Gabon’s General Brice Oligui Nguema has sought to carve out an image as a positive, empathetic leader, far from his military strongman profile that characterised his seizure of power.Many Gabonese first saw Oligui on television when, as head of the elite presidential guard, he was triumphantly carried aloft by his troops hours after veteran president Ali Bongo Ondimba was toppled on August 30, 2023.As he turned 50 years old on Monday, Oligui announced in a speech that he would run for president in April, after the passing of a new electoral code allowed officers to stand for election.The general gives all his official speeches in military uniform, while soldiers read his decrees in a warlike tone.”We’re not here to be politicians, we’re here to build up the country and make progress,” Oligui said during a recent visit to central Gabon.Oligui rarely talks to the media but recently gave an interview to Jeune Afrique, describing himself as a “career general officer” and saying: “I only know one banner: our flag.””The best commando… You’re Hannibal, you’re Oligui… the one who dared, that’s you,” lauds the song accompanying official images broadcast on TikTok by his communications department, comparing Oligui to the ancient military leader who led the Carthaginian forces against Rome. His official biography on the president’s website highlights “his bravery, his courage and his dedication to work” and depicts him as a “diehard sportsman” and a volleyball fan, who is “passionate about football and reading”. In the last few months, Oligui has made several visits to neighbourhoods in the capital Libreville and in remote areas, often wearing civilian clothes. He has danced, driven a tractor, fed bottled milk to a goat and prayed at mass with the First Lady, Zita. Last spring, Oligui also took a second wife, after changing the rules which imposed monogamy for soldiers.In December, Oligui attempted to appeal to younger voters by giving out free tickets to a concert by L’Oiseau Rare, an icon of Gabon’s Ntcham music genre. Not long before, photos of young people who had been arrested and had their heads forcibly shaven for breaking a curfew provoked outrage on social media.Public anger was also stoked by the case of a young soldier tortured to death by officers during an interrogation and the detention of an influencer, who criticised a power cut at a Libreville hospital.- High expectations -Gabonese, “fed up with decades of broken promises”, see Oligui as a “pragmatic and charismatic leader” but have “high” expectations, meaning “trust could be quickly eroded by disappointment”, a recent opinion column on the Gabonactu site said. Repeated power cuts, linked to the malfunction of the indebted SEEG national water and electricity company, have contributed to public discontent. Oligui has promised to improve the situation. Oligui has said “the transitional regime has done more in 19 months than the previous rulers did in 20 or 40 years”.Although his supporters portray him as a heaven-sent leader capable of transforming the nation, his critics accuse him of failing to truly break with the previous regime and refusing to hand over power to civilians as promised.For years, Oligui worked in the wings under ousted president Ali Bongo and his father Omar, the iron-fisted dynasty that ruled the oil-rich nation for 55 years and is accused of looting its wealth.Jalil Bongo, son of the former leader, said in a recent interview with Info241 in London that he was “deeply shocked” to see Oligui lead the coup, given his closeness to the Bongo family.Oligui served longstanding leader Omar Bongo from 2005 until his death in a Barcelona hospital in 2009, but was moved aside after Ali Bongo was elected, beginning a 10-year stint as a military attache at Gabon’s embassies in Morocco and Senegal.He returned to prominence in 2019 as the Republican Guard’s intelligence chief, replacing Bongo’s half-brother Frederic Bongo, before getting promoted to general six months later.
