The Gabon military junta has announced the head of the Republican Guards, Colonel Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, as the new leader of the country after ending the 55-year rule of the Bongo family.

On Wednesday, August 30, the military announced that it had taken over power from Ali Bongo Ondimba, citing a degraded social atmosphere that, according to them, can lead to chaos in the future.

They also said the August 26 presidential election in the country was fraudulently conducted.

The country’s electoral commission had announced at midnight on Tuesday that incumbent, Ali Bongo, won 64.27% votes with the opposition candidate Ondo Ossa scoring 30%.

According to a report by Cameroon News Agency, Col. Nguema’s position as the leader of the Republican Guards was to protect the president.

The coup on Wednesday shows that the Gabonese military has had enough of the irregularities going on in the country.

In April 2020, Colonel Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema took over the head of the Republican Guard, an elite Army corps responsible for protecting the head of state, replacing General Grégoire Kouna, a cousin of Ali Bongo Ondimba.

Gambia has been ruled by the same family for more than 55 out of its 63 years since independence from France in 1960.

Bongo, 64, took over when his father Omar died in 2009 after nearly 42 years in power.

Bongo senior, who took office in 1967, had the reputation of a kleptocrat — one of the richest men in the world, with a fortune derived from Gabon’s oil wealth.

The event in Gabon comes a month after members of the Presidential Guards staged a coup against the then President of Niger Republic in West Africa, Mohammed Bazoum, and placed him under House arrest since then.

Ali Bongo Ondimba is also being placed under house arrest at The Residence, the official home of the Gabonese President, while his wife and son were being held in unknown locations.