Members of the Gabonese army in the early hours of Wednesday, August 30 announced that they had “put an end to newly elected, Ali Bongo’s regime as they spoke on national television.
The soldiers on television comprised of members the gendarme, the republican guard and other factions of the security forces.
Here are some fun facts about Gabon’s Ali Bongo
- Born Alain Bernard Bongo on February 9, 1959, the Gabonese politician often referred to as Ali Bongo is the country’s third president since 2009.
- He is the son of Gabon’s former President, Omar Bongo who served until his death in 2009 and reportedly had 70 bank accounts, 39 apartments, 2 Ferraris, 6 Mercedes Benz cars, 3 Porsches and a Bugatti in France.
- Ali Bongo was the Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1989 to 1991 during his father’s regime, represented Bongoville as a Deputy in the National Assembly from 1991 to 1999, and was Minister of Defense from 1999 to 2009.
- He assumed power in 2009 after his father’s death and was re-elected in 2016 with the elections touted to be marred by numerous irregularities, arrests, human rights violations and post-election protests and violence.
- Bongo was educated at a private school in Neuilly, France, and then studied law at the Sorbonne. In 2018, he received an honorary doctorate of law degree from Wuhan University in China.
- He also came across as a musician where he released a funk album in 1977, titled, “A Brand New Man.”
- Ali Bongo Bongo married two wives namely, Sylvia Valentin (French) and Inge Lynn Collins Bongo (American) and later divorced them in 1994 and 2015, respectively. He has a daughter, Malika Bongo Ondimba and three sons, Noureddin Bongo Valentin, Jalil Bongo Ondimba and Bilal Bongo —whom he and Sylvia adopted in 2002.
