Leon Thieller Onana says he ceases to be part of Biya’s regime
By Hope Nda & Emilien Ngeka
Leon Theiller Onana, a Councillor of the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement, CPDM, in Monatele, has resigned from the party in a televised statement released on Saturday, August 16.
His move comes just weeks after his bid to challenge the party’s Chairman, President Paul Biya’s candidacy, was rejected by Elections Cameroon and the Constitutional Council.
Onana, who recently became critical of Biya’s continued leadership of the CPDM despite his mandate expiration, denounced what he called an “absent state” that has betrayed the aspirations of ordinary Cameroonians.
He argued that Biya’s candidacy for the 2025 election was illegal, noting that the CPDM had not convened a congress to renew the 92-year-old’s mandate as Chairman — a prerequisite for his nomination as party flagbearer.
In his resignation speech, Onana said his decision was “an act of faith in the people” and a rejection of what he described as a masquerade where justice and democracy are manipulated to serve the ruling elite.
“I refuse to be complicit in this fraud where justice is handed down according to one’s social profile or political affiliation. I resign from the CPDM with immediate effect,” Onana stated.
The Councillor invoked the sacrifices of African independence icons such as Patrice Lumumba, Thomas Sankara, and Nelson Mandela, stressing that Cameroon’s present leadership had betrayed the values for which these figures fought.
He called on all 11 approved opposition candidates for the October presidential election to put aside personal ambitions and present a single candidate capable of challenging Biya’s four-decade rule.
“There are not three options, there are only two,” Onana said.
“Either you rally behind a single opposition candidate who will embody the hope of the people, or you collectively withdraw from this masquerade whose obvious outcome is the proclamation of Paul Biya’s victory.”
He accused the ruling establishment of using tribalism as a tool to divide Cameroonians, urging citizens to resist hatred and instead reclaim their dignity by being united.
The defection of Onana, a grassroots member of the ruling CPDM, is seen as a symbolic blow to the party’s image at a time when dissenting voices within its ranks are increasingly questioning Biya’s continued rule.
At 92, President Paul Biya, who has been in power since 1982, remains one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders.
He has lost significant support in the country’s vote-rich North, after two historical allies—Bello Bouba Maigari and Issa Tchiroma Bakary ended their long-time coalition with the ruling party and declared separate presidential bids against Biya.
Both Maigari and Tchiroma said they had lost faith in President Biya’s ability to steer the affairs of the nation, with Tchiroma asserting in an interview last month that Biya was no longer the one ruling Cameroon as he is too old to lead.
On the contrary, CPDM stalwarts continue to argue that Paul Biya is the only person capable of holding Cameroon together at a time when the country faces a secessionist conflict in the Anglophone regions, and a war against terrorism in the Far North.
Despite his dramatic exit from the CPDM, it remains unclear whether Leon Theiller Onana will join forces with an opposition party or attempt to form a new movement.
But his resignation adds to mounting internal and external pressure on Cameroon’s political system as the 2025 election closes in.