Profile picture
Mr. Kinuthia Pius. @Belive_Kinuthia
, 22 tweets, 4 min read Read on Twitter
This is Eyadema.The former power hungry Togo dictatorial president of Togo who died in 2005.
On January 13, 1967, Lt. Col. Etienne Eyadema (later Gen. Gnassingbe Eyadema) ousted President Grunitzky in a bloodless military coup. Political parties were banned, and all constitutional processes were suspended immediately.
The committee of national reconciliation ruled the country until April 14, when Eyadema assumed the presidency.
In late 1969,a single national political party, the Rally of the Togolese People (RPT), was created, and President Eyadema was elected party president on November 29, 1969. In 1972,a national referendum,in which Eyadema ran unopposed,confirmed his role as the country's president.
In late 1979, Eyadema declared a third republic and a transition to greater civilian rule with a mixed civilian and military cabinet. He garnered 99.97% of the vote in uncontested presidential elections held in late 1979 and early 1980.
A new constitution also provided for a national assemblyto serve primarily as a consultative body. On September 23, 1986, a group of some 70 armed Togolese dissidents crossed into Lome from Ghana in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the Eyadema government.
However, this failed and in December Eyadema was reelected to a third consecutive 7-year term with 99.5% of the vote in an uncontested election.
During his rule he escaped several assassination attempts; in 1974 he survived a plane crash in the northern part of the country near Sarakawa.
Eyadéma had an extensive personality cult,including an entourage of 1,000 women who sang and danced in praise of him; portraits which adorned most stores; a bronze statue in the capital city, Lomé; $20 wristwatches with his portrait, which disappeared and re-appeared ever 15 sec.
In addition, the date of a failed attempt on President Eyadéma's life was annually commemorated as "the Feast of Victory Over Forces of Evil."
Eyadéma even changed his first name from Étienne to Gnassingbé to note the date of the 1974 plane crash of which he was claimed to be the only survivor.
Eyadéma’s long rule however brought a measure of stability to Togo, and his nationalization of the country’s phosphate industry in 1974 produced increased state revenues for development.
His rule was repressive.It was characterised with Extravagant dinners with Dom Pérignon and caviar, rampant corruption, political assassinations, a starving populace.
His fierce violence against any and all opposition made him an uncontested ruler until 1993 when multiparty elections were introduced in Togo. No matter — Eyadema still won a reported 96% of the vote and continued his iron-fisted control of the government.
There had been several attempted efforts on his life. They all failed and as a result the word was that he never slept in the same place two nights in a row. That he had always had a different place to sleep.
The president had structured the military so that it was totally loyal to him. The top people in the military were all of his ethnic group. They were not of the majority Ewe ethnic group. All of the top dogs in the military were his people.
On February 5, 2005, he died onboard a plane 250 km south of Tunis, Tunisia.
He died "as he was being evacuated for emergency treatment abroad", according to a government statement. Officials have stated that the cause of death was a heart attack. At the time of his death he was the longest-serving head of state in Africa.
Zakary Nandja, chief of the Togolese army, pronounced Eyadéma's son Faure Gnassingbéas the new President of Togo. Alpha Oumar Konaré, president of the Commission of the African Union, immediately declared this act to be a military coup d'état and against the constitution.
Other organizations, such as the International Community and ECOWAS, also did not approve the designation of Faure Gnassingbé as President
Under heavy pressure from ECOWAS and the international community, Faure Gnassingbé stepped down and was replaced by the first deputy parliament speaker, until after the presidential elections on April 24, 2005, when Faure Gnassingbé was elected president with 60% of the vote
Missing some Tweet in this thread?
You can try to force a refresh.

Like this thread? Get email updates or save it to PDF!

Subscribe to Mr. Kinuthia Pius.
Profile picture

Get real-time email alerts when new unrolls are available from this author!

This content may be removed anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime, convert it as a PDF, save and print for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video

1) Follow Thread Reader App on Twitter so you can easily mention us!

2) Go to a Twitter thread (series of Tweets by the same owner) and mention us with a keyword "unroll" @threadreaderapp unroll

You can practice here first or read more on our help page!

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just three indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member and get exclusive features!

Premium member ($30.00/year)

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!