A wave of insults targeting President Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, his mother, and his wife has triggered a forceful response from Hugues Ongoundou. In a particularly stern statement, Ongoundou clarifies that his condemnation is not an endorsement of the current administration or its policies. He argues that attacking a mother and grandmother, who remain outside the political arena, or a public official’s spouse and parents, crosses a fundamental boundary that transcends the individuals involved. Decrying what he terms “verbal insalubrity” and the normalization of obscenity within Gabon’s public debate, Hugues Ongoundou insists on a clear distinction between legitimate criticism and outright vulgarity. He has also indicated his intention to explore legal avenues to address such conduct.
The vile remarks directed at the Head of State’s mother—a discreet woman and grandmother with no political involvement—alongside those aimed at his wife and the President himself, are profoundly serious. I must confess: these comments left me utterly astonished.
My concern here is not about politics. I am not defending a track record, an ideology, or any affiliation with those in power. I am addressing something far more fundamental: the very dignity, core values, and spirit of our Gabonese people.
More than three individuals are being insulted
When a mother and grandmother, who has no part in political contests, is dragged through the mud with offensive language simply because she is the Head of State’s mother, a critical boundary has been breached.
When a woman, a spouse and First Lady, becomes the target of obscene remarks, it is our collective societal standards that are under assault.
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 tarnished.
It is the very image of our nation that is being damaged.
Our values are eroding.
Ultimately, it represents a spiritual desertion of a people’s very essence.
And I choose my words carefully.
The symbol is greater than the persons
Within any nation, there are symbols that transcend individuals. The mother embodies transmission. The grandmother represents memory.
Women represent an essential component of family and society. The father also represents this chain of transmission connecting generations.
When these revered figures are publicly humiliated and turned into objects of political insults, a part of our moral heritage is being trampled.
It is the symbolic potency of our country that is being undermined.
Not in its trivial sense, but in what it signifies: strength, uprightness, symbolic authority, and a people’s capacity to stand tall.
These excesses signal a suffering national body
What has recently transpired must not be dismissed as a mere misstep on social media.
These deviations, in my view, are symptoms of a national body that is ailing, suffering, and adrift. They reveal a gradual weakening of certain moral compasses.
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 crucial instruction seems to have vanished.
This signifies the misfortune of virtue and the prosperity of vice.
We are witnessing a disturbing reversal: the one who hurls insults sometimes becomes a celebrity, the one who humiliates gains popularity, the one who provokes receives more attention than the one who builds.
And when insults become a spectacle, when they become entertainment, when they become a media commodity, virtue itself eventually gets relegated.
Every laugh, every trivialization makes us collectively responsible
I will go further.
Every Gabonese citizen who finds humor in such abhorrent statements, shares them for amusement, or contributes to their dissemination, participates—whether intentionally or not—in their normalization.
Every citizen who accepts the transformation of political debate into an insult competition contributes to the weakening of our societal benchmarks. And each time we elevate insult to celebrity status, canonize the instigator, or promote them simply because they create noise, we participate in the slow destruction of what should unite us.
We are all accountable when insults become entertainment. We are all accountable when they become a deliberate act.
We are all accountable when those who insult become the most listened to. I am not here to curry favor, bowing down
I wish to be absolutely clear.
I am not here to flatter the government.
I am not seeking recognition.
I am not defending the Head of State against his political adversaries.
I am here to say STOP.
There is an urgent necessity to act against this verbal contamination that is progressively invading our public sphere.
And conversely, I wish to commend those Gabonese individuals who challenge the President and his policies without crossing these lines.
Responsible opposition exists.
Men and women who can acknowledge what is done well and denounce what is not.
Citizens capable of combating a policy with arguments, without insulting the mothers, fathers, wives, or children of those they oppose.
This is the essence of true democratic debate. Activism has nothing to do with vulgarity
Another misconception 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 dispute.
One can demonstrate.
One can challenge.
One can even be extremely harsh in criticism.
But obscene insults targeting a mother or a woman are 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 statement.
I have a father. I have a mother.
And being their son connects me to an education, a history, a responsibility.
I understand the respect owed to those who gave us life.
I know what a mother represents.
I know 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 public humiliation of parents becomes a spectacle.
I will assume my share of responsibility
In response to this situation, I will therefore assume my share of responsibility.
I will consult with legal counsel to examine existing legal avenues and the potential judicial consequences for 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 desire that we 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 pattern.
A nation is not destroyed solely by economic or political crises.
It can also be destroyed by the gradual collapse of its moral foundations.
When insults become 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 destroy values become society’s role models, state decline begins with a moral decline.
I refuse to accept this fate.
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 do not ask anyone to love the President of the Republic.
I do not ask anyone to approve of his policies.
I simply ask that we remain capable of respecting ourselves.
Because, ultimately, when we insult another’s mother, we also insult the idea we hold of our own mother.
And when a people no longer protects 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