Olushola Omogbehin
Following the victory of Paul Biya in the last month’s presidential election which his rival referred to as “a constitutional coup,” Cameroon’s long-time leader who is also the oldest president in the world, has been sworn in for another seven-year term in office.
BBC reports that Biya, in his inaugural address, promised to be faithful to the confidence of the Cameroonian people and vowed to work for a “united, stable and prosperous” country.
“As I take office, I fully measure the seriousness of the situation our country is going through. I measure the number and severity of challenges we face. I measure the depth of frustrations, the scale of expectations,”
Biya, who took his oath of office during a session of parliament in what Cameroonians described as heavily militarized, also offered his condolences to victims of the protests of the election and blamed “irresponsible politicians” for the violence.
In spite of the widespread allegations of irregularities in last month’s election, Paul Biya described the electoral process that ushered him in as satisfactory and praised the electoral body.
The electoral body named Biya winner of the election by a comfortable margin last week, with 53.66% of the vote against 35.19% for opposition leader Issa Tchiroma Bakary.
Protests erupted in various locations shortly after the October 12 election when Tchiroma declared himself the winner contrary to early results that showed Biya who has been in power since 1982 was in the lead.
In the protest which attracted three-day lockdown, government confirmed that at least five people were killed during the protest but the opposition and civil society groups claim the figures are far higher.
Speaking after the election, Tchiroma said: “The will of the Cameroonian people was trampled that day, our sovereignty stolen in broad daylight. This is not democracy, it is electoral theft, a constitutional coup as blatant as it is shameful.”
Biya first came to power in 1982 following the resignation of Cameroon’s first president and has ruled since following a 2008 constitutional amendment that abolished term limits. He spends most of his time in Europe because of his health condition, leaving governance to key party officials and family members.
