Senate: Niat rushed home ahead of bureau election.

The octogenarian, who has won all elections as Senate President, since the legislative organ went operational in 2013, was flown home in the early hours of Sunday March 17, according to dependable sources.

The veteran politician who disappeared from public view in December last year, is said to have arrived at the Yaounde Nsimalen International Airport onboard a medicalised aircraft at about 4:00 a.m. Sunday.

The frail-looking and ailing regime baron departed the country in December 2023, following reported failing health. 

He has since been shuttling between hospitals in France and Switzerland, according to yet-to-be verified reports. 

There was no hope in sight for his return to the country until he surprisingly showed up yesterday morning. 

His return to Yaounde, has brought to end, days of uncertainty at the Senate.

His absence at the Senate, since the beginning of the March session, two weeks ago, is said to have stalled proceedings at the Upper House of Parliament.

Sources say his absence is what has accounted for the delay in electing a new bureau at both the lower and upper houses of parliament.  

There were reports already that Niat, given his worrying health condition, was not going to make it to Cameroon, before the close of the current session of parliament. Reports had even made the rounds that an Anglophone was being prepared for the Senate top job. 
The names of two Anglophone Senators were mooted as being amongst the favourites to replace Niat as Senate president. 

The March session, it should be said, is traditionally dedicated to the putting in place of new bureaus in both houses of Parliament.

Following his return to the country yesterday, there are speculations that the election into the lower and upper houses of parliament will be held this week. Parliamentary insiders say the vote could be staged tomorrow Tuesday.

The 89-year-old Niat Njifenji will likely succeed himself at the Senate while Hon Cavaye Yeguie Djibril, elected National Assembly Speaker, since 1992, will also easily sail through.

Niat, a frontline member of the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement, CPDM, party and former Minister of Planning and Territorial Development from 1990-1991, is the only president the Senate has known since its establishment in 2013.

As per the country’s constitution, the President of the Senate would serve as an interim leader in case of a definitive vacancy at the Presidency of the Republic.