October 09, (THEWILL) – The Cameroon government in a statement on Tuesday, said 91-year-old president, Paul Biya, is in good health, calling widespread reports of his death “pure fantasy.”
Biya has not been seen in public since attending a China-Africa forum in Beijing in early September. His failure to appear as scheduled at a summit in France last weekend stoked speculation that the nonagenarian was unwell.
“Rumours of all kinds have been circulating through the conventional media and social networks about the president’s condition. The Government unequivocally states that these rumours are pure fantasy and hereby, issues a formal denial. The head of state is in good health and will be returning to Cameroon in the coming days”, Government Spokesperson Rene Sadi said in the statement.
After Beijing, Biya paid a private visit to Europe, Sadi added.
Opposition parties and civil society groups have been calling for an update on the status of Biya’s health and his exact whereabouts.
His recent absence from the meeting of leaders from French-speaking countries in Paris was much remarked on at the two-day event, according to three non-Cameroonian African ministers who attended.
Biya is the oldest leader in the world. He has ruled Cameroon for more than four decades and his supporters have been holding public rallies asking him to be a candidate in elections expected in October 2025. Although Biya has not said whether he will run for president again, Cocoa and oil-producing Cameroon has had just two presidents since independence from France and Britain in the early 1960s.
