{"id":89207,"date":"2025-07-29T11:16:26","date_gmt":"2025-07-29T11:16:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tv.guardian.ng\/?p=89207"},"modified":"2025-07-29T11:16:26","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T11:16:26","slug":"cameroon-what-keeps-92-year-old-president-biya-in-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/cameroon-what-keeps-92-year-old-president-biya-in-power\/","title":{"rendered":"Cameroon: What keeps 92-year-old President Biya in power?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"dailymotion-player\"><script src=\"https:\/\/geo.dailymotion.com\/player\/x1ee8e.js\" data-video=\"k7eaWsTgpmOcURDwRQO\"><\/script><\/div><br><br><p>\nAt 92, Paul Biya is already the oldest head of state in the world. He wants to be re-elected in October. The power apparatus is kept stable through harshness and fear of losing privileges.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At 92, Paul Biya is already the oldest head of state in the world. He wants to be re-elected in October. The power apparatus is kept stable through harshness and fear of losing privileges.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":89208,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gam_disable_ads":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1535],"tags":[153,774,31691],"class_list":["post-89207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-africa","tag-cameroon","tag-power","tag-president-biya"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Cameroon: What keeps 92-year-old President Biya in power? - GuardianTV<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"At 92, Paul Biya is already the oldest head of state in the world. He wants to be re-elected in October. The power apparatus is kept stable through harshness and fear of losing privileges.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/cameroon-what-keeps-92-year-old-president-biya-in-power\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cameroon: What keeps 92-year-old President Biya in power? - GuardianTV\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"At 92, Paul Biya is already the oldest head of state in the world. He wants to be re-elected in October. The power apparatus is kept stable through harshness and fear of losing privileges.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/cameroon-what-keeps-92-year-old-president-biya-in-power\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"GuardianTV\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-07-29T11:16:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/tv.guardian.ng\/2025\/07\/ADfCtTvJ-dd-3.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Abiodun Ogundairo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Abiodun Ogundairo\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/cameroon-what-keeps-92-year-old-president-biya-in-power\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/cameroon-what-keeps-92-year-old-president-biya-in-power\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Abiodun Ogundairo\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a7ea396ab9bae73d4845496dbad885f1\"},\"headline\":\"Cameroon: What keeps 92-year-old President Biya in power?\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-29T11:16:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/cameroon-what-keeps-92-year-old-president-biya-in-power\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":46,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/cameroon-what-keeps-92-year-old-president-biya-in-power\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/ADfCtTvJ-dd-3.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Cameroon\",\"power\",\"President Biya\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Africa\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/cameroon-what-keeps-92-year-old-president-biya-in-power\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/cameroon-what-keeps-92-year-old-president-biya-in-power\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/cameroon-what-keeps-92-year-old-president-biya-in-power\\\/\",\"name\":\"Cameroon: What keeps 92-year-old President Biya in power? - GuardianTV\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/cameroon-what-keeps-92-year-old-president-biya-in-power\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/cameroon-what-keeps-92-year-old-president-biya-in-power\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/ADfCtTvJ-dd-3.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-29T11:16:26+00:00\",\"description\":\"At 92, Paul Biya is already the oldest head of state in the world. He wants to be re-elected in October. The power apparatus is kept stable through harshness and fear of losing privileges.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/cameroon-what-keeps-92-year-old-president-biya-in-power\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/cameroon-what-keeps-92-year-old-president-biya-in-power\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/cameroon-what-keeps-92-year-old-president-biya-in-power\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/ADfCtTvJ-dd-3.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/ADfCtTvJ-dd-3.jpg\",\"width\":1600,\"height\":700,\"caption\":\"Cameroon: What keeps 92-year-old President Biya in power?\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/cameroon-what-keeps-92-year-old-president-biya-in-power\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Cameroon: What keeps 92-year-old President Biya in power?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/\",\"name\":\"GuardianTV\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"GuardianTV\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/5SUudJ8m-oZUN2RNk-Logo-white.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/5SUudJ8m-oZUN2RNk-Logo-white.png\",\"width\":600,\"height\":96,\"caption\":\"GuardianTV\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a7ea396ab9bae73d4845496dbad885f1\",\"name\":\"Abiodun Ogundairo\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/author\\\/abiodun\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Cameroon: What keeps 92-year-old President Biya in power? - GuardianTV","description":"At 92, Paul Biya is already the oldest head of state in the world. He wants to be re-elected in October. The power apparatus is kept stable through harshness and fear of losing privileges.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/cameroon-what-keeps-92-year-old-president-biya-in-power\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Cameroon: What keeps 92-year-old President Biya in power? - GuardianTV","og_description":"At 92, Paul Biya is already the oldest head of state in the world. He wants to be re-elected in October. The power apparatus is kept stable through harshness and fear of losing privileges.","og_url":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/cameroon-what-keeps-92-year-old-president-biya-in-power\/","og_site_name":"GuardianTV","article_published_time":"2025-07-29T11:16:26+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1600,"height":700,"url":"https:\/\/s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/tv.guardian.ng\/2025\/07\/ADfCtTvJ-dd-3.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Abiodun Ogundairo","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Abiodun Ogundairo","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/cameroon-what-keeps-92-year-old-president-biya-in-power\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/cameroon-what-keeps-92-year-old-president-biya-in-power\/"},"author":{"name":"Abiodun Ogundairo","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#\/schema\/person\/a7ea396ab9bae73d4845496dbad885f1"},"headline":"Cameroon: What keeps 92-year-old President Biya in power?","datePublished":"2025-07-29T11:16:26+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/cameroon-what-keeps-92-year-old-president-biya-in-power\/"},"wordCount":46,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/cameroon-what-keeps-92-year-old-president-biya-in-power\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\/2025\/07\/ADfCtTvJ-dd-3.jpg","keywords":["Cameroon","power","President Biya"],"articleSection":["Africa"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/cameroon-what-keeps-92-year-old-president-biya-in-power\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/cameroon-what-keeps-92-year-old-president-biya-in-power\/","url":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/cameroon-what-keeps-92-year-old-president-biya-in-power\/","name":"Cameroon: What keeps 92-year-old President Biya in power? - GuardianTV","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/cameroon-what-keeps-92-year-old-president-biya-in-power\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/cameroon-what-keeps-92-year-old-president-biya-in-power\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\/2025\/07\/ADfCtTvJ-dd-3.jpg","datePublished":"2025-07-29T11:16:26+00:00","description":"At 92, Paul Biya is already the oldest head of state in the world. He wants to be re-elected in October. The power apparatus is kept stable through harshness and fear of losing privileges.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/cameroon-what-keeps-92-year-old-president-biya-in-power\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/cameroon-what-keeps-92-year-old-president-biya-in-power\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/cameroon-what-keeps-92-year-old-president-biya-in-power\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\/2025\/07\/ADfCtTvJ-dd-3.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\/2025\/07\/ADfCtTvJ-dd-3.jpg","width":1600,"height":700,"caption":"Cameroon: What keeps 92-year-old President Biya in power?"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/cameroon-what-keeps-92-year-old-president-biya-in-power\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Cameroon: What keeps 92-year-old President Biya in power?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#website","url":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/","name":"GuardianTV","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#organization","name":"GuardianTV","url":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\/2026\/09\/5SUudJ8m-oZUN2RNk-Logo-white.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\/2026\/09\/5SUudJ8m-oZUN2RNk-Logo-white.png","width":600,"height":96,"caption":"GuardianTV"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#\/schema\/person\/a7ea396ab9bae73d4845496dbad885f1","name":"Abiodun Ogundairo","url":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/author\/abiodun\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89207"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89207\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89209,"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89207\/revisions\/89209"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}