October 12 election: Greedy opposition escorting Biya to victory.

Few years to the announcement of candidacies for this year’s election, many had expected the unusual; Biya’s retirement from politics.

Yet, he took the nation by surprise after years of deification and appeals from his supporters nationwide to take another mandate. 

Thus, superficially, facts indicate that on October 12, 2025, it is going to be Paul Biya and 11 other candidates seeking to rule Cameroon for the next seven years.

Analysts say within the frames of truth, and the reality of politicking in Cameroon, the election of October 12, will be Paul Biya alone seeking to renew his leadership through legitimate means. 

Those with a mastery of the country’s opposition say irrespective of the change of actors across decades, Biya has discovered that most of those claiming to replace him are pretenders talking big, tough and seeking for either appointments into government, money or cheap popularity.

Those demeaning the country’s opposition and especially candidates validated to contest the election against Biya are projecting the absence of a formidable opposition alliance. 

The absence of such an agreement among the other candidates to give voters a new option with a clearcut political programme, pundits are saying, shows openly that the candidates are escorting Biya, to not just victory but a resounding one come October 12.

Political observers say anything short of an opposition coalition candidate, will end up with figures that put Biya a distant first, while ‘self-seeking’ opposition candidates will be queuing with miserable votes. 

Many say despite being experts in criticising and ridiculing Paul Biya’s leadership, the opposition is not only greedy but lacks a sense of direction.

There are those who say any opposition candidate dreaming of defeating Biya and uprooting a regime that has been in place for over 43 years, is a daydreamer and jester. 

Some pundits are even adding that the current regime is a continuation of what late President Ahmadou Ahidjo started, thus needing a selfless and patriotic opposition to weed it out.

Opposition candidates for the gallery

When 83 persons dropped files, with some empty, at Elections Cameroon, ELECAM, expressing the desire to run for this year’s presidential election, many were right that the volume of comedy was huge. 

After ELECAM and the Constitutional Council shaped the number to 12, some Doubting Thomases said they were expecting a wind of unity among the opposition candidates left in the race to the Unity Palace.

Already, critics are saying that what is going on now within the opposition is the real comedy. They say the candidates have no excuse to give Cameroonians and lessons to give Biya if they can’t unite to campaign against the CPDM candidate.

In the pack of 11 opposition candidates are; Ateki Seta Caxton of the  Liberal Alliance Party, PAL; Bello Bouba Maigari of the  National Union for Democracy and Progress, UNDP;  Bougha Hagbe Jacques, candidate of the Cameroon National Citizens Movement, MCNC; Issa Tchiroma Bakary of the Cameroon National Salvation Front, FSNC; Matomba Serge Espoir, First Secretary of the United People for Social Renovation, PURS; Muna Akere Tabeng, invested by UNIVERS party, Osih Joshua Nambangi, flagbearer of the Social Democratic Front, SDF; Tomaino Hermine Patricia epse Ndam Njoya, ticket holder of the Cameroon Democratic Union, CDU;  Libii Li Ngue Ngue Cabral, contender on the wings of the Cameroonian Party for National Reconciliation, PCRN; Kwemo Pierre, United Socialist Movement, UMS; and Iyodi Hiram Samuel, Cameroonian Democrats Front, FDC.

Irrespective of their rich and diverse profiles, many a citizen say the events of the last few weeks send across an undiluted message that the opposition candidates are just in the race to deceive the public for their selfish gains. 

Lying to themselves, thinking they are deceiving Cameroonians

The basket of political sins which the current group of opposition candidates are committing, observers say, reeks deception, lies and ego.  
The candidates, some are saying, are lying to Cameroonians, thinking they are deceiving citizens whereas in reality, they are deceiving themselves.

With the incessant calls for an opposition consensus candidate, all the candidates including those who can’t rally even 1,000 people, have been speaking with both sides of their mouths. 

Everyone has been claiming to be the most important, welcoming the idea, staging funny alliances with parties that are not even known to the public but claiming to be building momentum to defeat Biya.

How key names such as Cabral Libii and Osih Joshua, have been downplaying the place of an opposition alliance to defeat Biya, many say, has left them bemused. 

Critics are asking Osih to check the score when the Union for Change invested Fru Ndi and what the SDF has achieved, since running solo in subsequent Presidential elections.

Cabral Libii, on his part, has also been on the same lane, projecting what analysts say is a fool’s narrative that an opposition alliance won’t change anything much in the October 12 poll. 

Beyond Cabral Libii and Osih, the other lot of opposition candidates have been talking sweet about their openness for an alliance, but gallivanting around the nation with the empty pride of just being candidates for the October 12 poll.

Aside talking about the need for Biya to leave, findings, many are saying and rightly so, show that majority of opposition candidates have no programme. 

Some are noted for repeating the same old narratives of how bad Cameroon is without telling citizens what they plan to do if voted.  

They are also said to be in the know that the parties on whose platform they are running the election don’t have a national presence and lack the financial muscle to campaign nationwide. 

All these, many are arguing, have only gone to embolden the bitter truth that the 11 opposition candidates in the October 12 poll, are just out to accompany Biya to his life-Presidency project.

Biya’s friends of yesterday, opposition today not different

When Bello Bouba and Issa Tchiroma, both longstanding allies of President Biya, jumped ship to run for this year’s election, many said they were expecting a tsunami that could come through an alliance. 

Yet, weeks of affirmations and consultations involving the two political leaders have not added anything new to the opposition’s chances.

Tchiroma and Bello have been holding on to their parties, attending consultations, calling for an alliance but maintaining that they will run the race solo. 

With the goings on that are not different from what citizens have seen in the past, some are already fearing that Tchiroma and Bello might have been sent to further divide the opposition and smoothen Biya’s stay in power.

Walkway visits to Kamto 

The asset that Kamto is in the equation of defeating Biya, many are saying, has not been fully exploited by the opposition candidates for the October 12 election. 

They are being blamed for opting to hold individual talks with Kamto, who came second in the 2018 presidential poll, instead of bonding to use his following as an added advantage to build momentum and defeat Biya.

Businessmen passing for candidates

In the language of political business, analysts say presidential elections offer certain persons a window to harvest millions and positions in government while promising heaven on earth to the electorate demanding change. 

Some, they are saying, are spies of the government reporting every opposition strategy to those in the corridors of power.

Little wonder, it is reported that the Foumban Group failed in picking a consensus candidate after its discussions were leaked to Yaounde.

Reports hold that things had advanced well during the first meeting in Foumban but as the candidates and their party leaders got to Yaounde, they were infiltrated and everything went sour. 

Though answering titles of presidential candidates, some of them are said to be ministers in waiting while others already have their one-off payments for helping to weaken the opposition to the advantage of President Biya.

From the look of things, many say except something unusual happens, Paul Biya would take the oath of office, come November 6, 2025, to begin an eight term that would see him serve as Head of State for 50 uninterrupted years!

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3574 of Wednesday September 24, 2025