Joe Dinga Pefok (Uncle Joe)
But The Former First Lady, SYLVIA BONGO, And Eldest Son, NOUREDDIN, Were Not Present In Court, And Observers Were Not Surprised. Their Six Accomplices (members of ‘Young Team’) That Were Arrested Together With Them, And That Were Maintained In Detention, When The Two (BONGOS) Were Secretly Released Last May 16, Were Those That Were Brought To Court. This World!
At the beginning of 2025, the former President of Gabon, Ali ben Bongo Ondimba, who was ousted from power in a coup led by his cousin, Brigadier General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, on August 30, 2023, was still living in the nation’s capital, Libreville. The former Gabonese President, that suffered a severe stroke in 2018, had turned down a secret proposal that was made to him by the transitional government led by his cousin, General Oligue Nguema, to go on self-exile, and continue his treatment outside the country as he used to do. He vowed that he would not leave the country without his wife, Sylvia Bongo, and eldest son, Noureddin Bongo Valentin, who were both on pre-trial detention for alleged embezzlement of hundreds of billions of francs CFA of public funds.
As The Mentor News stated in an earlier article, the President of the Transitional Government of Gabon, General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, was also under pressure from the leaders of other countries of the Central African Region, especially those of the CEMAC Sub –region, to release the former First Lady, Sylvia Bongo, from detention. They wanted Oligui Nguema to do so, despite the strong evidences that the State judiciary Department in Gabon had as proofs for the charges of embezzlement of public funds and others, leveled against her. Back in 2024, there was an allegation that went viral, that there was a secret plan by the military regime in Gabon to release the former First Lady and eldest son to leave the country, on a fabricated story that they escaped from jail. The veracity of the allegation was not known. But if it was true, then it finally did not materialize, as it did not happen.
General Oligue Nguema – From President Of Transitional Gov’t To Presidential Candidate
Meanwhile in early 2025, the President of the Transitional Government in Gabon, Brigadier General Brice Cl;otaire Oligui Nguema, whose government was supposed to organize democratic elections and return the country to civilian rule, instead confirmed his candidacy as an independent, for the presidential election, which he fixed for April 14, 2025.
A few days before the presidential election, General Oligui Nguema, insisted in an interview that he granted two French State media organs, that is, RFI and France 24, at the presidential palace in Libreville, Gabon, that the State judiciary had incontrovertible evidences against the former First Lady, French born Sylvia Bongo, accused of forgery, embezzlement of huge amounts of public funds, corruption, and so on. As regard the charge of forgery for example, General Oligui Nguema insisted that the Gabonese Judiciary had concrete or indisputable evidences, that the former First Lady, and her eldest son, for example, forged the signature of the then President of the Republic, Ali Bongo, which they used through their accomplices, to embezzled huge amounts of public funds, as well as to fraudulently do some other things.
The President of the Transitional Government, General Oilgui Nguema, who was also a presidential candidate, thus insisted in the interview that the former First Lady, Sylvia Bongo, and her eldest son, Noureddin, would have to stand trial for the charges leveled against them by Gabon’s Judiciary.
Former First Lady And Eldest Son Quietly Released From Detention
But then despite all what General Brice Clotaire Oliguie Nguema told the French State media, it turned out that no sooner was the presidential election over, and of course with him having won the election he organized to win, than the former First Lady of Gabon, Sylvia Bongo, and her eldest son, Noureddin Bongp Valentin, were quietly released from their different detention facilities, and allowed to leave the country, together with the former President of Gabon, Ali Bongo. That occurred on the fateful day of May 16, 2025.
The first port of call of former President Ali Bongo, his wife, Sylvia, and eldest son, Noureddin, was Luanda, the Angolan capital. No sooner did their plane touch down at the Luanda International Airport, than the trio took a picture, which Noureddin posted on the social media. He said they were free at last, and threw some jabs at the Gabonese Government. It was a real embarrassment for the Gabonese Government, especially as it was from the social media post that the Gabonese people shockingly learnt that the incarcerated First Lady, Sylvia Bongo, and her eldest son, Noureddin Bongo Valentin, had not only been released from their pre-trial detention, but had also left the country.
Reacting to the social media post, the Anthony General of Gabon could not explain to the people why Sylvia Bongo and her eldest son, Noureddin, were released from pre-trial detention, to the point of been allowed to leave the country. He instead chided the two for making noise, He said rather than waste time making noise, the two (former First Lady and her eldest son), ought to had been quietly preparing for the case that will be coming up against them soon, at the Special Criminal Court in Libreville, Gabon.
It Was Not A Coincidence, That They Were Released After The Presidential Election
From all indications, it was clear that despite what the Gabonese leader, General Oligui Nguema, told France 24 and RFI a few days before the presidential election last April, he had yielded to both internal and external pressure, by secretly accepting to release the former First Lady, Sylvia Bongo, and her eldest son, Noureddin Bongo Valentin, to join his cousin and former President, Ali Bongo, to leave the country. But from all indications also, the secret plan was that the release would only be dome after the presidential election. The President of the Transitional Government, General Oligui Ngurma, who was also a candidate for the April 2025 presidential election, certainly knew that if such a thing was done before the presidential election, it would turn many Gabonese against him.
General Oligue Nguema certainly remembered how many people were furious back in September 2023, when the ousted President, Ali Bongo, was released from house arrest just one week after he was overthrown. Despite the explanation that Ali Bongo, who suffered a severe stroke in 2018, needed to go out of the country as in the past, to continue with his treatment, many Gabonese felt that the new military leader of the country, General Oligue Nguema, released him because they were cousins. What more of the former First Lady and her eldest son, who were being accused by the State Judiciary of the embezzlement of hundreds of thousands of billions francs CFA of public funds, among other things!
Ali Bongo, Wife, And Eldest Son, Settle In Britain
Meanwhile after spending a few weeks in Luanda as the guests of the Angolan President, the former Gabonese President, Ali Bongo, his wife and eldest son, left Angola for Britain, which was their real destination. Former President Ali Bongo had in fact negotiated for Britain to be the country to host him and his family on exile. The official reason as to why Britain accepted to receive the former President is not known, but it should be noted that while President of Gabon, Ali Bongo took a historic decision, when he decided to take the French speaking African country, into the Commonwealth. The move definitely brought him closer r to Britain.
It would be recalled that when the bloodless coup that overthrew his government in the early hours of August 30, 2023 was still ongoing, President Ali Bongo made a declaration to the outside world in the English language, calling on the international community to “make some noise”, or better still, to denounce what was happening in Gabon. That at such a critical moment, President Ali Bongo decided to send an SOS to the international community in the English language, instead of French, meant so much. It would also be recalled that one of first top foreign dignitaries, who travelled to Gabon after the coup and met with both the new military leadership as well as ousted President Ali Bongo, was the Secretary General of the Commonwealth.
Embezzlement Case Against Former First Lady And Others, Comes Up in Court
Meanwhile, the case of alleged embezzlement of hundreds of billions of public funds by the former First Lady of Gabon, Sylvia Aimee Valentin epse Bongo, her eldest son, Noureddin Bongo Valentin, and their accomplices of the ‘Young Team’, finally came up at the Special Criminal Court in Libreville, Gabon, in November 2025. Keen observers were not surprised that the former First Lady and her son, who are now living in Britain, did travel to Gabon for the case, that, they even dismissed as a witch hunt.
But the other members of the ‘Young Team’, that is, accomplices or partners in crime, who remained on pre – trial detention after the former First Lady and her son had the privilege to be quietly released to leave the country, were brought to court for the trial. They included: 1) The Former Director of Cabinet at the Presidency, Ian Ghislain Ngoulou (He replaced Brice Laccruche Alihanga who was arrested in 2021). 2) Former Deputy Director of Cabinet, Mohamed Ali Saliou. 3) Former Adviser to the President of the Republic, Abdul Hosseini. 4) Former Adviser to the President of the Republic, Jessye Ella Ekogha. 5) Senior member of the former ruling party (PDG), Steve Nzegho Dieko. 6) Senior member of the former ruling Party (PDG), Cyriaque Mvourandjiami.
It would be recalled that the former First Lady of Gabon, Sylvia Bongo, and her eldest son, Noureddin Bongo Valentin, together with their above mentioned accomplices of the ‘Young Team”, were officially accused of Embezzlement of Public Funds, Forgery (Forged the signature of the President of the Republic), Drug Trafficking, Fraud, Corruption, and even High Treason. However, the case that came up at the Special Criminal Court, in Gabon last November, was focused on embezzlement of public funds.
Live Broadcast Of The Case.
Meanwhile, the Gabonese authorities apparently wanted to fully expose to the Gabonese people in particular, and to the international community in general, the full scale of the huge embezzlement scandal in which the former First Lady, Sylvia Bongo, and her eldest son, Noureddin, and well as their six accomplices or partners in crime, were involved. How they robbed Gabon of hundreds of billions of francs CFA. This was also definitely a strategy to debunk the claim by the former First Lady and her son, that the case was a witch hunt. There was thus a live broadcast of the case on State TV and radio.
Chief State Prosecutor In The Case Termed What Happened, ‘Braquage De La Republique’.
Meanwhile, in the case at the Special Criminal Court in Libreville, Gabon, the total amount of State funds which the former First Lady, Sylvia Bongo, with her eldest son, Noureddin Bongo Valentin, and their accomplices (members of the ‘Young Team’), allegedly embezzled, were not very certain to observers. The figures moved from hundreds of billions of francs CFA that had before then been repeatedly mentioned, to thousands of billions of francs CFA. Some of the figures looked really unrealistic or even questionable.
Meanwhile, it was said in court by the prosecution that while he was the Director of Cabinet at the Presidency, Ian Ghislain Ngoulou, member of the ‘Young Team’, regularly pocketed several billions of francs CFA from the racket they were doing with the First Lady and her eldest son. That is, using a fake stamp –signature of the President of the Republic, Ali Bongo, who was not in good health, to frequently embezzle huge amount of State funds. In fact, all six members of the ‘Yong Team’ that were arrested together with their boss, Noureddin Bongo Valentin, on August 30, 2023 when the coup d’etat took place in Gabon, were all presented in court as embezzlers of huge suns of public funds.
The Attorney General, EDDY MINANG, who appeared in the embezzlement case as the Chief State Prosecutor, qualified what the former First Lady, Sylvia Bongo, her eldest son (Noureddin), and their ‘gang members’ or members of the ‘Young Team” did, as ‘Briquage de la Republique’, that is, “A Hold-Up of the Republic”.
