A few minutes after the broadcast of the official results indicating Ali Bongo’s victory, against all likelihood and while Gabon is cut off from the world and social networks, a group of soldiers announced on television on Wednesday the cancellation of the vote and the dissolution of Gabonese institutions.
At the head of the Republican Guard of Gabon which allowed the announcement of the coup d’état last night to be made from the Presidential Palace, General Oligui Nguema is one of the most influential figures in the Gabonese army.
Mondafrique paints a portrait of this Gabonese officer, as powerful as he is secretive, who is acclaimed, this Wednesday morning, by his troops.
By Jocksy Ondo-Louemba
In Gabon, Brice Clothaire Oligui Nguema is a powerful man, very powerful. Current commander-in-chief of the Republican Guard – the famous “GR” which is the praetorian guard of President Ali Bongo – for two years, this soldier has established himself as the keystone of the regime’s security apparatus and more. .
Aide
Son of a Gabonese General Officer, Brice Clothaire Oligui Nguema also chose the profession of arms very early by joining the current Republican Guard of Gabon. Trained at the Royal Military Academy of Meknes in Morocco and having followed the commando training course at the Commando Training Center in the equatorial forest of Gabon, Brice Clothaire Oligui Nguema was quickly noticed by the military hierarchy of the Praetorian Guard and became one of the Omar Bongo’s aides-de-camp and remained so until his death in June 2009.
Spymaster
When Ali Bongo came to power, Brice Clothaire Oligui Nguema was sent into diplomacy for around ten years. Thus, he is a military attaché at the Gabonese embassy in Morocco then in Senegal and according to certain sources, he experiences it as an exile.
One year after Ali Bongo’s Cerebral Vascular Accident (CVA) which occurred in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in October 2018, Colonel Brice Clothaire Oligui Nguema was recalled to Gabon where he replaced another colonel – Frédéric Bongo – at the head of the service intelligence department of the Republican Guard: the General Directorate of Special Services (DGSS).
At the head of the “GR”
Six months later, Brice Clothaire Oligui Nguema was promoted again, but this time at the head of the Republican Guard where he replaced General Grégoire Kouna. At the head of the “GR”, he initiated reforms with a view to making it more effective in its fundamental mission: maintaining the regime.
To do this, he is strengthening Ali Bongo’s protection system, but his most significant reform is undoubtedly the development of the Special Interventions Section (SIS – a special unit placed under the direct authority of Ali Bongo, editor’s note. ) that he increases from around thirty to more than 300 elements (with nearly 100 precision shooters!), that he equips with state-of-the-art equipment and of which he even composes the song! A song which says, among other things: “I would defend my president with honor and loyalty”, quite a program!
Millionaire owner!
But Brice Clothaire Oligui Nguema is also in “business”. Thus, he has several properties in the United States of America worth more than a million dollars according to a 2020 investigation by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP). In 2018, for example, he bought – in cash! – a property in Silver Spring, Maryland for $447,000!
As the presidential elections approached in Gabon, Brice Clothaire Oligui Nguema was responsible for consolidating Ali Bongo’s power to prepare for the advent of his son. At least officially
Apparently this senior officer failed in his mission. Unless he turned around and participated in the coup d’état that we witnessed on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday.
As the announcement of Ali Bongo’s dismissal took place in the very courtyard of the Presidential Palace, a fortress protected precisely by the Republican Guard, we can think that the second scenario is the most plausible. We should talk about General Oligui Nguema again in the coming hours and days.
Culled from Monfafrique