In a statement read on state television, it was announced that General Nguema was unanimously appointed to head the transitional government.
Nguema, whose father was an officer, completed his military training at the Royal Moroccan Military Academy in Meknes, Morocco, then graduated from the Commando Training Center in the equatorial jungles of Gabon.
General Nguema became an aide to former President Omar Bongo after his military career and remained in that position until Bongo’s death in 2009.
Nguema, who had a falling out with Ali Bongo, who took over the seat after his father died, was sent to Gabon’s Rabat and Dakar Embassies as a Military Attaché and was expelled from the country.
In 2019, a year after President Bongo suffered a stroke, Nguema returned to the Presidential Palace to head the intelligence unit of the Republican Guard, replacing Ali Bongo’s half-brother Frederic Bongo.
Promoted to Commander of the Republican Guard a few months later, Nguema established and gradually strengthened the Special Interventions unit within the Republican Guard, directly subordinate to Ali Bongo.
It is known that Nguema has both kinship and close relations with the Bongo family for many years.
Soldiers took control
A group of soldiers, who entered the national television building in the early hours of the morning in the Central African country of Gabon, announced that they had taken over the administration.
The soldiers, calling themselves the “Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions (CTRI),” announced that the elections held on August 26 were canceled and the borders of the country were closed.
Current President Ali Bongo Ondimba had won the presidential elections held on 26 August for the third time.
A curfew was imposed on the grounds of “violence” in the last hours of the voting process in the country, and the internet was restricted while the vote counting process continued after the election.
Father Omar Bongo first came to power in 1967, and when he died in 2009, his son Ali Bongo sat in his chair.
The Bongo family ruled Gabon for 56 years.