Cameroon Opposition Leader Flees to Gambia After Election

Is Tchiroma a genuine reformer, or a hypocritical career politician?
Cameroon Opposition Leader Flees to Gambia After Election
Above: Issa Tchiroma Bakary, 78, at his residence in Yaounde on Aug. 25, 2025. Image credit: Daniel Beloumou Olomo/AFP/Getty Images

The Spin

Narrative A

Cameroon desperately needs change after 43 years of Paul Biya's failed leadership. The government has become a tool for clans and factions while the president neglects his duties. Tchiroma represents genuine reform — he's declared his modest assets and challenges anyone to prove corruption, unlike the current regime that manipulates elections and uses state machinery for fraud.

Narrative B

Tchiroma is a hypocritical career politician who blamed students for unemployment while serving in Biya's corrupt government for decades. His history includes arrests from the 1984 coup attempt, making him unqualified for basic government roles by Cameroon's own standards. The opposition's chronic inability to unite only strengthens Biya's grip on power through their collective political suicide.

Metaculus Prediction



© 2025 Improve the News Foundation. All rights reserved.Version 6.20.0

© 2025 Improve the News Foundation.

All rights reserved.

Version 6.20.0