Coup D’etat: Gabon sworn in ousted President cousin as transitional head of state

“It’s not a coup d’etat, it’s a family affair, where one brother replaces another.”  –Ossa

Gabon military leader on Monday, swore in General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, a cousin of the ousted President Ali Bongo Ondimba, as the new head of state, in less than a week after ousting the president. 

General Brice Clotaire Ozligui Nguema took the oath in the presidential palace in Gabon’s capital Libreville. 

IdanNews gathered that Oligui, the new head of state, served as a bodyguard to his late father and headed the republican guard, an elite military unit. 

Oligui, while addressing the people said the military had seized power without bloodshed and promised to return power to the people by organizing free, transparent and credible elections.

“With the new government, made up of experienced people, we’re going to give everyone a chance to hope,” he said. 

However, the ousted President Ali Bongo Ondimba, had served 14 years in office, comprising two terms since coming to power in 2009 after the death of his father who ruled the country for 41 years, and there was widespread discontent with his family’s reign.

Meanwhile, the revolutionary soldiers who overturned Bongo last week said he risked leading the country into chaos and they then “unanimously” appointed Oligui, his cousin as president of the transitional committee. 

Bongo, was ousted hours after being declared the winner of a vote that was widely seen as rife with irregularities and lacking transparency.

While the coup was celebrated on the streets of Gabon, it drew condemnation from the African Union and the international community

In another development, Gabon’s opposition candidate, Albert Ondo Ossa, has described the military action as a palace revolution where power is rotated within a family circle as another Head of State appointed from the same family of ousted presidents. 

Ossa said “It was a palace revolution, not a coup d’etat. This is a family affair, where one brother replaces another,” he said.