A cousin of the the ousted Gabonese President Ali Bongo, Gen. Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema will be sworn in on Monday, 4th September 2023 to head the transition council. Ali Bongo, who won his 3rd term in office on Saturday, was usurped on Wednesday in a bloodless coup.
Ali Bongo came to power in 2009 following the demise of his father, Omar Bongo, who took power in 1967. The ousted president’s cousin Brice Nguema is the transitional president.
He is the former head of Gabon’s most powerful and elite security unit named Gabonese Republican Guard. Brice Nguema has reportedly met with other top military personnel in the central African country.
Nguema is a son of a former military officer and he attended Royal Military Academy in Morocco. He was an aide-de-camp to the former Gabonese President Omar Bongo, who was in power for up to 42 years.
He was posted to Morocco and Senegal when Ali Bongo took power in 2009 perhaps fearing that Brice Nguema would hijack power.
The transitional president was announced on Thursday morning. The statement further asked the people of the country to “maintain calm and serenity in our beautiful country.”
“As we enter a new era, we will guarantee peace, stability and dignity for our beloved Gabon.”
A critic wrote the information below, regarding Brice—
For those celebrating the Military coup in Gabon, they are not aware of these basic facts:
1. The new military head of state of Gabon, Gen. Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema is a cousin to the overthrown Ali Bongo.
2. Nguema was ADC to the Late Omar Bongo until his death in 2009.
3. Nguema first replaced another of his cousin and Ali Bongo’s half brother, Frederic Bongo as Head of the Directorate General of Special Services (DGSS), which is the intelligence service of the elite Republican Guard.
4. In April 2020, Nguema became outright Head of the Gabonese Republican Guard, replacing yet another cousin of Ali Bongo, General Grégoire Kouna.
5. Nguema is said to be involved with some drug cartels including the South American-Ivorian Cartels.
6. Nguema also helped Ali Bongo to manage many of his overseas businesses and properties. Nguema himself owns a lot of properties too in the US 🇺🇸 and France 🇫🇷.