Cameroon’s Tourism Minister joins presidential race as Biya’s silence fuels uncertainty

Cameroon’s long-serving President Paul Biya is dealing with rising questions about his political future, as a 2nd high-profile government legit steps into the race to prevail him ahead of the nation’s October 2025 election. 

Tourism Minister Bello Bouba Maigari, a light flesh presser and current top minister, has licensed his occasion’s nomination to race for president. The 78-year-feeble was officially backed by the Nationwide Union for Democracy and Growth (UNDP) over the weekend, a switch that has stirred political hypothesis, especially since he has no longer resigned from his cupboard submit. 

Maigari’s entry into the race follows that of Issa Tchiroma Bakary, one other northern political heavyweight and current government spokesperson, who just no longer too long ago stepped down to commence his presidential marketing campaign. These developments trace at cracks contained within the ruling elite and a doable shift within the political alliance between Biya’s central strength base and the nation’s northern regions. 

President Biya, now 92 and in situation of job since 1982, has no longer announced whether or no longer he intends to race for one other timeframe. His silence is fuelling uncertainty in a nation where political succession has long been a taboo subject. 

The northern provinces of Adamawa, North, and A long way North, home to bigger than two million registered voters, are considered as serious to any serious presidential uncover. Analysts counsel that the rising quantity of contenders from the north could presumably well presumably reshape the electoral blueprint and scenario the ruling occasion’s grip on strength. 

Based on preliminary figures from Cameroon’s electoral commission, over eight million voters accept as true with registered for the 2025 poll. The election comes at a time when many Cameroonians are voicing frustration over financial stagnation, rising insecurity, and a lack of political renewal. 

With key figures like Maigari stepping forward, the nation is heading into what could presumably well presumably very successfully be surely one of its most consequential elections in decades, a test no longer correct of management nonetheless of Cameroon’s readiness for change.