The forlorn image of Ali Bongo inciting friendly viewers of his video-taped house arrest to make noise, exposes how change of fortunes can be at once dramatic and melodramatic. But Bongo Boy did not define the hue of the noise he wanted. There were decibels of it across Gabon.
The end for the second-generation holder of family presidency came abruptly, at least from his own perspective. But his plea to his former subjects, and the world, to ‘make noise’ was an ironical plea for undeserved pity.
The man still sees himself as a victim of a military coup, rather than a pariah who overstayed his welcome. Fifty-six years of pestilence of impunity was the legacy the Bongo family presidency imposed on Gabon.
To be sure, Bongo Boy was never welcome. All his purported elections and reelections – in 2009, 2016, and 2023 – were controversial. The noise following those elections raised questions of forced popularity, state-sponsored violence, electoral fraud, and corruption.
When the bell tolled last week, Bongo still sounded the victim – a man more sinned against than sinning. “I am Ali Bongo Ondimba, president of Gabon. I am sending a message to all friends all over the world to make noise, to make noise. The people here have arrested me and my family.
“My son is somewhere, my wife is in another place. I am at the residence. Nothing is happening. I don’t know what’s going on. So, I am calling you to make noise, to make noise. I am thanking you. Thank You.”
There was noise in the streets of Libreville, even as a deserted Bongo asked for more. He wanted the world and the Gabonese people to make noise. But even as he pleaded, celebratory cheers for the military rent the air.
Jeers were also heard, floating across the streets of Libreville. It was jeers to the fall of a dictator, and cheers to the new wielders of power. Bullets flowered after the ballot failed.
Soldiers announced the cancellation of election results announced on the day of the coup. They also dissolved state institutions, including the presidency.
Early on D-day, the electoral agency announced Bongo had won a third term, with 64.3 per cent of the vote, after 14 years of listless politics. Bongo Boy’s rival for the presidency, Ondo Ossa had earlier denounced the vote as “a fraud orchestrated by the Bongo camp”.
Soldiers told the Gabonese people: “Our beautiful country, Gabon, has always been a haven of peace. Today, the country is going through a serious institutional, political, economic and social crisis.”
“We are therefore forced to admit that the organisation of the general elections of August 26, 2023, did not meet the conditions for a transparent, credible and inclusive ballot so much hoped for by the people of Gabon.
“Added to this is irresponsible and unpredictable governance, resulting in a continuing deterioration in social cohesion, with the risk of leading the country into chaos … People of Gabon, we are finally on the road to happiness. May God and the spirits of our ancestors bless Gabon. Honour and loyalty to our homeland.”
The soldier’s statement was read out in French on national television - the language of the colonising force. France’s devastating imperial influence on the economies of Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad and Gabon is the subject of the second liberation of Africa.
Gabon was always under siege – from father to son. Now, hope for a third-generation Bongo was flickering across the face of the son of the former president.
The end was always approaching, but the son of former Gabonese president Omar Bongo missed the signal. He suppressed popular noise; shut down the internet; declared protective curfews against the people; banned demonstrations; arrested and detained critics and killed potent rivals for personal survival.
Last week Bongo wanted noise that would help him reclaim power. He watched the Bongo clan stranglehold on power flip away. He was playing audience to the end of father-son presidential era of errors.
The deposed President wasn’t a good dancer. He did not leave the stage when the audience was still cheering. Ali Bongo Ondimba waited until the jeers went out of his control.
