The Secretary General of the Central Committee of the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM), Jean Nkuete, has reacted to debates animating the country’s political scene on the candidacy of 91-year-old incumbent President Paul Biya at this year’s presidential elections.
According to Jean Nkuete, the CPDM stands behind their candidate and will thwart any move aimed at stirring tension in the 2025 presidential elections.
The reaction of CPDM Scribe comes after several ministers, including communication minister René Emmanuel Sadi, higher education minister Jacques Fame Ndongo, and labour minister Gregoire Owona, in separate outings, insisted that it remains the right of president Paul Biya guaranteed by the constitution and party’s text to seek re-election.
Opposition voices strengthened by the clergy in the country have spoken against Biya seeking re-election, basing their argument on age, stagnation in terms of development, endemic corruption and Many social ills affecting Cameroonians as upshots of his 42-year rule
In what appears to be the official stands of the ruling party, he said there has been some feverish excitement among various political and social stakeholders on the national political scene since the beginning of the year 2025.
President Paul Biya, who is party chairman of the CPDM, Mr. Nkuete noted, is the target of verbal attacks and smears meant to denigrate him.
This, he said, ” is characterised by an upsurge in hateful, diabolical, and misleading speeches, aiming at denigrating the President of the Republic, His Excellency Paul Biya, and discrediting the government and institutions, particularly those involved in the electoral process.”
Paul Biya is CPDM Presidential candidate!
The communication from the CPDM, which political commentators describe as definitive, confirms 91-year-old Paul Biya as a candidate of the party in the upcoming elections.
Though without surprise, it answers a lingering question amongst curious Cameroonians longing for both change and maintaining the status quo.
In the words of Jean Nkuete, recent debates “have been generating messages of destabilisation, demonising the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement and its National President in his capacity as the Party’s statutory candidate during the forthcoming presidential election.”
CPDM To Silence ‘Trouble Makers’.
The 2025 elections will likely differ from those in previous years, as more Cameroonians show interest and demand regime change.
The ruling party, in panic mode, has threatened to thwart those perceived to be troublemakers in the country. These MMI gathered are strong opposition figures posing as a threat to the party in power.
“The Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement, in its position as the leading party close to power, remains vigilant and is ready to thwart all attempts aiming at tarnishing both the image of the institutions and the Republic and at stirring up social tensions,” CPDM SG said in part of the lengthy press release.
Reaction to Clergy
Nkuete also blasts anti-Biya sentiments shared by the clergy and insists Cameroon is a secular state.
Some religious leaders in the nation have publicly expressed their opposition to Paul Biya’s candidacy in the upcoming presidential elections.
Catholic prelates, notably Samuel Kleda, Archbishop of Douala; Emmanuel Abbo, Bishop of Ngaoundere; Yaouda Hourgo, Bishop of Yagoua; and Yves Foncha, Pastor of the Evangelical Church of Cameroon, are among those calling for Biya to go.
Another anti-Biya campaigner is Ludovic Lado, a Jesuit priest who has declared to run for parliament in the Bamboutos constituency in next year’s parliamentary elections.
The CPDM Scribe expressed discomfort with the outing of some clergymen in the country, asserting that the state must preserve its secularity for peace and harmony.
“The secular nature of the state, which must be preserved and consolidated, bearing in mind that secularism has so far facilitated the struggle for the emancipation of our people in peace, unity, and harmony,” he stated.
Biya’s popularity drops
According to a poll conducted by the AllPo platform, the president of the PCRN, the Cabral Libii MP appears as the favorite to win the 2025 presidential election.
Results of the opinion poll conducted amongst voters put Cabral Libi at 27% with Paul Biya coming second with 23% while Maurice Kamto comes in third with 20%.
