2025 presidentials: Will Biya survive growing rebellion from within?.

He ran for office in 2011, secured victory and succeeded himself; even more emphatically scoring over 70 percent of the votes cast in 2018.

But this 2025, the political calculations of the Head of State and the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement, CPDM, could be in for more surprises. That is, if Biya finally decides to seek re-election.

At 92, and having led the country for 43 years, the current within the CPDM and Biya’s traditional allies for over three decades in the Grand North, are producing undesiring sparks. 

Watchers say even before basic formalities for the October presidential poll fall into place, Biya’s pool of alliances and political bastions are suffering from short-circuits of sorts.

Pundits say the equation has been made potentially cumbersome and explosive, with the surfacing of a letter, attributed to some disgruntled elite from the Head of State’s South Region of origin. 

In the piece, the signatories are crusading for grassroots sanction votes against Biya, should he decide to seek re-election.

Putting the concurrent development vis-a-vis other opposition storms facing the regime in place, watchers are beginning to question if Biya’s long admired political intelligence and ingenuity would survive this time around!

South Region elite crusade against Biya

In what many are saying is a shocking development within the political space in the last 40 years, a document surfaced on Wednesday, June 18, 2025, bearing the names and signatures of certain elite of South Region, asking for sanction votes against Biya.

The names cited in the document, which has largely sparked debates are; Prof Jean Calvin Aba’a Oyono, Dr Appolinaire Legrand Oko, Marcel Ebene, Emmanuel Foumane, Paul Freddy Oyono, Narcisse Evina Ongotto and Jerome Christelle Mendomo. 

While signatures of others appeared on the document, the document also has the name Willy Mengue without a signature.

The most notable name among the signatories is Prof Aba’a Oyono, who has been vocal in recent times, even endorsing the leader of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement, MRC, for the October poll.

In the piece, the signatories said real power comes from the population. They asked their kith and kin of the South Region, where Biya comes from, to use this year’s poll to vote for change. 

The authors argued that since Biya came to power in 1982, the South Region has not benefitted anything, compared to when Ahidjo was in power.

‘Nothing to show for in 42 years’ 

They argued that the appointment of Directors General and ministers of South Region origin, in Biya’s 42 years of leadership, has not produced anything meaningful for the population of the Region. 

The document also indicated that the standard of living of the people of the South Region remains in total disarray, in addition to a broken road network and other social services.

In the piece, the authors mentioned the Ebolowa-Akom II-Kribi-Sangmelima-Oveng-Fang-Meyomessala-Bengbis road as being in a terrible state. 

While insisting that the mentioned stretch is just one out of many bad roads in the South Region, the elite said with the approaching rains, the population goes through inhumane conditions when travelling.

They said since independence, there are communities within the South Region that have never had electricity.

Compared to other Regions wherein the Agric Show brought certain benefits and powered development, they said Ebolowa, which last hosted the Show, has nothing to write home about. 

Most of the projects that came with the Show, they averred, remain incomplete till date. The elite insisted that unemployment among young graduates of the South Region is endemic. 

They also cited low school attendance and painted the Head of State’s Region of origin as being totally uninspired amid growing social discontent.

‘Biya not connected to South Region population’

Another assertion in the anti-Biya missive from the elite is that the Head of State has, in his over four decades leadership, remained distant from the population of the South Region. 

They were vehement that it is time they clear the air on what they say is a general misconception that since Biya is from the South Region, he is attached to the people and vice versa.

The persons to whom the document is attributed presented the Head of State as a politician who has dwelled more on sloganeering with nothing concrete to show for in the South Region. 

They said despite the desire of the population to have a meeting with Biya, to express their worry, the Head of State has never held any public meeting to hear from the people of his Region of origin.

They blamed the political elite of the South Region for engaging in propaganda that portrays Biya as being highly loved in his native South Region. 

They claimed that in the South Region, once a person becomes an elite, they are trained to engage in electoral fraud.

‘South Region victim of repression, dictatorship, corruption’

Another sharp claim in the memo of the South Region elite is that since Biya came to power on November 6, 1982, sons and daughters of the area, who refuse to align are subject to torture. 

They alleged that the Biya regime has engaged in multiform repression on the people of the South Region.

They cited names such as; the late Prof Gervais Mendo Ze, the late Charles Ateba Eyene, Abel Eyinga, Mathe Ekemeyong epse Moumie, and Jean Marc Ella, as being some of the victims of “the repression of the Biya regime”.

“Take your destiny into your hands”

In concluding their letter, the authors launched what they say is “a fervent appeal to our brothers and sisters”, to be fully engage in this year’s presidential poll. They counseled the population to choose a leader who will serve their interest.

The same persons advised the population of the South Region to reject the attitude of politicians who manipulate them to be at war with citizens from other Regions of the country. 

They warned that if the people fail to vote decisively, they should be ready to continue suffering what has befallen them since 9182.

Adamawa CPDM bigwig urges Biya to retire 

Up North, the calls for Biya to retire from politics have continued to also burst from different angles. One of such CPDM supporters who has urged Biya to retire is Abdoulaye Nana. 

He is the Vice Section President of CPDM Mbere Centre in the Mbere Division and councillor at the Meinganga Council.

In its edition No. 2135 of Monday June 16, the French language newspaper, L'oeil du Sahel, quoted Abdoulaye as having stated that: “Paul Biya has given his all, it is now time for him to have a deserved rest”.

CPDM councillor wants ELECAM to block Biya’s candidature

Still within the CPDM, it is Councillor Leon Theiller Onana of the Monatele Council in the Lekie Division of the Centre Region, who has been on Biya’s throat. 

Onana, who has dragged the CPDM party to court for failing to respect its basic text, informed the world on Wednesday, June 18, 2025, through a statement, that he notified the President of the Electoral Board of Elections Cameroon, ELECAM.

Onana, in the release, argued that ELECAM should not accept any investiture of a candidate from the CPDM, without the party holding an Ordinary Congress. 

He warned that if ELECAM fails to act, the CPDM would end up presenting several candidates in the October presidential poll.

UNDP supporters want Bello Bouba to dump Biya

Within the National Union for Democracy and Progress, UNDP, of Bello Bouba Maigari, there are also increasing calls for an end to the party’s alliance with Biya, that has been in place since 1992.  

While the party is due to hold its congress on June 28, 2025; which is not unconnected to the Presidential poll. 

Ahead of the said decisive congress, a senior official of the party in Benoue Division, North Region, Ahadji Yaouba Souley, has hinted that the UNDP will invest its candidate for the October poll.

A few months ago, it was the mayor of the UNDP-run Touboro Council in Mayo-Rey Division of the North Region, Celestin Yandal, who reportedly threatened grassroots disavowal of Bello Bouba, if he continues to support Biya.

Yandal, who is said to have been part of the group fronting for change, is quoted as having said: "If Bello Bouba remains an ally of Paul Biya this year, we are no longer going to support him”.

Tchiroma rebels against Biya!

Recently, it was another longtime ally of President Paul Biya, Issa Tchiroma Bakary, who is Minister of Employment and Vocational Training, who asked the population to vote this year to end 42 years of misery.

Tchiroma, who is leader of the Cameroon National Salvation Front, FSNC political party, told thousands at a meeting in Garoua that it is time for things to change.

“Anyone who invites you to vote for something that is already recognised as the cause of your malaise is your enemy. Do we understand each other?”, he is said to have noted.

He further recalled that: “You know that one party has caused you a problem; your young daughters remain unmarried because the young men have no professional activities [no income], despite their many prayers to obtain suitable men. But as you know, in our context, a man only becomes valid when he has an income-generating activity”.

Just like the South Region elite’s letter of Wednesday, Tchiroma had also talked about the suffering of the population, lack of opportunities for the population and widespread suffering among issues.

Can Biya survive?

The opposition from within the President’s pack, political analysts are saying, could threaten his life presidency project. 

Others argue that even if Biya contests and win October’s poll, he would face enormous opposition, compared to previous years wherein such obstacles were not in place.

Analysts are gauging that if those criticising Biya mean business, the best evaluation will only be made when the election must have taken place. This, they say, will be more meaningful if Biya eventually runs for the election.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3479 of Friday June 20, 2025