2025 Presidentials: Crises tearing CPDM apart months to showdown

The Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement party, CPDM, has been hit in the last weeks by a series of infightings between several of its hotshots. The increasing crises which many believe have been partly provoked by the recent appointment of new Central Committee members in the party, leave observers questioning the ruling party’s strength as it readies for the highly-anticipated showdown in the 2025 presidential election.

Since the start of the year, opposition political parties and movements in Cameroon have strategizing and galvanizing support in a build up to the forthcoming 2025 presidential election. Opposition parties and political movements, including the notorious Social Democratic Front, the SDF, have been organizing congresses and preparing rallies in preparation for what many believe could be one of the most dramatic presidential elections in Cameroon’s history.  

In the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement party, the CPDM, a lot has also been happening as the party and the Paul Biya-led regime look to extend its over 40-year stay in power. But unlike what has been obtaining in most opposition parties and movements, things have not been completely smooth for the Biya-coordinated team. The party has been hit in the last months and weeks by a series of infightings between several of its bigwigs.

The increasing crises which many believe have been partly provoked by the recent appointment of new Central Committee members in the party, leave observers questioning the ruling party’s strength as it readies for the highly-anticipated showdown in the 2025 presidential election. The crisis is punctuated among others by disputes over the leadership at some divisional and regional levels following the Central Committee appointment.

It also driven by some of the party’s hotshots at the grassroot levels to question Biya’s legitimacy as the party’s leader and candidate in the upcoming presidential election.

Boukar Abdourahim versus Fame Ndongo

One of the most recent of the battles is that between the Director of Cabinet of the Speaker of the National Assembly, Hon Cavayé Yeguié Djibril, Boukar Abdourahim and the national communication secretary of the CPDM party, Prof Jacques Fame Ndongo. A planned mega rally that was set to hold in Maroua, in the Far North Region intended to demonstrate support for President Paul Biya’s candidacy in the upcoming presidential election, received a strong rebuke from the party’s hierarchy, resultantly sparking controversy.

The event which was announced by Boukar Abdourahim, was scheduled for Saturday, May 10, 2025, at the Maroua ceremonial ground. It was expected to bring together an estimated total of 100,000 young people from the six divisions and 47 subdivisions of the Far North Region, according to the project’s initiator and lead, Boukar Abdourahim. Boukar Abdourahim enjoys a significant influence as the Director of Cabinet of the Speaker of the National Assembly and has been instrumental in various initiatives within the National Assembly.  

His declaration announcing the mega rally stated that the event was to be organized under the high patronage of the Speaker of the National Assembly who is the Permanent Regional Head of Delegation of the CPDM Central Committee for the Far North Region. Despite his status, the CPDM party swiftly distanced itself from the initiative of the mega rally. 

CPDM Communication secretary, Prof Fame Ndongo issued a statement on April 11, 2025 stating that the planned rally had not been approved by the party’s regional bodies nor the Central Committee’s high authorities. The CPDM’s statement emphasized that any political mobilization carried out in its name must strictly adhere to established institutional channels and undergo prior validation by the appropriate party officials.

“We have noted with great concern the circulation of a press release announcing the organization in the Far North Region of an activity called ‘Far North 100,000 Young People united behind President Paul Biya in 2025’, on the initiative of a certain El Boukar Abdourahim,” Prof Fame Ndongo partly stated in the statement.

 The party, through the communication chief, formally requested that House Speaker’s Director of Cabinet to immediately suspend the initiative, deeming it outside of his authority and in violation of the party’s fundamental operating principles. “The Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement, CPDM, wishes to inform the public that this initiative has in no way been approved either by the competent organs of the Party at regional level, or by the highest authorities of the Central Committee.  

The CPDM reiterates, with the utmost clarity, that any political mobilization undertaken in its name must rigorously respect established institutional channels and be subject to prior validation by the competent Party executives,” Prof Fame Ndongo added.  The CPDM further reaffirmed its commitment to discipline, hierarchy, and strict adherence to the regulations governing its actions, stating that no deviation from these principles would be tolerated.  

“As a consequence, Boukar Abdourahim is formally requested to immediately halt the said initiative, which in no way falls within his competence, and whose continuation would contravene the fundamental principles of the functioning of the Party.  The CPDM reaffirms its attachment to discipline, hierarchy and scrupulous respect for the texts that govern its action. No departure from these principles will be tolerated,” the CPDM party’s communication secretary further stated.  

The future of the planned rally in Maroua remains uncertain following the public denouncement. The controversy surrounding the planned mega rally raises questions about the organizational structure of support for President Biya ahead of the presidential election and the potential for unauthorized activities to undermine the party’s official strategy.

Joseph Le versus Michel Ange Angouing

Another of the multiple fights that is tearing apart the CPDM is that between the party’s leaders in the East Region; Minister Joseph Le and former minister, Michel Ange Angouing. In a letter addressed to the Minister of Public Service and Administrative Reforms, Joseph Le, Michel Ange Angouing told Minister Le to sideline him from the CPDM permanent divisional delegation for the Upper Nyong Division of the East Region.

The former Minister of Public Service and Administrative Reforms who was replaced in the position in 2018 by Minister Le, stated in the letter that he decided not to attend the event so as not to disrupt the activities of the current minister. The decision is believed to have been sparked by the recent appointment of Minister Joseph Le as the head of the CPDM for the East Region which many believe touched old wounds and reactivated long-standing rivals within the party at the level of the East Region. “So as not to embarrass you, I would ask you to remove me from the CPDM permanent division delegation for Upper Nyong.

This will undoubtedly prevent you from ‘forgetting’ your twin brother in your sovereign decisions.  I remain a citizen who respects the institutions of the Republic and those who embody them,” Minister Ange Angouing said. “Your job is to prevent your decisions from embarrassing or dividing people.  Who better than you, the new political leader of the greater Eastern region, knows that the CPDM is a party that brings people together? I am very wary of sleeve tricks and crowd movements,” he added.

Enter Dr Taiga

There has also been a controversy arising from the appointment of the Minister Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries, Dr Taiga into the CPDM Central Committee and as one of the party’s leaders in the Far North Region.  According to reports which The National Post has not been able to independently verify and confirm, CPDM bigwigs and militants in the Far North Region are disputing his appointment as the party’s head for the Mayo Kani Division of the Far North Region. Sources say the member of government is seen as a lightweight that lacks what it takes to hold such a prestigious post within the party.

CPDM councilor on Biya’s throat

The ongoing battles among bigwigs comes to add to another long-running internal issue that has been giving the CPDM headache in the last couple of months. Since the start of the year, a CPDM municipal councilor for Monatele in the Lekie Division of the Centre Region. Leon Theiller Onana sued Biya for what he blamed on the president’s failure to respect the party’s texts by failing to organize a congress before the forthcoming presidential election.

Onana have repeatedly stated that the lapses which has seen the CPDM failing to organize an ordinary congress since its 2011 gathering in Yaounde, leaves the party at the risk of getting targeted by opposition parties and other institutions.