Coming to power in February 2005 after the death of his father, Etienne Gnassingbé Eyadema, who led Togo for almost 38 years, Faure Gnassingbé also took the Supreme Magistracy without election.
Mada Djabakate, Togolese political scientist and essayist, describes him as “A daddy’s son who, on the death bed, said to him, ‘If you want to live, do everything to keep what I fought to have, otherwise you will have no future without that’ ‘.
“And that’s what he is doing as an attentive son and choice of his father”continues the essayist political scientist.
Faure, a manager with several caps
Faure Gnassingbé has run Togo for twenty years. He is now at the head of the Council of Ministers who gives him all executive powers.
For David Dossey, the first spokesperson for the Citizen Front Togo Standing, Faure Gnassingbé bypassed everything that could limit him in his quest for life for life.
“When the Cédéao evolves towards the reform of the protocol which will want to limit the mandates, it will simply say that the new Constitution already respects the limitation of mandates, since the President of the Republic has his mandate limited. However, we all know that he has no power”
“It becomes a real presidency for life. And it is a cunning, but the Togolese people are not fooled”he insists.
But the Togolese President, who is declined internally by the opposition, does not have the same face on the international scene. He was newly appointed mediator of the African Union in the crisis between Kigali and Kinshasa. It occupies the same functions in the dispute between AES countries, Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, and Cédéao.
-The explanations of Rèliou Koubakin
To play this audio please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 audio
This “beautiful image” is misleading, believes Nathaniel Olympio, spokesperson for the citizen movement does not touch my Constitution.
“Faure Gnassingbé and his entourage have always made considerable efforts to polish the image outside, with the purchases of consciousness of international officials, with activated lobbyings”.
Power remains on the defensive
The power in place describes his leader as a pan -Africanist whose continent rented his mediator services. Gilbert Bawara, Togolese Minister for the Reform of Public Service, Labor and Dialogue, defends its president by returning to what led to a constitutional reform in 2024
“I would also like to recall that it is a part of this opposition, in particular that which continues to shut itself up in a rearguard fight, which had transformed the legislative and regional April 2024 into a referendum. They said to the Togolese people: take advantage of the opportunity given to you to sanction and disavow the majority in place”.
The Togolese opposition, considered to be divided, says it is ready to fight to block the path to Faure Gnassingbé, even if some who have already attempted it are currently behind bars.
