By Enyichukwu Enemanna
The President of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang who has spent 43 years in office as the world longest-standing leader, will join in the November presidential election to succeed himself, his party announced on Friday.
Obiang, 80 took over power in 1979 after a military coup, even as his over 4-decade rule has been accused of intolerance against political opponents, sham elections, and corruption by right groups and foreign powers.
His son, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, who is the Vice President said on Twitter on Friday that his father had been nominated to run again “due to his charisma, leadership and political experience”.
Mangue was convicted of embezzlement by a French court in 2020.
Under his father, the West African country has been largely reliant on oil and gas, which provide about three quarters of state revenues. Right groups have alleged that the resource to not trickle down to the people but end up as proceeds of corruption, leaving the masses live in poverty.
Insecurity still bites in the country, which was laid bare when a series of explosions at an army barracks flattened a part of the coastal city of Bata last year, killing about 100 people and triggering an aid response from former colonial power Spain.
