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Biya’s continued stay in power: attacks on fuel stations threatens over 10,000 jobs

Biya’s continued stay in power: attacks on fuel stations threatens over 10,000 jobs

Cameroon’s Group of Petroleum Professionals (GPP) has raised alarm over the wave of violence that followed the October 12, 2025, presidential election. The Constitutional Council confirmed President Paul Biya’s victory on October 27, sparking protests that have increasingly turned into looting and destruction of fuel stations.

“Since October 27, under the pretext of peaceful marches, groups of demonstrators have been systematically attacking, vandalizing, and looting service stations,” the GPP said in a statement issued on October 28.

The association warned of the “proven explosive risks” at fuel stations and the “serious health hazards” to those attacking them. It emphasized that petroleum companies “create wealth for Cameroon, benefiting its people” through job creation, taxes, and support for local SMEs.

According to the GPP, member companies collectively employ more than 10,000 Cameroonians directly and indirectly and generate activity for thousands of SMEs nationwide. They contribute an average of CFA250 billion annually to state revenues through taxes and fees. “A vandalized and looted service station means about 20 direct jobs lost and two SMEs shutting down, leaving young Cameroonians unemployed,” the group warned.

Since the announcement of election results, several cities have seen violent protests despite opposition calls for “peaceful marches.” Videos circulating online show scenes of destruction at stations operated by Tradex, a subsidiary of the National Hydrocarbons Corporation (SNH), as well as outlets of Neptune Oil and Bocom, owned respectively by businessmen Antoine Ndzengué and Dieudonné Bogne.

Fuel stations are not the only targets. In Douala, a Société Générale branch was destroyed and looted, while cold storage facilities belonging to Congelés du Cameroun (Congelcam), owned by businessman Sylvestre Ngouchingué, were also attacked. Congelcam controls about 80% of Cameroon’s fish market.

No official estimate of the total damage has yet been released.

Source: Business in Cameroon

Biya’s continued stay in power: Alarming deaths during post-election protests

Biya’s continued stay in power: Alarming deaths during post-election protests

We are alarmed by reports that several people have been killed during protests over the outcome of the 12 October presidential election.

We call on the security forces to refrain from use of lethal force, and on the protesters to demonstrate peacefully. The authorities must fully abide by their obligations under international human rights law, and political leaders and their supporters must refrain from violence and hate speech.

We urge the authorities to ensure prompt, impartial and effective investigations into all cases of election-related violence, including the use of unnecessary or disproportionate force, and to bring those responsible to justice. Fair trial rights and due process for anyone arrested should also be guaranteed.

Source: UN Human Rights Council

France concerned about Cameroon violent repression against protests

France concerned about Cameroon violent repression against protests

The French government is concerned about the violent repression against post-election protests in Cameroon and called the authorities to guarantee the safety and physical integrity of the country’s citizens, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

“We believe it is essential that democracy, fundamental freedoms and the rule of law be scrupulously respected and that all persons arbitrarily detained since the beginning of the electoral process be released in order to preserve national cohesion,” it said.

Paul Biya, the world’s oldest state leader at 92 and in power since 1982, was officially declared winner of the presidential election held on October 12. His reelection has deepened tensions in the cocoa and oil-producing nation, where critics accuse him of using state institutions to cling to power.

Cameroon’s opposition leader Issa Tchiroma Bakary has vowed to resist until the “final victory”, calling on his supporters to keep protesting.

At least 23 people have been killed as a result of security forces cracking down on protesters since the weekend, a civil society group known as “Stand up for Cameroon” said in a media briefing on Wednesday.

Source: REUTERS

Biya’s life presidency enters a fragile final phase

Biya’s life presidency enters a fragile final phase

For the first time ever, the opposition parties in Cameroon have come “close” to unseating 92-year-old Paul Biya, who has run the country since 1982.

The stiffest competition for Biya in the 2025 election came from 76-year-old Tchiroma Bakary, a former ally and government spokesperson, who contested on the platform of Cameroon National Salvation Front. He won more than 35% of the vote – the second highest ever scored by an opposition candidate since Biya has been contesting. Though it was one of the best performances by opposition parties in Cameroon since 1992, the opposition suffered from its failure to present a united front and field a single candidate.

Biya once again triumphed, albeit with a reduced majority of 53.66%. Other candidates scored a combined 11%. His previous win in 2018 was at 71.28% against Maurice Kamto’s 14.23%.

This result is at variance with Bakary claiming overwhelming victory at the polls with 60%. His claims have been dismissed by the constitutional court and the electoral commission.

Biya’s controversial win has resulted in countrywide protests and a crackdown resulting in casualties.

I am a long time scholar of and political commentator on African politics, regime types and democratic governance with a keen interest in Cameroon.

I argue that Cameroon is at an inflection point, where Biya’s triumph might herald a “quiet” resignation to see through one of the world’s longest presidencies. For Biya, the to-do list couldn’t have got any longer. For Cameroon and the continent, democracy is yet again being asked hard questions with no obvious answers.

Divided opposition

Determined by a simple majority, the election meant that Biya – sometimes described as the absent landlord due to his prolonged stay outside Cameroon – only needed a sliver of support to triumph for a life term presidency. His new seven-year term of office ends in 2032, by which time he would be close to 100 years old.

Though his share of the vote fell by about 20 percentage points, he triumphed again because of the perennial challenges faced by the opposition.

Failure to coalesce around a single unifying candidate meant that the opposition with 11 candidates was still seen as divided.

With all state apparatus, especially the constitutional court, stacked against the opposition, it was not surprising that they were fighting a losing battle from the start.

The challenges ahead are monumental.

With dissatisfaction running high, one of the core priorities is to ensure the political stability of his regime. Recent forced regime changes in west Africa, and very recently in Madagascar, would perhaps give pause for thought about the vulnerability of the regime.

It is possible that sustained political upheaval could provoke a palace coup, as Gabon attests. That said, Biya’s effort to coup proof his regime with loyalist military co-ethnics, the Betis, appears to have bought him some comfort. Many of the senior officers’ fate would be intertwined with Biya’s.

The reality that his reported triumph comes with a much reduced mandate would mean re-asserting legitimacy will be another priority. Biya will have to work to establish or “enforce” his legitimacy both domestically and internationally.

The South West continues to be a place of concern. With the Anglophone crisis – caused by perceived marginalisation of the Anglophone south-west – still festering, the election result may galvanise the rebellion in the hope that renewed active hostilities may create conditions for willingness to settle the conflict before Biya bows out.

There is no question that Biya has entered into the last mile of his life presidency. It is inevitable that the political elite jostling for post Biya relevance will become more pronounced.

This infighting could destabilise the regime and make it a challenge to hold course. Ambitious elites may abandon Biya’s ship, as Bakary did.

On the campaign trail, Biya promised especially the young Cameroonians and women that their “best is yet to come”. He was acutely aware of the high level of dissatisfaction and his regime will be pressed to address their plight.

According to the World Bank, about 40% of Cameroonians live below the poverty line. Urban unemployment is running at 35% and many educated youths face challenges in obtaining formal employment.

A 2024 Afrobarometer survey says 51% of young Cameroonians have considered emigrating.

The perennial challenges of systemic corruption, service delivery, poverty and slow growth persist. Today, the average Cameroonian is no more wealthy than in 1986. How Biya’s new term attends to this will be crucial to temporarily assuaging pent up frustration.

As the 92-year-old Biya begins another term of office along with the president of the constitutional court, Clement Atangana (84), chief of staff Claude Meka (86), president of the senate Marcel Niat (90) and national assembly speaker Cavaye Yegue (85), Cameroon should confidently be looking at a generational shift after the Biya era.

Culled from The Conversation

Tchiroma rejects Biya’s victory and urges supporters to resist

Tchiroma rejects Biya’s victory and urges supporters to resist

Issa Tchiroma Bakary, president of the National Front for the Salvation of Cameroon (FSNC), reaffirmed on October 28 his rejection of the October 12, 2025 presidential election results and urged his supporters to remain mobilized. “I say this solemnly: the people will not retreat. We will yield neither to fear nor to manipulation. We remain mobilized and will continue to resist until final victory,” he declared in a formal address.

Ranked second in the vote by the Constitutional Council, the former Minister of Employment and Vocational Training said “the time has come” for Cameroonians to “stand firm, determined but peaceful.” He condemned what he described as “killings, arbitrary arrests, and intimidation” during the post-election period, adding that “setting a country ablaze to cling to power is not only a moral failure; it is a crime against the people and against humanity.”

Paying tribute to civilians killed during protests, Tchiroma said, “Their sacrifice will never be in vain. Their blood reminds us that freedom, justice, and dignity are worth more than fear and repression.”

In response, the pro-Biya Association for Republican Convergence denounced Tchiroma’s remarks as an “attempt at insurrection” and “incitement to rebellion.” In a statement signed by its coordinator, Professor Jean Gatsi, the organization urged Tchiroma to respect the results announced on October 27 by the Constitutional Council. “You will end up in prison, abandoned by those you tried to manipulate, if you continue to defy the State,” the statement warned.

The exchange underscores the deepening political polarization following the election, amid sporadic tensions and demonstrations.

Source: Sbbc

Issa Tchiroma to face legal action over election unrest, Atanga Nji says

Issa Tchiroma to face legal action over election unrest, Atanga Nji says

Cameroon’s Interior Minister Paul Atanga Nji says opposition leader Issa Tchiroma Bakary will face legal action over allegations he incited “violent post-election demonstrations”.

At least four protesters have been killed during clashes between security forces and opposition supporters since Cameroon’s election on 12 October, with 92-year-old President Paul Biya winning an eighth consecutive term.

Tchiroma Bakary insists he won the election, a claim dismissed by Biya’s ruling party, the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM).

Violent crackdowns by police and security officers on protesters have alarmed the international community, with the UN, African Union and EU calling for restraint.

On Tuesday, Nji accused Tchiroma Bakary of organising what he said were “illegal” protests leading to the loss of lives, and also criticised him for declaring victory in the election.

He added that Tchiroma Bakary’s “accomplices responsible for an insurrectionary plan” will also face legal action.

Paul Biya, who came to power in 1982 and is now the world’s oldest head of state, won the 12 October election with 53.7% of the vote, compared to 35.2% for Tchiroma Bakary, according to Cameroon’s Constitutional Council.

Tchiroma Bakary is yet to respond to the government’s decision to try him, but he had previously told the BBC that he would not accept a stolen vote – and that he was not afraid of being arrested.

On election result day, he said armed men opened fire on protesters assembled near his residence in Garoua, fatally wounding at least two civilians.

On Tuesday, the interior minister revealed that an investigation would be launched into violent incidents before and after the announcement of the election results.

“During these attacks, some of the criminals lost their lives,” he said, without providing a specific number of protesters who have been killed in the clashes.

Nji added that several members of the security forces had also sustained serious injuries.

Although Nji insisted the situation nationwide was now under control, protesters remain active in some parts of the country, especially in Douala and Garoua, where demonstrators mounted roadblocks on Tuesday, and burnt tyres on the streets.

Analysts warn the post-electoral violence could plunge the country into a political crisis.

Source: BBC

Paul Biya’s state capture of Cameroon: a case of collective responsibility

Paul Biya’s state capture of Cameroon: a case of collective responsibility

In July 1994, Yahya Jammeh stormed into power in The Gambia with a soldier’s swagger and the usual promises of salvation. He vowed to restore democracy; instead, he converted the country into a private chamber of fear. His opponents were jailed, tortured and many vanished. Elections were jokes. After twenty-two years of tyranny, Jammeh was voted out in December 2016. For a moment, he conceded defeat on live television only to rescind his concession a week later, claiming irregularities in the vote. But when ECOWAS, the UN and AU called his bluff and his own soldiers refused to die for his delusion, Jammeh fled to Equatorial Guinea. The dictator fell not through divine intervention, but through the exhaustion of a people who had finally remembered they were free.

In Cameroon, its 92-year-old president, Paul Biya, has been in power since 1982. On 12 October 2025, he presided over yet another election, the sort of ritualized farce designed to reassure foreign donors that democracy is alive in that part of central Africa. Biya himself was comfortably in Switzerland during the campaign, surfacing once about five days before the election perhaps to remind everyone he was still among the living. Yet, as surely as night follows the day, the country’s constitutional council declared him victor with 53% of the vote.

Cameroon’s tragedy feels unique in its endurance, because for forty-three years, Paul Biya has perfected the art of state capture. In Cameroon, elections are not civic drills but rituals to gain legitimacy, and everyone from Yaoundé to Paris participates in the fiction. In 2025, due to the miracle of the internet, social media and smart phones, dictators no longer need tanks on the streets, all they require are ballot boxes on television and nodding international observers.

The decay beneath Mr Biya’s state capture is appalling. According to the World Bank, over 50% of Cameroonians live on less than two dollars a day. A few months ago, I travelled to the country to visit family and it was a dreadful experience. Roads are disintegrating death traps, hospitals operate with candles, and medicines are as rare in the country as justice is. This, in a country blessed with fertile soil, minerals, oil and natural gas. A nonagenarian in any rational society would be tending his grandchildren while waiting to meet his maker. In Cameroon, he is in charge of the treasury. Around him, parasitic elite invoke his name as both shield and excuse with phrases like-We Thank the Head of State.

The Anglophone crisis of 2017 was the first genuine crack in Biya’s glass fortress. The English-speaking regions, long neglected and ridiculed, finally rebelled, declaring independence from a state that had treated them as an afterthought. The regime responded with predictable brutality, arrests, executions, imprisonments, abductions and burned villages. During the Anglophone crisis, French Cameroonians (the country’s 80% majority) watched in loud silence and complicity.

Cameroon’s institutions serve not the public but the man and his ruling class. The judiciary is an obedient choir and military courts are now a norm. The police and gendarmes are a network of ruffians while the military is a militia in uniform. The national broadcaster, the CRTV and other state-owned newspapers are theatres of absurdity praising the government’s ghost accomplishments with such fanaticism that even Joseph Goebbels may have found some of their positions preposterous.

To blame Biya alone is to study only half the portrait. His rule endures because Cameroonians by fear and lethargy have surrendered their agency. Bribery has become the national dialect and Cameroonian shave learned to navigate the system rather than confront it. Even the diaspora has perfected digital protests where intelligent people are mighty on WhatsApp forums and Facebook, but politically impotent in reality. AI-generated videos circulate frequently, often intended to stimulate laughter on forums about the ruling elite. It is truly a fascinating experience, and it would be funny if it were not so tragic.

After four decades of economic and moral decay, Biya’s most enduring legacy may be the industrial-scale production of alcoholics. The national pastime is no longer football but the consumption of lager. Men, women, and adolescents toast their hopelessness in pints. The country has found its anesthetic in booze.

Dictatorships do not thrive on cruelty alone; they flourish on the quiet complicity of the governed. For over four decades, Cameroonians have learned to live with their chains, with some, particularly French Cameroonians, even decorating their shackles with pride. The laughter and emojis on social media, the jokes about “We Thank the Head of State” are coping mechanisms and confessions of powerlessness. To speak of collective responsibility is not to vindicate Mr Biya and his ruling elite, but to indict the moral inertia that keeps him in power. A people’s silence is the dictator’s favourite hymn. Each shrug at injustice, cynical joke, emoji to arouse laughter at the depressing situation in the country is complicity.

Mr Biya himself, frail and fading, incapable of controlling his anal flatulence in public can barely walk unaided. Yet his image looms large and he is like an ancestor who refuses to die. To blame this relic alone for the nation’s rot is convenient but dishonest. Cameroonians may say they did not choose tyranny, but by adapting to it, they have normalized it and are therefore collectively responsible for the insanity.

Cameroon’s deliverance will not arrive by foreign rescue or spiritual intervention. It will begin the day Cameroonians grow tired of their amusement at their abuse. Dictators grow old; nations do not. Biya will one day pass, as all mortals must. The fall of Yahya Jammeh, is a reminder that the walls of fear, however ancient, are made of air. They collapse when enough people stop pretending they are rocks. No regime, however ruthless, can outlast a people that decide dignity is non-negotiable. Despots can jail, execute their opponents, kill protesters, jail journalists, burn villages, and rig elections but they cannot win against a determined people.

The story of Yahya Jammeh offers a mirror to Cameroon. For twenty-two years, Gambians endured a reign of fear, killing, torture, and electoral farce, convinced that Jammeh was unshakable. Yet in 2016, when the people refused to accept a stolen election and the army withdrew support, the dictator fell as the courage of the Gambian people met opportunity. Jammeh’s departure is a cautionary tale written in blood and determination. It is a fact that tyranny endures only as long as the people allow it. This may just be time for Cameroon to say enough is enough.

By Isong Asu

Biya’s continued stay in power: EU urges restraint after violent repression

Biya’s continued stay in power: EU urges restraint after violent repression

The European Union has declared itself deeply concerned about the violent repression of protests that have rocked Cameroon following a disputed presidential vote.

The EU urged Cameroonian authorities to release all individuals who have been arbitrarily detained since the election.

At least four people have been killed in the African nation since demonstrators took to the streets to protest the announcement that Paul Biya had secured an eighth term in office.

The European Union urges all sides to maintain restraint and refrain from any action that may further exacerbate tensions according to the bloc’s foreign affairs spokesman Anouar El Anouni.

Violence in the aftermath of the closer-than-expected ballot has raised fears that the unrest could escalate in the former French colony in central Africa.

Four people were killed in clashes between security forces and supporters of the opposition in the economic capital Douala on Sunday according to the region’s governor.

More protests took place on Monday despite restrictions with security forces reportedly moving in to break up the latest demonstrations.

The EU deplored the death by firearm of a number of civilians El Anouni said.

The spokesman also called for the release of all those arbitrarily detained since the presidential elections.

Biya who is 92 years old is only the second person to lead Cameroon since independence from France in 1960.

He has ruled with an iron fist repressing all political and armed opposition and holding onto power in the face of social upheaval economic inequality and separatist violence.

Source – AFP

Nigeria: APC Chieftain Timi Frank condemns Biya’s re-election

Nigeria: APC Chieftain Timi Frank condemns Biya’s re-election

A former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Timi Frank, has condemned the declaration of 93-year-old Paul Biya as the winner of Cameroon’s recent presidential election, describing the result as a “mockery of democracy” and “a brazen subversion of the people’s will.”

In a statement issued in Abuja on Monday, Frank said the announcement of Biya’s victory was nothing short of “an insult to democracy and a disgrace to Africa’s conscience.”

“The so-called results announced by the regime are a fabrication and a clear subversion of the people’s will,” Frank said. “The world must not stand by while democracy in Cameroon is strangled in broad daylight.”

The activist and diplomat lamented the brutal crackdown on peaceful protesters who took to the streets to reject what he called “the daylight robbery of their votes.”

“Innocent Cameroonians are being killed by their own security forces simply for demanding that their votes count. This bloodshed must end immediately,” he said.

“Those who ordered and carried out these killings must be held personally accountable before international law.”

Frank, who currently serves as the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) Ambassador to East Africa and the Middle East, called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the United Nations (UN) to immediately launch investigations into the killings and electoral irregularities.

He also berated the African Union (AU) for what he described as its “shameful silence” in the face of open tyranny and electoral fraud.

“The AU’s silence in the face of such blatant robbery is a betrayal of its founding principles,” he stated.

“By refusing to speak out or act, the AU is enabling tyranny and helping destroy democracy on the continent. It is this silence and hypocrisy that fuel coups and instability in Africa. When people are denied peaceful paths to change, they are pushed to desperation.”

Frank urged the United States, European Union, United Nations, and other democratic nations to impose targeted sanctions on Biya’s regime, including travel bans, asset freezes, and suspension of military assistance to Cameroon.

“The international community must make it clear that those who rig elections, kill citizens, and destroy democratic institutions will pay a heavy price,” he said. “Anything less would embolden other dictators across Africa to repeat this travesty.”

He maintained that the true winner of the Cameroonian presidential election remains Issa Tchiroma Bakary, whom he said commands the genuine mandate of the people.

“The international community must recognise this fact and pressure Paul Biya to step down,” Frank asserted.

Calling on Cameroonians to remain steadfast, Frank hailed their courage in resisting dictatorship and urged them not to surrender their future to “a regime that thrives on repression and deceit.”

“To the brave people of Cameroon: your courage in the face of tyranny is a beacon of hope. Defend your mandate, stand for your democracy, but remain peaceful and united. The world is watching, and history is on your side,” he said.

Frank warned that the world’s failure to act decisively against Biya’s regime would set a dangerous precedent that could embolden other autocrats across Africa.

According to him, if the world fails to act decisively now, it would set a dangerous precedent, “one that tells African leaders that rigging elections, silencing opponents, and murdering citizens come without consequence,” he warned.

“This must not happen. The time to act is now. The world must stand with the people of Cameroon and make it clear that stolen elections and blood-stained power have no place in the 21st century.”

Source: Sahara Reporters

Paul Biya, world’s oldest president, declared election winner

Paul Biya, world’s oldest president, declared election winner

Cameroon’s President Paul Biya, 92, the world’s oldest president, was declared the country’s presidential election with 53.66% of the vote, according to official results announced on Monday by the Constitutional Council.

Rival candidate and former government minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary came second with 35.2%, the council said. Tchiroma had claimed victory against the incumbent two days after the October 12 election.

Biya has led the central African nation since 1982. With his re-election, he can now govern until 2032.

The results were announced a day after four protesters were shot dead in Douala, the economic capital, while more than 100 were arrested as hundreds of people stormed streets in several cities.

Tchiroma had claimed victory days before the election, citing results he said were collated by his party. Biya dismissed the claim.

According to Samuel Dieudonne Ivaha Diboua, governor of the Littoral Region that includes Douala, several members of the security forces were also injured in Douala by the protesters. He said at least 105 protesters were arrested.

Videos online showed protesters clashing with security forces, who fired tear gas and tried to disperse people barricading major roads in Douala and other cities, including Garoua and Maroua in the north.

Dozens of opposition supporters, activists and leaders were arrested in recent days. Cameroon’s Minister of Territorial Administration Paul Atanga Nji told reporters on Saturday that the government arrested several people plotting violent attacks.

Tensions built ahead of the election in Cameroon, a country of nearly 30 million people. The decision by Biya, who has been in power for nearly half his life, to seek reelection angered youth and the opposition.

Source: Reuters

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