Cameroon’s 92-year-old President Paul Biya, who has held an iron grip on the Central African nation for nearly 43 years has launched a reelection bid that could keep him in power until almost his 100th birthday.
“Much remains to be done,” said Biya, who is in the twilight of his seventh term in office. “The best is yet to come,” added the Cameroonian leader in a statement on Sunday.
Biya is seeking a fresh seven-year term in a presidential election scheduled for October, despite reports that his health has deteriorated. He said his decision to extend his grip on power rested “on urgent appeals coming from the 10 regions of our country and from the diaspora.”
His announcement comes months after his office pushed back on speculation he was unwell or had died following a lengthy absence from the public eye.
Discussions about his health were later banned in the media, with the Cameroon interior ministry declaring it a national security matter.
For years, rumors about Biya’s health and whereabouts have been major talking points in Cameroon, where he has rarely been seen in public. He has maintained a strong grip on the nation, however, winning multiple re-election victories – some by a landslide.
Biya came to power in 1982 and has remained in office for more than four decades, becoming one of the globe’s longest-serving heads of state, excluding monarchs. He is only the second president to lead Cameroon since it achieved independence from France and Britain in the early 1960s.
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