Cameroon’s President Biya seeks 7th term in office

Long serving President of Cameroon, Paul Biya has indicated his intention to run in the forthcoming general elections as he seeks to extend his 36-year rule and maintain his place as one of Africa’s long-standing leaders.

The 85-year-old who may rule well into his 90’s should he be re-elected made his intention to seek a seventh term in office known on social media when he posted on Twitter.

“I am willing to respond positively to your overwhelming calls. I will stand as Your Candidate in the upcoming presidential election,” Biya said in a tweet on Friday.

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Biya, who has ruled virtually by decree since taking office, scrapped term limits from the constitution in 2008, allowing him to run again and sparking riots in which over 40 people were killed.

If he is re-elected in the forthcoming election scheduled on October 7th, which comes at a turbulent time for the Central African country, it would leave him in rare company after former Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and Gambia’s Yahya Jammeh were ousted in 2017.

Of Africa’s living rulers, only Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo have both ruled uninterrupted for longer.

 

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