe stroke which also severely paralyzed him almost completely. But then he would not leave the presidency or handover power. His French wife, Sylvia Bongo Ondimba, and his first son, Noureddin Bongo Valentine, took advantage of his situation, to falsify his signature which they used to drain the coffer of the State of Gabon with tens of billions of francs CFA, to take care of their extravagant life style. As a family relation of the Bongos, General Oligui Nguema, the Commander of the Republican Guard (Presidential Guard), had access to certain things that enabled him to know the mess that was going on. But he stayed silent. He however hoped that the cousin, President Ali Bongo, would leave power at the end of his second mandate in 2023.
The Republic Guard Steps It To End The Bongo Dynasty
But despite his state, President Ali Bongo apparently under the influence of his wife, son and others who were exploiting his situation to their advantage, insisted to run for another mandate in 2023. General Oligui Nguema decided to put an end to the regime to save Gabon. Two days after the August 26, 2023 presidential election in Gabon, an opposition coalition declared that their candidate, Prof Albert Ondo Ossa, had won the election. The Bongo regime that had Gabon’s Electoral Commission in the pocket, and was thus sure that the official result will in its favour, panicked. In the night of August 29 breaking August 30, 2025, Gabon’s Electoral Commission whose President was Michel Stephane Bonda, went ahead to proclaimed the result of the August 26 presidential election, when Gabonese were deep asleep. The presidential result was actually proclaimed in the wee hours of August 30, with of course incumbent Ali Bongo as the winner.
The regime’s strategy was definitely that the result of the presidential election be proclaimed at a time that Gabonese would be asleep, and thus avoid a possible spontaneous protest by the opposition and other concerned Gabonese. It should also be noted that the situation in the country had become so tense over the presidential election, especially when the opposition coalition claimed victory, that Ali Bongo’s government declared a curfew in some Gabonese towns including of course the capital, Libreville. But then while the Gabonese people were home in the night partly in the respect of the curfew, members of the same regime and their Electoral Commission, gathered and proclaimed the so called result of the August 26, 2023 presidential election.
But then when the Gabonese people woke up in the morning of that August 30, 2023, they instead heard the good news that the Bongo Dynasty was over, and took to the streets to celebrate. What happened was that about two hours after the proclamation of the controversial result of the presidential election, the Republican Guard under the command of Brigadier General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, staged a bloodless coup d’etat, or better still, a palace coup, and brought to an the Bongo Dynasty that had taken Gabon hostage since 1967. Also, the former First Lady, Sylvia Bongo Ondimba, and the first son of the former presidential couple, Noureddin Bongo Valentine, have since been in jail in Libreville, Gabon, on charges of high treason, embezzlement of public funds, falsification of the signature of the President of the Republic, among others.
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