After Tchiroma: Bello Bouba dumps Biya, declares for presidency.

Emerging from the meeting, Bello Bouba declared that the party’s Central Committee, which he described as the governing organ of the NUDP had voted for it to invest a candidate for the October poll.

Bello Bouba detailed that the same Committee also asked him to be the party’s candidate for the October presidentials; a proposal he said he accepted.

The decision of Bello Bouba and the NUDP, is the second major loss of a political ally for President Paul Biya, within a week. It came days after Issa Tchiroma Bakary of the Cameroon Salvation Front, FSNC, party declared he is also a candidate for the presidentials.

Tchiroma had before declaring his candidacy for the election in a statement released last Wednesday, resigned from government on Monday June 23, 2025, as Minister of Employment and Vocational Training.

Facing the press at the end of the NUDP Central Committee meeting, that was staged at the Yaounde Conference Centre, Bello Bouba said he had accepted the position of “the governing organ of our party to be a candidate in this year’s presidential election”.

Quizzed on what becomes of NUDP’s alliance with Biya and his position in government, Bello Bouba insisted on the message he had declared to the press. 

The veteran politician asked anyone to show him a copy of the alliance between his party and Biya, which stops the NUDP from presenting a candidate at the October poll.

“Yes, I am a candidate for the presidential election. It is the electorate that will decide. Cite me a section of the said alliance document which stipulates that the NUPD should renounce its constitutional right to take part in elections. The constitution says political parties have the right to participate in elections done by universal suffrage,” Bello Bouba clarified.

He added that the party has since the return of multiparty politics in Cameroon been present at different polls. The NUDP leader maintained that thanks to such consistency, the party is present in different institutions in the country such as councils, Parliament and Regional Councils.

The NUDP leader insisted that this year, the position of its Central Committee regarding the presidential election is clear. 

He used the party’s participation in the 1992 election to remind the public that it will not be the first time that the NUDP is investing a candidate for a presidential election.

Maintains sealed lips on position in gov’t 

In the meantime, Bello Bouba did not tell the media if he was going to maintain his position in government or resign like Tchiroma. He has been serving since 2011 as Minister of State, Minister of Tourism and Leisure. 

Before the holding of last Saturday’s meeting, Bello Bouba was rumoured to have also resigned from government. But with the party’s position now clear and different from what has been happening in presidential elections except that of 1992, many say it is time to look forward for more surprises on the country’s political scene.

Barrister Akere Muna, also presidential aspirant already invested by the UNIVERS party, was among key figures from outside the NUDP who attended Saturday’s meeting.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3489 of Monday June 30, 2025