The Bongo Clan Rocked By A Serious Crisis That Has Split The Family

THE POLITICAL CRISIS IN GABON (PART 2)

The Bongo Clan Rocked By A Serious Crisis That Has Split The Family

Gabonese Opposition Leader Says PASCALINE BONGO, The Sister of ousted President, ALI BONGO, masterminded His Brother’s Fall

MALIKA BONGO epse PAREIRA, daughter of ALI BONO, surprised many by sending a message of congratulations to HER UNCLE, the President of the Transition, GENERAL NGUEMA, who led the coup that ousted his father from power

ALI BONGO’s father, Late President OMAR Bongo, was a polygamist and had over 30 children – a potential source of the bitter conflict rocking the Bongo Clan

When in the afternoon of Wednesday, August 30, it emerged that the Head of Military Junta that had taken over power in Gabon was General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, THE MENTOR started wondering what was really happening in neighbouring Gabon.
This was because not only was General Brice Clotiare Oligui Nguema the cousin of the ousted Gabonese President, Ali ben Bongo Ondimba, but had has been very close Ali Bongos for many years. General Brice Nguema was the ‘Aide – de – Camp’, of President Omar Bongo, the father of Ali Bongo. As is commonly said in the quarter, Nguema was the person who used to carry President Bongo’s bag, and would move or sit directly behind him. To have made General Brice Nguema his aide – de –camp, showed the level of trust or confidence that Omar Bongo had in his nephew.
When Omar Bongo Ondimba died in 2009, his son Ali Bongo Ondimba took over power as President of Gabon following a fake presidential election. President Ali Bongo first sent his cousin, General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema to the diplomatic missions of Gabon in Morocco and then Senegal; two close friends of Gabon. After that President Ali Bongo brought General Nguema back home, and appointed him to the very strategic and sensitive post of Commander of the Republican Guard, which is the best equipped, best trained and most powerful security unit in Gabon.
Worth noting, that the security unit that is called the Republican Guard in Gabon, is called the Presidential Guard in Cameroon. In fact during the Presidency of Ahmadou Ahidjo, the security unit was known as Republican Guard. It was after the abortive coup d’etat’ of Aprl 6, 1984, that President Biya restructured the security unit and changed the name to Presidential Guard. The principal mission of the Republican of Presidential Guard is to protect or guard the institution of President of the Republic.
Conflict Between Ali Bongo And His Uncle
Meanwhile news that General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, the cousin of ousted President, Ali Bongo, was the Head of the Military Junta that took over power in Gabon in the morning of August 30, also reminded THE MENTOR of the conflict that surfaced a few months before the August 26 presidential election, between President Ali ben Bongo Ondimba, and his uncle, Jean Boniface Assele. As THE MENTOR reported on August 18, Jean Boniface Assele, the leader of ‘Cercle du Liberaux Reformateurs’, CLR Party, had over the years, stretching back to the time of Omar Bongo, ‘naturally’ been part of the Presidential Majority. But last June he quit the Presidential Majority.
Perhaps the most surprising part of the story, was the fact that that Jean Boniface Assele, the uncle of President Ali Bongo, went on to announce his candidature for the August 26 Presidential Election. The rather strange possibility, of President Ali Bongo clashing with his uncle at the presidential election, sparked a wave of anxiety and excitement in Gabonese politics. However as we reported, President Ali Bongo would not allow that to happen.
The Gabonese Elections Council, and later the Constitutional Council, definitely acting on the instruction of President Ali Bongo, both rejected the candidature of Jean Boniface Assele. His candidature was rejected on the fake reason that he resigned from the Presidential Majority, late. The Constitutional Council falsely claimed that Assele was supposed to resign from the Presidential Majority, at least four months before the August 26 presidential election. It should be noted that the Presidential Majority is not a political party, but rather it is just a group of separately legalized political parties that come together to support the President of the Republic.

“The Fight Has Only Just Begun”

Following the controversial ruling of the Constitutional Council rejecting the candidature of Jean Boniface Assele, he cried foul, saying there was no text that a member of the Presidential Majority has to resign at least four months before the date of the next presidential election, if he wants to be a candidate at the elections. “It is false. It is not written anywhere”, he fumed. He was convinced that his nephew, President Ali Bongo, was behind the disqualification of his candidature for the presidential election, and declared that:” THE FIGHT HAS ONLY JUST BEGUN”.
It was the fight for what or fight over what? That was the question. This was a very serious situation. Though the problem between President Ali Bongo and his uncle Jean Boniface Assele, was not known, it however looked like it was a very serious issue. The fact that President Ali Bongo’s uncle, Jean Boniface Assele, decided to pull out of the Presidential Majority to try to run in the presidential election against his nephew, lend more credence to the allegation was circulating in high political circles in Gabon, that the Bongo Clan was being rocked by a serious crisis, and that the bitter conflict had split the Clan into factions.
Then came this other news in the afternoon of Wednesday, August 30, 2023 that the leader of the coup d’etat that ousted President Ali Bongo from power that morning, and placed him under house arrest, was in fact his cousin, General Brice Nguema, whom he appointed Commander of the Republican Guard. Could it be that the bitter conflict in the Bongo Clan, was behind the August 30 coup d’etat that was led by the cousin of President Ali Bongo? That was the question.

Daughter Of Ousted Gabonese President Congratulate New Leader

Then, in the evening of Wednesday, August 30, 2023, came another big surprise that heightened the level of confusion as to whether President Ali Bongo was overthrown by a military coup d’etat or by a palace coup. Malika Bongo Ondimba epse Pareira, the biological daughter of the ousted President of Gabon, Ali Bongo Ondimba, tweeted: “Mes felicitations au nouveau President de la Transition, Son Excellence Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema”, meaning, “Congratulations to the new President of the Transition, His Excellency Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema”.
Once again THE MENTOR posed the question as to what was really happening in Gabon. How could Ali Bongo’s daughter, more so openly, send a message of congratulation to the uncle, General Brice Nguema, that the father appointed Commander of the Republican Guard, and who had ended up in the morning of that day overthrowing the father to become President? Was the Bongo Clan playing a game with the coup thing? CONFUSION INDEED!
Worthy of note, that Malika Bongo Ondimba epse Pareira, was the Coordinator of his father’s presidential election campaign at their small Djouori – Agnili Division, whose main town is BongoVille. Malika was also the parliamentary candidate of the ruling “Parti Democrate Gabonese’, PDG (Gabonese Democratic Party) for Djouori – Agnili Division, which had a lone seat. Her campaign banners in the streets of Bongoville, carried the message: ‘Avec Ali Nous Gagnerons Dans Le Siege Unique /Djouori Agnili’ meaning “With Ali, We Will Win In The Lone Seat Constituency / Djouori Aggnili).

Pascaline Bongo Allegedly Behind Overthrow Of Ali Bongo

Meanwhile, when TV 5 Monde in the evening of August 31 asked the hardline opposition leader and presumed winner of the August 26, 2023 presidential election in Gabon, Prof Albert Ondo Ossa, who was behind General Brice Nguema in what he said was Palace Coup or Palace Revolution, Prof Ondo Ossa did not hesitate to respond. “WE ALL KNOW, THAT THE PEROSN BEHIND GENERAL BRICE NGUEMA, IS PASCALINE BONGO. THIS THING IS A FAMILY AFFAIR, AND THE BONGO CLAN HAS TRIED TO USE THE AUGUST 26 ELECTIONS TO MANIPULATE THE PEOPLE OF GABON With THEIR INTERNAL FIGHT”.
Asked about his reaction to the arrest of Nourerdin Valentin Bongo Ondimba, the son of the ousted President of Gabon, Ali Bongo, the opposition leader simply said he would not comment on a family affair.
Bitter Conflict Between Ali And Pascaline Bongo
Worthy of note, that Pascaline Bongo is the sister of the ousted President of Gabon, Ali Bongo. At one point, President Ali Bongo appointed his sister Pascaline as Minister of External Relations, but later sacked her. It is not clear why Pascaline was dropped from Government. Some people allege that she was incompetent, while some say she was behaving as if she was the Co- President of Gabon, and did things that embarrassed and hurt the brother, President Ali Bongo.
After being dropped from Government, a war seemingly erupted between Pascaline and his brother, as she had been doing everything to undermine the brother. The bitter conflict between Ali Bongo and Pascaline Bongo has split the Bongo Clan, and apparently Pascaline succeeded, and perhaps with the aid of France, to secretly bring General Brice Nguema to her side. It was definitely not also for nothing that President Ali Bongo’s uncle, Jean Boniface Assele, decided not only to withdraw from the Presidential Majority, but wanted to be a candidate at the August 26 presidential election against his nephew.

Omar Bongo Was A Polygamist, And Had Over 30 Children
The real reason for the bitter conflict between Ali Bongo and Pascaline Bongo, or the bitter conflict in the Bongo Clan, is not clear. But the conflict is not all that surprising. Late President Omar Bongo Ondimba, was a polygamist, and had many children. He is said to have had more than 30 children, some people even talk of about 50. And as we commonly see in our own Cameroonian society, in most cases when a multi billionaire or a wealthy man who is a polygamist dies, sooner or later a very bitter conflict erupts in the family. In most cases, the bitter conflict is over property.

Bongo Clan Allegedly Wanted Another Family Member To Replace Ali Bongo?
It is being alleged that the Bongo Dynasty that had illegally installed at the Presidency in Gabon, had made the Bongo Clan to wrongly think that the post of President of the Republic was their family or private property. After President Ali Bongo suffered from a stroke in 2018, many members of the Bongo Clan were allegedly of the opinion that President Ali Bongo should not run for another mandate, and that he should rather allow another family member to take his or her turn as President of Gabon.
But it is also alleged that at the same time, members of the Bongo Clan did not agree on who should replace Ali Bongo as President of the Republic. I t is alleged that the two front runners were General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema and the son of President Ali Bongo, Nourredin Valentin Bongo, who had the strong support of his mother, Sylvia Bongo Ondimba. Ali Bongo’s wife Sylvia is originally of French nationality, though she had also since also become a Gabonese, after obtaining a Gabonese nationality. Meanwhile President Ali Bingo apparently refused to give way to another family member to be candidate at the August 26, 2023 presidential election.
Ali Bongo Was Not Supposed To Run In the 2023 Presidential
Shortly after taking over power in the coup d’etat on August 30, 2023, General Brice Clotaire Oilgui Nguema, the man who led the coup to overthrow his own cousin, President Ali bed Bongo Ondimba, told French daily, Le Monde, that President Bongo was not supposed to run for a third mandate. He recalled that President Bongo had a stroke in 2018 which greatly weakened him. He said President Ali Bongo’s health and physical condition was a much talked about issue, though before the August 30 coup d’etat, nobody had taken the responsibility to stop him.
Meanwhile it would look like Pascaline Bongo had also secretly succeeded to have the support of the French Government, which is scared of the pro – Panafrican opposition coming to power in Gabon, and would prefer a military regime in Gabon that is pro – France like that in Chad. At the same time the French might have seen that it was increasing becoming very difficult to continue to support Ali Bongo who was increasingly becoming more and more unpopular in the country, as seen in the fact that he actually lost the August 26, 2023 Presidential Election.