How an Idyllic Transfer of Power Turned Sour (I): Ahmadou Ahidjo Resigns

By Francis K. Wache (Originally published in Cameroon Life, 1(11), Sept. 1991)

“If everything goes well – God willing – and my succession takes place normally, there shall be no vacuum in Cameroon” - Ahmadou Ahidjo, Nov. 4, 1982

It was Thursday November 4, 1982. As far as the political sky in Cameroon was concerned, there were no clouds - let alone nebulous ones. If anything, the country was said to be booming economically; politically stable; and national cohesion was being more and more cemented. For the last six months of 1982, Ahidjo had been unusually active - holding meeting after meeting, receiving foreign dignitaries and trotting the globe.For instance, Kenneth Kaunda - mid September - who had "come to obtain counsel from (his) Cameroonian counterpart" was the first to be shown around the rooms of the recently completed Unity Palace. Obiang Nguema Mbazogo of Equatorial Guinea - October 27, 1982.

On September 22, 1982, Ahidjo presided over a meeting of the Central Committee of the Cameroon National Union (CNU) at which the issue of the forthcoming municipal elections was discussed. Later, on October 20, Ahidjo delivered the opening speech at the confab of the National Council of Higher Education and Technical Research. In what was hailed as a magnanimous gesture, he announced that government was offering 1500 jobs in a bid to "salvage graduate unemployment". There was earsplitting applause.

Against this backdrop, not the least hint of what was to happen come November 4. Ahidjo had elevated secrecy to an art.

Even as near as November 3, 1982, the national news was stale, banal, commonplace. Anyway, in the absence of Ahidjo, the daughter made news. She was one of the 43 students graduating from the University Center for Health Sciences (CUSS). She graduated second in her class. And Germaine Ahidjo, her mother and Cameroon's First Lady, was there to see her graduate. Conspicuously absent was Ahmadou Ahidjo who, with occult secrecy, must have been rehearsing his before-the-curtain-falls lines. And so Ahidjo Fatimatou Kangue was deprived of her father's embrace in her hour of glory.

With hindsight, however, there were leading signs that the Cameroon political landscape was changing. For instance, the public was informed that morning that the Politburo of the CNU had met. During that conclave, Mr. Paul Biya had not only been elected into that powerful body but had been elevated to the rank of Vice Chairman.

But then, even though Ahidjo had tinkered with the constitution in 1979 making the Prime Minister and not the speaker of the National Assembly his constitutional successor, the closest one could come to guessing Ahidjo's maneuvers was to say that he was laying a solid foundation for his departure - in the farthest future!

The Thunderbolt
In Ahidjo's Cameroon, any delay in the reading of the news that went beyond five minutes, heralded, more often than not, momentous news - cabinet reshuffle, appointment at the top of the administrative rung, an address to the nation by the Head of State, etc.

So on that Thursday, November 4, 1982, when at 8 p.m. no news was read, hearts began to pound; at five minutes past, no news: hearts throbbed; at 8:10 p.m., there was panic; and of course, when at 8:23 p.m. the notes of the national attempt floated over the air, there was foreboding.

Then came the deep, grave voice of Ahmadou Ahidjo:

"Fellow Cameroonians, I have decided to resign from my duties as Head of State of the United Republic of Cameroon".

For a split second, hearts stopped beating. Then the voice went on, resonant and booming as usual - unmistakably Ahidjo's - but this time solemn with a tinge of pathos.

During those interminable 20 minutes - between 8 p.m. and 8:23 p.m. - minds manufactured all kinds of conjecture: a crucial cabinet reshuffle; an announcement of a coup d'etat; a national crisis; death? In fact, just any other imaginable thing except what was going to be: Presidential resignation.

And now, the minutes trickled dramatically on with the emotion-chocked voice ringing out:

"This decision will come into effect from November 6, 1982".

There was shock. There was disbelief. There was bewilderment. The real story - or something very close to it - was to be known to the public only a couple of weeks later. According to Moussa Yaya (Ahidjo's crony), when Ahidjo informed them of his decision to step down at the CNU Committee meeting, members - to one man - were petrified as if they had been "bludgeoned". Tears flowed unrestrained in that meeting room and a lady was alleged to have fainted.

However, a delegation - including Paul Biya - w as dispatched to go to plead with Ahidjo to reconsider his decision. The delegation met an adamant, categorical and unequivocal Ahidjo: his decision was final and that was it.
...

The First Inaugural
From November 4 - 6, Paul Biya probably lived through the most frantic, feverish and breath-taking 48 hours of his life.

On November 6 1982, a spruce, elegant and resplendent President Biya stepped down the convertible Mercedes 600 with a spring closely followed by Hon. Solomon Tandeng Muna, Speaker of the National Assembly and Nguini Marcel, President of the Supreme Court. Hon. Muna had received the news of Ahidjo's resignation while abroad. He had frantically packed his bags and caught the next flight home. In the history of his tenure of office, Muna had achieved the outstanding feat of evincing from Ahidjo these four words of English in public: "I so do swear." That was 1975 (the year Ahidjo first hinted he wanted to leave power) and 1980.

And, now, Muna was bent on having his name go down in history as the man who swore in the second President of the United Republic of Cameroon... In fact, just a couple of minutes before the swearing-in ceremony, the radio commentator covering the event had announced that Mr. Muna was absent and that the oath was to be administered by Mr. May Matip Theodore, the Deputy Speaker. But in a nick of time, like a deus ex machina, Mr. Muna made his mysterious appearance. Thanks to Muna, then, Paul Biya's first words in public as President were uttered in English!

After being sworn in, Biya began his inaugural address by acknowledging that he was assuming office when Cameroonians were "still surprised, attentive and meditative". He went on and admitted that they were "still striving to fathom the meaning of the event" (Ahidjo's resignation). He painted a glowing picture of his "illustrious" predecessor" as a dignified and prestigious son of the land,” Father of the Cameroonian nation, architect of its unity and development". Summing him up Biya crooned: "President Ahmadou Ahidjo revealed himself as a great figure of Cameroon history, African history, and world history as a whole".

Biya' speech was received with excitement, enthusiasm and clangorous applause. To hail their new Commander-in-Chief, the army fired a blast of 101 gun shots!

The Farewell
An elated Paul Biya returned to State House and met Ahidjo who had probably spent the morning listening to the radio broadcast of the ceremony. There might have been a pang of jealousy but equally a sense of satisfaction as Biya's success could legitimately be termed his. Biya was his well-beloved choice. The people had given him a frenzied and ecstatic welcome. Ahidjo could - justifiably - feel vicariously proud.

And now, the two men hugged and chatted. Former president Ahidjo then led incumbent President Biya to the presidential desk, picked up his glasses and a few other items. They shook hands. Ahidjo led his successor to the lift.

Accompanying his predecessor out of State House, President Biya listened keenly and reverentially to the parting words. There was a black Mercedes waiting. They walked up to it; the door was flung open, and, before ensconcing himself into it, Ahidjo turned back. There was a brief pause. Then he said goodbye, referring to Biya as "Monsieur le President".

To Biya this was music to his ears. This sounded so unreal, so eerie, so confusing. Biya saw Ahidjo off at the airport. As the Mercedes sped off, to the airport and later, to Garoua - where Ahidjo was to receive a rousing welcome - Biya stood there alone and waved. The wave of a hand that was saying goodbye to some 25 years of monocratic rule and ushering in ... what? So, ended one of the most idyllic transfers - so far in Africa.

The question loomed pregnantly in the air - unanswered. Biya felt abandoned, solitary. Then suddenly, he felt a weight descend on his shoulders and he knew that from now the nation was waiting, expectant. From now his every action, word, or deed would be scrutinized. He was no longer an anonymous Senior Clerk studying files and making recommendations. No, he was now the action itself. Already, duty was calling, that very evening his first Presidential act would be taken.

Born in 1933, in the sleepy hamlet of Mvomeka'a as Paul Biya'a Bi Mvondo, he would henceforth, at 49, be known to Cameroon and the world as His Excellency, President/Commander-in-Chief/Chairman Paul Biya.

His time had really come.

Click here for Part II: The Ahidjo – Biya Honeymoon Ends in Acrimony and Blood.

Picture: President Ahmadou Ahidjo of the United Republic of Cameroon arrives for a visit to Washington D.C. on July 28 1982. Location: ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE, MARYLAND (MD) UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (USA) - US Department of Defense.

 

Comments

[Ambe Johnson]

"Grand Camarade" was a bloody tyrant whose desperate attempts to regain power after he freely relinquished it remain one of the unclassiest acts in Cameroonian history.

Nonetheless, his resignation and handover of power to Biya in 1982 remains one of the classiest and most dignified acts ever in the political history not just of Africa but the world.

[Historian]

Biya is as much an invention of francafrique as Ahidjo, perhaps even more so. Maybe someone would provide details about his being picked up and groomed as a student in Paris by Foccart, the chief architect of Francafrique. Is he really an initiate of the Rose Croix and the Free Masons, which are used also to control these so called leaders? Ahidjo and Biya? Tweedledee and Tweedledum. One coin different faces of francafrique. Why did the french decide it was time to replace ahidjo? Perhaps they wanted a change of style.

Ahidjo's style was total control, crushing the slightest sign of dissent with total brutality. It was a state not unlike North Korea in that respect. Biya's rule is different. Not such a tyrant and control freak, but there is a method there. He practices benign and malignant neglect. He believes in ignoring and outwaiting his opponent, the opponent will eventually tire and give up. He helps the process along by minor assaults on the enemy, annoyances and cutting off the flow of resources. In this respect, he is a smarter tyrant than Ahidjo, because he comes off looking not so bad while achieving the same end. That has been his plan to combat the SDF, and also the SCNC, which has been a real thorn in his flesh and a source of great embarrassment. My hunch is that the SCNC will outlast him and become even bigger, because it has a large overseas constituency that is keeping things fresh.

[SJ]

Several theories have been bandied about as to why Ahidjo, the postal officer groomed by Governor Ramadier to maintain French colonial plunder of the Cameroons, relinquished power.

One such theory speaks of a meeting towards the end of the 1970s in Paris with francafrique's French handlers who were interested in a smooth transition of the old horses of three key French colonial states: Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire and la Republique du Cameroun; Senghor, Boigny & Ahidjo respectively. It was thought that for appearances and to avoid any unmanageable surprises as these guys got up in age, these puppet-tyrants should be recycled. While it is said that Boigny politely told the French colonialists to basically go to hell, Senghor and Ahidjo went along with the plan (Senghor left power in 1979 & Ahidjo in 1982, Boigny died in power). It was after that meeting, the story goes, that Ahidjo, or more appropriately, the French changed the constitution of la Republique du Cameroun to make the Prime Minister, and not the President of the National Assembly the constitutional successor.

The other theory is that Ahidjo had come to discover that the French had all along bugged his offices and residence, and become enraged. At that point he began looking for partners other than France as he became increasingly distrustful of the French. It was then that the French instituted the ruse that prompted Ahidjo's resignation and brought in the new puppet, Paul Biya.

What these and other stories indicate is that there may be some truth to the covential wisdom that Ahidjo was pushed and he never really intended to jump, so to speak. But more than that, it shows that la Republique du Cameroun like other "former" French colonies, remains in the colonial dominion of France, where we as Southern Cameroonians unfortunately still find ourselves and must disembark from.

[PAOLO LAURENT]

thats just one reason why its our
divine calling to wage a jihad to liberate southern cameroons from the wicked jaws of la republique du cameroun or cameroun as it internationally calls itself.

[Sanjna Raval]

One such theory speaks of a meeting towards the end of the 1970s in Paris with francafrique's French handlers who were interested in a smooth transition of the old horses of three key French colonial states: Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire and la Republique du Cameroun; Senghor, Boigny & Ahidjo respectively. It was thought that for appearances and to avoid any unmanageable surprises as these guys got up in age, these puppet-tyrants should be recycled. While it is said that Boigny politely told the French colonialists to basically go to hell, Senghor and Ahidjo went along with the plan (Senghor left power in 1979 & Ahidjo in 1982, Boigny died in power). It was after that meeting, the story goes, that Ahidjo, or more appropriately, the French changed the constitution of la Republique du Cameroun to make the Prime Minister, and not the President of the National Assembly the constitutional successor.

Thanks!!

[Samee Peterson]

Biya is as much an invention of francafrique as Ahidjo, perhaps even more so. Maybe someone would provide details about his being picked up and groomed as a student in Paris by Foccart, the chief architect of Francafrique. Is he really an initiate of the Rose Croix and the Free Masons, which are used also to control these so called leaders? Ahidjo and Biya? Tweedledee and Tweedledum. One coin different faces of francafrique. Why did the french decide it was time to replace ahidjo? Perhaps they wanted a change of style.

[Martins Nnoko]

We as southern cameroonians need a revolutionary leader. As southerners, we are being marginalized and isolated from the afairs of cameroon. Technically, we are not part of cameroon. Look at cameroon national team (lions)how many southerners are on the team? Football is the most common thing cameroon is known about apart from a dictator, yet not one single player is from the southern part of the country. We need to wake up. Take Ghana for example, the Rawling revolution transformed the country to where she is now. The old guards must be replaced.There must be a revolution in cameroon. It is only in cameroon that the constitution can be ammended to favor one wicked, stupid dictator.
We need to wake up