POLITICAL CRISIS IN GABON (PART 3): The President Of The Transition, General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, Has Been A Powerful Military Figure In Gabon

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POLITICAL CRISIS IN GABON (PART 3)

The President Of The Transition, General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, Has Been A Powerful Military Figure In Gabon
But Genera Brice NGUEMA had long been considered or suspected of being a FRENCH AGENT

The topic of the debate at “LE CLUB DE MEDIAPART’on MARCH 25, 2021 was: “POUR QUI ROULE BRICE CLOTAIRE OLIGUI NGUEMA?” (FOR WHOM IS BRICE CLOTAIRE OLIGUI NGUEMA OPERATING OR WORKING?)

General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, was born in 1975 in Ngouoni, the Divisional Headquarters of Lekabi Lewollo in the Upper Ogooue Province (‘Haut – Ogooue’) in the South of Gabon. Ngouoni with a population of about 37, 000, is located some 15 km from both Franceville and Bongoville. He was trained at the military academy in Morocco.
Before the August 30, 2023 coup d’etat, General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, had for many years been a very powerful personality in the Gabonese Military and Security Forces. He was the leader of the August 30 Palace Coup, that ousted his cousin, President Ali Bongo, from power in Gabon. General Brice Nguema was sworn – in on Monday, September 4, 2023 as President of ‘Comite pour la Transition et de la Restauration des Institutions’, CRTI, that is the Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions.
The August 30 Palace Coup was not unprecedented in Central Africa. The current President of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who is ignominiously the longest serving President in the world, came to power through a Palace Coup on August 3, 1979. The President he overthrew was his uncle, Francisco Macias Nguema.

Former Boss Of The Secret Service In Gabon

Meanwhile Brice Cloataire Oligui Nguema is also not just a ‘simple’ General. He is a “General de Brigade’, that is, Brigadier General. General Brice Nguema in the past held many strategic positions in the Gabon’s security services. He was for example the Director of ‘Renseignement Generaux’, that is the intelligence unit, the Secret Service which in the United States is known as CIA. In Cameroon it is officially known as the External Research, but is commonly known by the old name, CENER. So General Nguema knows so much about State security, having held that post.
Commander Of The Republican Guard
General Brice Nguema has also for a long time being the Commander of the Republican Guard in Gabon, which is the best equipped, best trained and most powerful security unit in the country. The unit is in charge of protecting the institution of the President of the Republic. General Nguema who is today the President of the Transition in Gabon, still holds the post of Commander of the Republican Guard, as he is still to appoint somebody to replace him in that strategic post.
Meanwhile there is no doubt that General Brice Nguema became such a powerful figure in the Gabonese Defence and Security Forces, partly due to the fact that he was a member of the ruling family in Gabon, the Bongo Clan. He was also quite close to President Omar Bongo, and his son, Ali Bongo, who took over power when his father died in 2009. All the other senior defence and security officers in Gabon knew that General Brice Nguema was not only of the ruling Bongo family, but was also somebody who had the President’s ears, and somebody who had easy access to the President of the Republic. You don’t fool around with such a person.
General Brice Nguema appeared very loyal to his cousin, President Ali Bongo, who maintained him in that strategic and powerful position of Commander of the Republican Guard over the years. Gabonese media reports that General Nguema even composed a song in which he said that: “I will always defend my President with honour and loyalty”. That of course was meant for the ears of President Ali Bongo.

Considered Or Alleged To Be A French Agent

General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema has also for quite sometimes been suspected, or considered, in some high quarters in and outside Gabon, as a French agent. In recent years, there has been growing suspicion in some high quarters in Gabon and beyond about General Nguema’s secret link with the French Government. A little over two years ago, one of the most powerful international publication, MEDIAPART, that has an international online debate club known as ‘Le Club de Mediapart’, raised the question as to who General Nguema was actually serving – Gabon or a foreign power? The debate topic at “le Club de Mediapart’ on March 25, 2021 was: ‘POUR QUI ROULE BRICE CLOTAIRE OLIGUI NGUEMA?” (FOR WHOM IS BRICE CLOTAIRE OLIGUI NGUEMA OPERATING OR WORKING?). So the allegation that General Nguema is a French agent is not something that has just come up now.

No Criticism Of France By General Nguema

It has also been observed that contrary to the military leaders of Mali, Burkina Foso, and Niger that are clearly anti French, and who have been strongly criticizing France of having over the years viciously exploited or robbed their countries of their natural resources, the President of the Transition in Gabon, General Nguema, has not made a single statement against the French Government or France, since taking over power in Gabon. He instead cited General Charles de Gaulle in a very positive light, in the address he delivered at his investiture.
It should be noted that the Gabonese economy is fully in the grip of French companies. And this is one of the reasons that the French Government is determined to ensure that France does not loose Gabon. General Nguem’s country, Gabon, has for example been an oil producing country for a long time. But the country remains poor. Total Gabon, is an affiliate of the Total France, the mother company. Come to think of it that Total Gabon controls over 80 % of oil production in Gabon.
Worth noting that three African counties, that is Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, are former French colonies where civilian Presidents that were loyal to France were overthrown by coup d’etats, and the military leaders are pulling out their countries from the grip of French neocolonialism. It is certainly not something that France will want to see also happen in Gabon where there is huge French interests.

Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguewa Is A Multibillionaire

General Brice Clotaire Nguema, is known to be a multi billionaire, having over the years been one of the persons in the Bongo family to have allegedly and greatly benefitted from the huge State resources stolen from the State of Gabon by the Bongo Dynasty. He is reported to have bought properties in Europe and the United States. A report by www.occrp,org, has disclosed for example that Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema: “Bought three properties in the Middle and Working – Class neighbourhoods in the Maryland suburbs of Hyattaville and Silver Spring , just outside the capital in 2015 and 2018 .The homes were purchased with a total of over $ 1 million in cash”, General Nguema reportedly refused to answer questions from reporters on the acquisitions, saying that it was his “private life”.
Many Gabonese used to say that when the Bongo Dynasty would eventually crashed, one of those that would be arrested for having plundered and looted the resources of Gabon, would be General Brice Nguema . But then here was General Brice Nguema on August 30, 2023, being projected as the savior of the State of Gabon. However since the coup d’etat on August 30, some people have been appearing in videos on the social media, making allegations about the sources of the huge wealth that General Nguema reportedly has. One thing that everybody agrees on, is that he is multi billionaire.
General Nguema Allegedly Had Ambition To Also Be President
The coming to power in Gabon of General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema through a coup d’eta on August 30, 2023, also appeared to be a dream – come – true for the senior military officer, who also allegedly nursed secret ambition to be President of Gabon. Some sources close to General Nguema, say he had come to nurture the thought that, he had a legitimate right to also be President of the Republic.
General Nguema noted that he faithfully served his uncle, President Omar Bongo, as Aide – de – Camp for many years, until he died in 2009. Then he moved on to serve his cousin, Ali Bongo for two mandates of seven years each, that is a total of 14 years. He reportedly thought that it would be fair that he too also take his turn as President of Gabon.

Excitement And Hope Start Dwindling

Meanwhile great excitement and hope filled the hearts of many Gabonese in the morning of August 30, 2023, when they got information that President Ali ben Bongo’s Government had been overthrown. But the excitement and hope soon started dropping following a number of developments. First, many Gabonese in that morning of August 30 celebrated in the streets, what they thought was the end of the Bongo Dynasty in power in Gabon. But disappointment started creeping in, when they learnt later that day, that the new leader of Gabon was General Brice Clotaire Oligio Nguema, the cousin of the ousted President, Ali Bongo. This meant that the Bongo Clan was still in power.
Also came the strong allegation that France supported the coup d’etat, and that General Nguema was allegedly a French agent, that the French did not want a Panafricanist like opposition leader, Albert Ondo Ossa, to come to power in Gabon, and that the French opted for General Brice Nguema whom they were certain would protect the huge French interest in Gabon. This was another big disappointment to Gabonese, who initially rejoiced that the ouster of Ali Bongo from power, meant the end of French neocolonialism and exploitation of Gabon.