By Enyichukwu Enemanna
A Constitutional Court in Gabon on Friday cleared junta leader Brice Oligui Nguema, who seized power in a military coup in 2023, to run in next month’s presidential election.
Also approved to contest the 12 April election are seven other candidates, including one female contestant, Gabonese entrepreneur Gninga Chaning Zenaba.
Transitional leaders are typically barred from running for office in Gabon, but the junta-led government approved a constitutional amendment allowing Nguema to enter the race.
Opposition and civil society groups have alleged that the constitutional change was orchestrated to enable the junta leader to drop his military regalia and contest as a civilian. Nguema had pledged to return power to civilian rule.
Nguema, 50, who promised that the constitutional referendum would serve as a stepping stone to democracy, ended the decades-long rule of his predecessor, Ali Bongo, and his family over the oil-rich yet impoverished nation. The 2023 coup was the eighth in West and Central Africa between 2020 and 2023.
Nguema’s main rival is tipped to be Bongo’s last Prime Minister, Alain Claude Billie By Nze, 57, who is running as an independent candidate.
Other candidates cleared by the court include Stephane Germain Iloko Boussengui, a former member of Bongo’s Gabonese Democratic Party who has since founded his own movement, the “Large Rainbow Gathering”, and tax inspector Joseph Lapensee Essigone.
Ali Bongo ruled for 14 years before being ousted. He had taken office after the death of his father, Omar Bongo, who had served as president for 41 years.
Last month, the president of neighbouring Equatorial Guinea, Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, urged the Gabonese people to support Nguema for the country’s future.
However, some opposition and civil society groups in Gabon continue to call on the military leader to honour his commitment to step aside for civilian rule after the transition.
