Recent verbal assaults targeting President Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, his venerable mother, and his esteemed spouse have provoked a strong rebuke from Hugues Ongoundou. In a particularly resolute statement, Ongoundou clarifies that his stance is not an endorsement of the current administration or its policies. For him, the act of targeting a mother and grandmother, who remains outside the political arena, an spouse, or the parents of a public figure, represents a critical boundary crossed—a transgression that extends beyond the individuals directly affected. Denouncing what he terms “verbal insalubrity” and the normalization of obscenity within Gabon’s public debate, Hugues Ongoundou advocates for a clear distinction between legitimate criticism and outright vulgarity. He also announced his intention to explore legal avenues to address these egregious comments.
The insults directed at the Head of State’s mother—a discreet woman, a mother and grandmother with an unblemished reputation, far removed from political struggles—as well as those aimed at his wife and the President himself, are profoundly serious. I must confess: these remarks left me utterly stunned.
My argument here is not political. I am not here to defend a record, an ideology, or any affiliation with those in power. I am addressing something far more fundamental: the dignity, core values, and the very spirit of our nation.
It’s not just three people being insulted
When a mother and grandmother, a stranger to political sparring, is dragged through the mud with vile language simply because she is the Head of State’s mother, a fundamental line has been breached.
When a woman, a wife and First Lady, is similarly targeted by obscene comments, it is our collective societal benchmarks that come under attack.
It is no longer just the Head of State, his mother, and his wife who are being insulted.
Symbolically, it is all our grandmothers, all our mothers, all our women, all our sisters, and all our daughters who are being debased.
It is the very image of our country that is tarnished.
It is our values that are eroding.
Ultimately, it represents a spiritual desertion of a people’s very essence.
And I choose my words carefully.
The symbol transcends the individuals
Within any nation, certain symbols transcend individual personalities. The mother embodies transmission. The grandmother represents memory.
The woman constitutes an essential part of family and society. The father, too, represents this chain of transmission connecting generations.
When these foundational figures are publicly humiliated and reduced to objects of political insult, a part of our moral heritage is trampled underfoot.
It is the symbolic backbone of our country that is being undermined.
Not in its trivial sense, but in what it signifies: power, uprightness, symbolic authority, and a people’s capacity to stand tall.
These excesses signal a suffering national body
What has recently transpired should not be dismissed as a mere lapse on social media.
These excesses are, in my view, symptoms of a national body that is ailing, suffering, and adrift. They bear witness to a progressive weakening of certain moral compass points.
There was a time when patriotism, respect for elders, consideration for parents, and a sense of honor were integral to civic education and intergenerational transmission.
Today, a portion of that vital instruction appears to have vanished.
This is the misfortune of virtue and the prosperity of vice.
We are witnessing a disturbing inversion: the one who insults sometimes becomes a celebrity, the one who humiliates gains popularity, the provocateur attracts more attention than the builder.
And when insult transforms into spectacle, when it becomes entertainment, when it turns into media merchandise, virtue itself is ultimately relegated.
Every laugh, every normalization makes us collectively responsible
I go further.
Every Gabonese citizen who laughs at such abhorrent remarks, shares them for amusement, or contributes to their dissemination, participates, knowingly or unknowingly, in their normalization.
Every citizen who accepts that political debate devolves into an insult contest contributes to the erosion of our shared values. And each time we elevate insult to celebrity status, canonize the aggressor, or promote them simply because they create noise, we participate in the slow destruction of what should unite us.
We are all responsible when insult becomes entertainment. We are all responsible when it becomes a commissioned act.
We are all responsible when those who insult become the most listened-to voices. I am not here to curry favor, prostrate myself
I want to be unequivocally clear.
I am not here to ingratiate myself with those in power.
I am not seeking recognition.
I am not here to defend the Head of State against his political adversaries.
I am here to say STOP.
There is an urgent necessity to act against this verbal degradation that is progressively invading our public sphere.
And conversely, I wish to commend those Gabonese who challenge the President and his policies without crossing these fundamental lines.
Responsible opposition exists.
Men and women who know how to acknowledge what is done well and denounce what is not.
Citizens capable of challenging a policy with arguments, without insulting the mothers, fathers, wives, or children of those they oppose.
That is the essence of true democratic debate. Activism has nothing to do with vulgarity
Another confusion must also be dispelled. Being an activist does not grant unlimited rights.
Being an opponent does not mean one can say anything. Being free does not equate to being irresponsible.
Activism is a form of civic engagement. It therefore presupposes civic responsibility.
One can denounce.
One can investigate.
One can challenge.
One can demonstrate.
One can question.
One can even be extremely harsh in criticism.
But an obscene insult targeting a mother or a woman is neither an argument, nor a display of courage, nor a demonstration of patriotism.
I have a father. I have a mother. And I am their son.
This sentence is perhaps the simplest in this entire address.
I have a father. I have a mother.
And the fact of being their son connects me to an upbringing, a history, a responsibility.
I understand the respect owed to those who gave us life.
I understand what a mother represents.
I understand what a father represents.
It is precisely this upbringing that compels me today to reject the normalization of this media monstrosity.
I cannot ask my children to respect their parents tomorrow if, today, I accept that the humiliation of parents becomes a public spectacle.
I will take my share of responsibility
Faced with this situation, I will therefore assume my share of responsibility.
I will consult with legal counsel to examine existing legal avenues and the judicial actions that could be taken in response to such remarks.
This initiative will be strictly personal.
I do not claim to speak on behalf of the Head of State, his family, his entourage, or any institution.
I speak in my own name.
As a Gabonese citizen. As a citizen. As a son.
I want things to be clear: my objective is not to silence political criticism.
On the contrary.
I wish for us to reclaim a political debate where intelligence, constructive disagreement, and responsibility progressively replace insult, obscenity, and humiliation.
We must choose between virtue and the normalization of vice
Gabon cannot sustainably settle into this destructive logic.
A nation is not destroyed solely by economic or political crises.
It can also be destroyed by the progressive collapse of its moral benchmarks.
When insult becomes normal, verbal violence becomes acceptable.
When verbal violence becomes acceptable, humiliation becomes a spectacle.
When humiliation becomes a spectacle, those who produce it become celebrities.
And when those who dismantle values become society’s role models, state decline begins with moral decline.
I refuse this inevitability.
I refuse for our mothers to become targets.
I refuse for our women to be used as instruments of political humiliation.
I refuse for our fathers to be insulted because their children hold positions of responsibility.
I refuse for our children to grow up in a society where vulgarity is rewarded more than virtue.
Enough is enough.
I ask no one to love the President of the Republic.
I ask no one to approve his policies.
I simply ask that we still be capable of respecting ourselves.
Because, ultimately, when we insult the mother of another, we also insult the idea we hold of our own mother.
And when a people no longer safeguards its own values, it begins to lose its soul.
It is now up to each individual to take responsibility.
As for me, I have chosen to take mine.
Hugues Ongoundou
