Stakeholders in Gabon have revealed that the military junta is out to protect the interests of the ousted president’s family.
They revealed that the head of the military junta is a Bongo family member that was trained by Omar Bongo, the late father of the ousted president, Ali Bongo.
Military officers led by Oligui Nguema had seized power on Wednesday last week after an announcement that Bongo had secured a third term in a controversial election result.
The officers were said to have placed Bongo under house arrest and installed Nguema as head of state, ending the Bongo family’s 56-year hold on power in the country.
Ali Bongo faces ill health challenges but the stakeholders insisted that the military junta never envisaged an opposition can win election and that rather than declare the real results of the election or organise a referendum, they took over power to protect the interests of the Bongo family.
They spoke at the Weekly LEADERSHIP Twitter Spaces (now X) with the theme: “Coup: After Gabon, Where Next?
Speaking on behalf of the Gabonese stakeholders, the founder of CMOLONDON Cemac Market Opportunity, who is also the promoter of the Friends of Central Africa, Elizabeth Traore-andony, said the coup d’etat is a very painful one.
“This is not actually a coup d’etat; we call it a coup of shame. Before the release of the election results, Mr Oligui Nguema, strongman in Gabon, came on national television to say Ali Bongo cheated in the election and that they are against the results.
Gabon Military Leader Promises Return To Democracy Without Timeline
“What we were expecting from him was actually to give the power to the opposition leader that won; that is Albert Ondo Ossa. Instead of that, he declared a coup d’etat and he actually took power,” Elizabeth said.
Elizabeth, whose grandfather strengthened the police on the arrival of the French and her father who was in the corridors of power, said the people of Gabon are angry because they had an election, even though not perfect, but the will of the people was not allowed to prevail.
“Everything wasn’t good. And I am not for Ali Bongo because he did a lot of things that made the Gabonese to start hating him.
“The few Gabonese people that are now supporting Mr Oligui Nguema, he is still a member of the Ali Bongo’s family.They thought Mr Oligui Nguema will do better. It is just for a moment because it was the same way they did to Ali.
“Ali Bongo was the minister of defence, and wanted to have young people in the army. People thought he wanted to push for change and everything, but when he became president, his old guard got upset because Ali Bongo wanted to bring change.
“He started well, his old guard and family members felt he had blocked them from enjoying the resources of the land they had been enjoying before. He started working with foreign people. Now, Mr Oligui Nguema came, we told him we don’t like what he is doing.
“Gabon is not Burkina Faso; this is not Niger; this is not a coup d’etat. What he did is to make us think that Ali Bongo doesn’t serve his interest anymore and international partners, but the Gabonese people don’t seem to see that it is a tribal and ethnic thing.
“There is this belief that somebody from a certain tribe cannot hold power in Gabon. This is the real issue. The opposition thought they were clever, they took a man that was independent and said ‘go and fight for us’. They were surprised that someone from that tribe, Albert Ondo Ossa, won.
“The people voted for Albert Ondo Ossa because they’ve had enough of Ali Bongo. So, people on the Ali Bongo side thought the opposition cannot win, and they now changed the election results.
“Oligui Nguema came on national television and acted very hastily before the election results were validated. They knew that if they allowed everything to go through, the opposition leader would now become the president-elect.
“But the man came and cancelled the election results. But why didn’t he do a referendum to ask the Gabonese people if they would want another election in six months because they said they spent 100 billion CEFA,” Elizabeth said.
Elizabeth also lamented Oligui Nguema’s declaration that only people who do not have mixed blood will govern Gabon, adding that it was an effort to get the buy-in of the people.
“But the people have not accepted the military. The Bongo family has destroyed Gabon, destroyed patriotism. This man came to say that now in Gabon you only need to marry a Gabonese woman; that for you to be in power, you have to be a Gabonese hundred percent; that they don’t want foreigners; that if you want to be a president in Gabon, you can’t have a foreign wife.
“People that are mixed can’t be leaders? What are you saying after you’ve said that you are going to pay the international partners and community what is meant for them?
”There is something that doesn’t sit well with us. Oligui Nguema was raised by Omar Bongo, his dad is from Minvoul and the mother is from the same region with Ali Bongo.
“He was raised by Omar Bongo, sent to school and now coming to take power to protect the Bongo family interest.
“To us, this is a coup of shame because he is there to preserve the Bongo family interest. We are challenging him to speak on all the money Omar Bongo has in France because there was a court issue that revealed that money was stashed abroad.
“Also, let Oligui Nguema come out and tell us that the Omar Bongo’s money and children that are in Congo, they can’t come home and contest for election. Oligui Nguema is just showing a slot of contradiction.
“What this man is doing is exactly what Omar Bongo did in 1966. In 1984, there was a president called Léon M’ba. That man died and the French were hiding it and automatically, Omar Bongo was chosen and when they came officially to announce to the people about Léon M’ba’s death, Omar Bongo had already designed a transition and in 1967, he decided to announce that he will now take power because he had the experience to run the country.
“This is a repeat that Mr Oligui Nguema is trying to do here. We are not saying getting rid of Ali Bongo is a bad thing, we are against what is hiding behind. Oligui Nguema is definitely not fighting for the interest of Gabonese, they are fighting for their own family interest, 56 years in power,” Elizabeth added.
Also speaking, the chair at the Centre for Liberty, Nigeria, and Convener of Concerned Nigerians – a civil rights group, Comrade Deji Adeyanju, said African leaders must stop their tyrannical approach.
Deji said in East and Central Africa, tyranny had become the order of the day.
“It has been from one oppressive regime to another. This is not acceptable because the rest of the world is advancing. We should not be talking about primitiveness and coup. We can’t continue like this; we can’t encourage barbarism.
“AU and ECOWAS must stop just condemning and take action, because the same people that say they will protect the people, once they get there, they become tyrants,” Deji said.
A lecturer and public affairs analyst, Dr Udoh U. Udoh said seven coups in the last seven years in Africa is worrisome.
“Burkina Faso had two, Mali had two coups, there was a coup in Sudan, Niger and now Gabon,” Udoh said while calling on African leaders to give the people good governance.
He remarked that coups are mostly taking place in French-speaking countries has to do with its influence.
The African Union (AU) has expressed worry over the illegitimate takeover of power in the continent, urging the people to rise to the challenge.
The AU agreed that the region still faces a serious threat.
Africa must think outside the box to address coups, terrorism – Sandy
Meanwhile, the chairperson of the AU ECOSOCC Peace and Security Cluster/Committee, Dr Jonathan Sandy, said the continent still faces serious threats to its peace and political stability.
Sandy, who was part of the LEADERSHIP Twitter Spaces, said as Africans “our destiny is in our hands.”
Sandy, who spoke about the paper he delivered at a three-day Expert Roundtable in Nairobi, Kenya, to mark a Decade of Silencing the Guns in Africa on 3rd September, 2023, said states must think outside the box.
“This month, September 2023, is dedicated as the Africa Amnesty Month (AAM) for Silencing the Guns (STG) in Africa.
“As a panelist, I stressed that while some progress has been made in recent years in solving some of Africa’s most intractable conflicts, the continent still faces serious threats to its peace and political stability. And that as the 2030 target to Silence the Guns slowly approaches, policy and decision makers from the AU, RECS/RMs, and in member states will need to think outside the box, to create sustainably peaceful societies, especially from the scourge of violent extremism, terrorism, unconstitutional changes of government (trend in military coups), poverty, cost of living crisis, and economic hardships.”
He stressed the importance of AU and its organs in thinking through the phenomenon of foreign fighters and mercenaries and their implications on silencing the guns in countries in crisis environments, as well as those in electoral processes.
