Brice Oligui Nguema, the former commander of Gabon’s Republican Guard, has expressed interest in transitioning from a junta leader to a democratically elected president in an election scheduled for April 12.
The 50-year-old general seized power in the oil-producing Central African country in an August 2023 coup against his distant cousin, President Ali Bongo.
The coup was one of eight successful putsches in West and Central African countries since 2020.
He promised to hand over power to civilians in a transition back to constitutional rule but declared his candidacy for president in March.
Nguema is favoured to win the eight-candidate race, in which his main challenger is seen as Alain Claude Bilie By Nze, Bongo’s last prime minister.
The coup was largely welcomed by Gabonese tired of 56 years of rule by Ali Bongo and his father, Omar.
During this period, the country emerged as one of Africa’s leading oil producers but poverty remained widespread.
A new constitution championed by Nguema was approved with 92 per cent of the vote in November 2024, and his public crackdown on corruption is widely viewed as popular.
Joseph Tonda, a sociologist at Omar Bongo University in Libreville, said “Gabonese tell themselves that someone who works with this much ardour is trying to transform things,” adding that Nguema was well-placed to win.
Yet Rogers Orock, a Gabon expert at Lafayette College in the U.S., said it was doubtful the election would be fair, and that the true depth of Nguema’s reforms would be visible after his term begins.
“The question is how far-reaching he will be willing to take these changes forward once he has fully transitioned from a military ruler to a civilian president,’’ he said.
Nguema, who was the commander of Gabon’s Republican Guard at the time of the coup, has styled himself since taking over as a crusader against the endemic graft of the Bongo era.
A week after seizing power, he publicly dressed down the heads of public agencies, ordering them to return any stolen money within 48 hours.
The clampdown has resulted in the arrests of several corporate executives and testimony by government officials before a commission investigating graft.
However, Nguema has also faced questions about his finances.
A 2020 investigation by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), a global network of investigative journalists, found he had bought three properties in the U.S. state of Maryland for a total of over one million dollars in cash.
He declined to respond to questions from OCCRP, saying his private life should be respected, and has not commented further on the matter.
On another major issue, Gabon’s historically close ties to former colonial master France he has signaled continuity with the Bongo era, talking up his close relationship with President Emmanuel Macron and visiting France several times.
“We have very good relations and France is our historic partner,’’ he told Radio France Internationale.
Nguema’s approach is markedly different from several other juntas that took power in the region since 2020 including in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.
The other juntas have ended longstanding defence cooperation with France and encouraged growing public resentment over France’s historic presence in the region.
The election will be Gabon’s first since the August 2023 vote that directly precipitated the coup. Opposition leaders’ alleged fraud after Bongo was elected to a third term.
Announcing his candidacy, Nguema said he “dreams of a Gabon that rises from the ashes’’. He added: “I am a builder and I need your courage, your force, to build this nation.’’ (Reuters/NAN)
