Matilda Omonaiye/
Head of the new junta in Gabon, Gen. Brice Clotaire Oligui-Nguema, is a cousin of the ousted president, Ali Bongo.
Ali Bongo succeeded his father, Omar Bongo, in 2009, after the latter had ruled the Central African nation for 42 years. Ali himself had remained in power since then until he was overthrown by his cousin, today, following a disputed presidential poll, which had handed him a third term in office.
Oligui, a longstanding member of President Ali Bongo’s inner circle, was appointed head of the elite military unit known as the Republican Guard in 2018 and held the post till this morning’s military coup led by him.
According to a 2020 report by Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), the new Gabonese military ruler bought three properties in middle- and working-class neighborhoods in the Maryland suburbs of Hyattsville and Silver Spring, just outside Washington DC, in 2015 and 2018.
He reportedly made the purchases with a total of over one million dollars in cash.
When questioned by reporters over the purchases, he was quoted as saying, “I think whether in France or in the United States, a private life is a private life that [should be] respected.”
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