The President Of PAL, CELESTIN BEDZIGUI, Launches Below – The – Belt Attacks Against CABRAL LIBII’s PCRN And JOSHUA OSIH’S SDF

Says By Refusing To Join The Opposition Coalition For A Consensus Opposition Candidate For The October 12, 2025 Presidential Election, These Parties Will Only End Up Helping The CPDM To Win

Ridicules Considerations That SDF And PCRN Parties With MPs And Councils, Are Big Parties. “To Win Parliamentary Seats, And Councils In Two Divisions, Does Not Mean You Can Win The Presidential Election. They will Go For The Presidential Election Alone, And End Up With 3 % and 6 %”.

  The National President of PAL, Celestin Bedzigui, considered by many as a controversial figure in the Cameroon opposition because of his relationship with the Biya regime, on Sunday, August 10, 2025, launched a series of below – the- belt attacks against two major opposition parties in the country. That is, the SDF that is led by Hon Joshua Nambangi Osih, which from 1997 – 2020 was the leading opposition party in the country, and the PCRN led by Cabral Libii Ngue, which has since  the 2020 legislative and municipal elections established itself as a major political party in  the country.

The August 10, 2025 attacks on PCRN and SDF by Celestin Bedzigui, took place during the regular Sunday programme, ‘CLUB D’ELITES ‘over Vision 4 Tv in Yaounde. The topic of the panel discussion in French was loosely translated as: “How Can The Plurality of Investitures or Candidacies be Avoided?”. The first part of the question had to do with how the issue of plurality of candidacies from some political parties for the presidential election, can be avoided.  This  problem came up  last month with the files of candidacies that Elections Cameroon, ELECAM, received from some political parties like the CPDM, MANIDEM, ‘Parti Univers’, and UPC for example, for the October 12, 2025 presidential election.

The second part of the question had to do with what can be done to avoid the situation where a number of opposition candidates always go in for the presidential election. That is, opposition parties always go for the presidential election in disperse ranks, instead of having a single candidate, and that always play to the advantage of the ruling CPDM and its natural candidate, Paul Biya.

Not Possible To Have A Single Opposition Candidate In The 2025 Presidential Election

Responding to the second part of the question, Celestin Bedzigui, noted that his party, PAL, is a member of the new opposition coalition that was initiated by the National President of CDU and Mayor of Foumban, Patricia Hermine Tomaino Ndam Njoya, that was launched at its first meeting in a hotel in Yaounde on July 5, 2025, followed by second meeting in Foumban on Saturday, August 2, and that the 3^rd meeting that started holding at the Muna Foundation in Yaounde on Friday, August 8, was by time of the Tv programme on that Sunday, August 10  still going on. Bedzigui explained that it was clear to them that the opposition, as things stand, cannot put up a single candidate at the 2025 presidential election.

Bedzigui said their coalition is for a consensual or consensus presidential candidate, who if they win the October 12, 2025 presidential election, will be the President of the Transitional Government that will be set up. He said members of the Transitional Government will on consensus basis, come from political parties that are members of the coalition.

Asked by the Moderator of the programme, Boney Philippe, about the political weight of their coalition, considering that, a number of major opposition parties in the country, were not part of the group, Bedzigui first argued that the coalition was larger than what many people see. He said before coming into the coalition, some of the candidates or parties already had alliances supporting their candidacies for the 2025 presidential elections, and so there are a number of political alliances, that are part of the coalition.

Bedzigui Launched Unexpected Attacks

But just when the Moderator of the programme thought Celestin Bedzigui was done with responding to the question, and was about to turn to the another member the panel, that was when the leader of PAL launched a series of unexpected and unprovoked attacks against SDF and its leader, Hon Joshua Osih, as well as against the PCRN and its leader, Hon Cabral Libii.

Bedzigui who said that their coalition is big, and thus has the capacity to win the October 12, 2025 presidential election, turned around to contradict himself. He said the problem of the opposition for the October 12, 2025 presidential election were three parties, particularly two, that have refused to come onboard the opposition coalition, and have decided to go it alone in the presidential election. He said what those parties that have decided to go solo, will end up doing at October 12, 2025 presidential election, is that they will help Bya and his CPDM to once more win the election. Bedzigui said the Cameroonian people want change, and that the two parties that he initially said he would not call by names, will be responsible for frustrating the wish of the people, by refusing to join the opposition coalition.  He talked of how egoism, the lack of unity and other factors, are killing the opposition.

Bedzigui Tries To Downplay The Fact That The SDF And PCRN Are Big Parties  

The Moderator of the programme, Boney Philippe, told Bedzigui that he knew he was talking about PCRN and SDF, which are major opposition parties, that have MPs and run councils, and that deserve to be treated with some respect.

But Bedzigui instead tried to downplay the fact that the SDF and PCRN are big political parties.  He argued that in Cameroon, mass following as regard a political party, cannot be considered by the number of people who wear the tee shirts of a political party. Though the moderator of the programme did not talk about party tee shirts, Bedzigui said seeing many people around with the tee shirt of a political party, does not mean that the party is big. He said when party officials go out in a locality to share party tee shirts, many people rush for the free tee shirts, but when in fact most of them are not militants of the political party.  He said there are people, who have at home, the tee shirts of several political parties that they get for free.

Bedzigui Resorts To Insults

Bedzigui  then launched the first direct salvo on Cabral Libii and his PCRN, saying that for a  party to win municipal councils and parliamentary seats in two Divisions of country, does not mean that the party can win the presidential election (in a country with 58 Divisions).

He went further to take on Joshua Osih and Cabral Libii, though he did not call names. He said instead of joining the opposition coalition for a consensus candidate for the October 12, 2025 presidential election, they want to go solo, to end up with results like 3 % and 6 %.  He was definitely making reference to the result of the 2018 presidential election.

Bedzigui Admits He Like Biya Very Much

The National President of PAL, Celestin Bedzigui, was full of contradictions at the Tv programme on Sunday, August 10, 2025. At one point he said he did not want a country rule by a thief. The CPDM representative on the panel discussion, and even the moderator of the programme, understood him as calling President Biya a thief, and demanded  that he should withdraw the word, thief. Bedzigui argued that he did not mention the name of any person, and that he was not referring to President Biya. When the CPDM representative hesitated to believe him, Bedzigui turned and faced him, then said: “Do you think that you like President Biya more than me? Let me tell you that I like President Biya more than you, even though I am not in the CPDM, and the President knows that. Even when I was the General Manager of a State company, I still went ahead to create PAL, and the President knew that. They know the way I talk, they know the way I criticize, but the President knows that I like him”.

It is ironical, that somebody who claims he likes President Biya very much should, also claim that he is a serious member of an opposition coalition that is out to end Biya’s 43 long years in power at the October 12, 2025 presidential election. There are all types of persons in the Cameroon opposition. Worth noting that it is the presence of Celestin Bedzigui in the new opposition alliance, that has contributed to  discourage some serious opposition parties from joining the alliance, because they have always considered him as an agent of  the regime in the opposition. This is not a secret.

National President Of PAL – Celestin Bedzigui

Worth noting as well that Celestin Bedzigui who started politics in Cameroon in UNDP at its creation, soon left in the early 1990 and created PAL. But it was at the February 9, 2020 Municipal Elections, that he succeeded for the first time to become a municipal councilor, precisely Deputy Mayor of his small native Monatele Municipal Council of 25 seats, in Lekie Division, Centre Region. This was thanks to the coming into the scene, of the youthful Denis Emilien Atangana with his FDC Party that, forced the CPDM to win the council by simple majority, instead of absolutely majority, as it always did when Bedzigui’s PAL was the lone opponent. Thanks to FDC, Celesitn Bedzigui’s PAL, that came second, was in line with the Electoral Law allocated a few seats in the council, while Atangana’s FDC also grabbed a few seats in the council. The text also enabled Celestin Bedzigui whose party came second, to become one of the Deputy Mayors of the Monatele Council.

Bedzigui has never participated in a presidential election. Last year, Celestin Bedzigui declared for the first time ever, his candidacy for the presidential election, precisely for the 2025 presidential election. Many people were anxious to see how he would face Biya in the election.  But the declaration of his candidacy came after he accepted to get into a deal with Akere Muna, for him to run on the ticket of PAL for the 2025 presidential election, but then turned around and said no. Not only that, he deliberately  did it in a way to humiliate Akere Muna, by instead making a public declaration, rather than tell Muna in a one –on – one meeting as they did earlier, that his party had turned down his request for investiture for the 2025 presidential election.   Bedzigui then surprisingly went on to declare his candidacy. Suffice to say at the end of the day, Celestin Bedzigui dropped his candidacy and accepted a deal for another person, to be the candidate of PAL.