President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasongo is an archetypical African “Big man’’ and Dictator. He was born on the 5th of June, 1942, into the Esangui Clan in Equatorial Guinea. Observers have consistently described his government as one of the “most corrupt, ethnocentric, oppressive and undemocratic states in the World’’. To all intents and purposes, Equatorial Guinea under the iron rule of Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasongo has become virtually a One Party State in that the opposition has been reduced and rendered otiose by the repressive policies of the government. The African “Big Man’’ is an outlaw. He is above the Law and does not have the stomach for the Rule of Law, Democracy and Due Process. He is Omnipresent and Omniscient and loves to play god by believing that he is a special gift to humanity (indispensable and a mythical figure). The African Dictator is a megalomaniac, and carries on as a potentate. His attitude towards the people is at best patronizing and paternalistic. President Teodoro Nguema is an epitome of the African Dictator.
In 2003, a Presidential Aide in a Government owned Radio Station in Malabo , heretically and blasphemously described Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasongo to be a “god’’ who is in “permanent contact with the Almighty” and can “decide to kill without anyone calling him to account and without going to hell’ because he is ‘God’ himself. The Aide went further to say that the President was “‘God’ in heaven’’ who has “all power over men and things’’. This is despite the fact that President Mbasongo professes to be a Catholic and had several times visited the Vatican and been received by Pope John Paul 11 and Benedict XVI. His predecessor President Nguema had previously described himself as a ‘god’. Like several African Dictators such as Mobutu Sese Seko of Democratic Republic of Congo, Daniel Arap Moi of Kenya and Idi Amin of Uganda to mention just a few Mbasongo had ascribed several titles to himself including “gentleman of the great island of Bioko and El Jefe (the boss).The cult of personality has been elevated to one of the hallmarks of state craft in Equatorial Guinea which is chronically a very poor country, despite the huge oil and gas reserves which ranks as one of the largest in Africa. Nearly all national monuments and buildings in the country have Presidential Lodges named after President Mbasongo. Conversely, majority of the streets and roads in cities and towns throughout the country are named after the coup commemorating his toppling of former Dictator, President Franciso Nguema.
In 2003, Mbasongo after he had told his people he needed to take absolute control of the National Treasury to avoid Civil Servants indulging in corrupt practices, caused a stir in the United States of America when he deposited $500 Million Dollars in a single transaction in the Riggs Bank in Washington D.C. which led a Federal Court fining the Bank $16 Million Dollars. Forbes Magazine had voted him one of the wealthiest Heads of State with a net worth of $600 Million Dollars. In May, 2007, a French Judge at the instance of Transparency International, France, launched an investigation into whether Presidents Obiang Nguema, Omar Bongo, the late Gabonese President and Congolese President Dennis Sassou Nguesso plundered state coffers to purchase luxurious homes and cars in France. This was sequel to a complaint lodged by Transparency International, France, accusing the the leaders of acquisition of millions of dollars of real estate in Paris and the French Riviera and buying luxury cars with stolen funds. Regrettably the case has since been dropped possibly on pressure from the French authorities.
He attended Military Academy during Spaniard Colonial Rule in Zaragoza, Spain. He became Governor of Bioko Island, Head of the Black Peach Prison and Commander of the National Guard in the regime of President Francisco Macias Nguema. He has presided over the affairs of Equatorial Guinea for nearly Thirty Years. His presidency has seen President Jimmy Carter, President Ronald Reagan, President George Herbert Walker Bush (Snr), President Bill Clinton, President George W. Bush (11) and President Barack Obama of the United States of America. He has seen the Cold War between the East and West, the collapse of the almighty Soviet Union and communism. President Teodoro came to power in 1979 through a bloody coup led by him against his Cousin, President Francisco Nguema. President Francisco Macias Nguema was tried for treason and executed after the coup on the 29th September, 1979. President Francisco Nguema was himself a dye in the wool dictator. His regime was reputed for its repressive and dictatorial tendencies, so much so that at the peak an estimated 100,000 people fled into neighbouring countries; and at least 50,000 that remained were forced into labour camps and the other 50, 000 were killed. President Francisco Nguema became the first President of Equatorial Guinea in 1968 when the Country became Independent after nearly two hundred years of Spanish Colonial Rule. On assumption of office in October, 1979, President Mbasongo promised to liberalise the political environment by democratizing and releasing of political prisoners but no sooner had he gone into power than he consolidated and entrenched himself and quickly broke his promise when he assumed the full garb of a full blown dictator. A new Constitution came into force in 1982 and at the same time Teodoro Obiang Mbasongo was elected to a seven-year term as President. He was re-elected in 1989 as the sole candidate. He was again re-elected in fraudulent elections conducted in 1996 and 2002.
In the 2002 Presidential Poll he purportedly won 97 % of the total votes cast after the opposition withdrew from the election on the ground that the election was already rigged before the day it was scheduled to hold. President Mbasongo has just won a presidential poll in November, 2009, for a seven-year term which means that by the time his current tenure expires in 2016 he would have been President of Equatorial Guinea for a record 37 years. He won the latest poll with a purported 95 % of the total votes cast. The main opposition Candidate, Placido Mico Abugo has condemned the election as a total fraud and says he will never accept the result. There is only member of the Opposition in the National Assembly of Equatorial Guinea which is largely a rubber stamp.
President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasongo is widely rumoured to be associated with the practice of cannibalism. It is reported that one of his opponents had alleged that the President had threatened to kill him and eat his testicles. However, some pundits are of the view that the alleged practice of cannibalism by President Teodoro is a myth and hoax deliberately woven and created by him to send fear to his opponents. The fabled story of the practice of cannibalism is a tradition practiced for centuries among the Fang people (which President Teodoro is one) of Central and West Africa as a psychological warfare to send fear of their invincibility to their opponents.
With leaders such as President Nguema and their clones littered all over Africa, the despicable and horrible state of the Continent can be explained away. They include President Robert Gabriel Mugabe (1980) of Zimbabwe; President Paul Biya (1982) of Cameroon; President José Eduardo De Santos of Angola (1979); President Hosni Mubarak (1981) of Egypt; Muammar Al-Qaddafi (1969) of Libya, President Zine Al-Abidine Ben Ali (1987) of Tunisia; President Dennis Sassou-Nguesso (1979) of the Republic of Congo and President Blaisé Campoare (1987) of Burkina Faso to mention but a few. These African Presidents constitute the league of sit tight leaders in Africa who think they are indispensable to their countries. The obsession of African Leaders with clinging to political power is one of the reasons why Africa still remains a benighted Continent rife with Civil Wars, Conflicts, Dictatorship, Famine and horrendous and scandalous level of economic, social and political under-development.
Okoi Ofem Obono-Obla
· Obono-Obla is a Barrister & Human Rights Activist. He lives in Abuja, Nigeria.
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