₦airaland Forum

40+ years in power? What's the first word that comes to mind when you see leaders like Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo (43 years) and Paul Biya (43 years) on this list?
Looking at the backgrounds, mostly military or militia, do you think a long tenure is more common or easier to achieve when coming from a non-civilian background? Share your thoughts! 👇

TOP 5 LONGEST-SERVING AFRICAN LEADERS (As of 2025)

1 🇬🇶Teodoro Obiang N Mbasogo [83]— 43yrs [since Oct 1982]

2 🇨🇲Paul Biya [92] — 43yrs [since Nov 1982]

3 🇺🇬Yoweri Museveni [81] — 39yrs [since Jan 1986]

4 🇪🇷Isaias Afwerki [79] — 32rs [since May 1993]

5 🇷🇼Paul Kagame [68] — 25 yrs [since Apr 2000]

🇬🇶Mbasogo — Military background
🇨🇲Biya — Civilian background
🇺🇬Museveni — Military background
🇪🇷Afwerki — Militia background
🇷🇼Kigame — Military background



#Statisense

Black Africans really need God's intervention because this failure in leadership and refusal to leave after decades of failure seems to be a common natural deficiency

What of Helenius? Longest defender of bad governance.

And all of them will likely die while holding power

Tinubu should be 6 months. E don try

Tinubu is planning such for Nigeria but Peter Obi and atiku will pocket him come 2027

The worst thing is that if they are doing it well, it would be fine, but these are the greatest nepotists that you have on the continent.

franchasofficia:
Black Africans really need God's intervention because this failure in leadership and refusal to leave after decades of failure seems to be a common natural deficiency

What should God do?

.......

Seun add

Demetrix:
Tinubu is planning such for Nigeria but Peter Obi and atiku will pocket him come 2027

Delulu! Delulu! Delulu! Delulu! Delulu!

princeade86:
What of Helenius? Longest defender of bad governance.

Seriously, the guy just de irredeemable I pray that he'll not experience what those in insecured environment are experiencing before he repents.

Why omitting the name of the countries?

According to Donald Olawale Ibrahim Musa Trump PBUH SAW, they are all shithole countries and A BIG DISGRACE to the comity of Nations

Wow. These men are really lucky to be blessed with power and long life

Tinubu want to join them using one party system

All these use of flag to represent countries in stats like this is nonsense na, who knows the flags of some of these dead countries?

Kaa4:
The worst thing is that they are doing it well; it would be fine, but these are the greatest nepotists that you have on the continent.

No doing well excuse or not should make a person spend such time

Are they the one that created the country

By the time demise remove them, the country will be in chaos

TGreatGatsby from Nairaland:

"All dis APC loyals, if Tinubu who eloped during peace pact signing can say he wants to take power by force.
Their example of Baba’s prowess is Lagos wey dey use thugs worry everywhere in d name of IGR, MC Oluomo Chairman of Lagos Motor parks blah blah blah wey no get park for buses instead dem go dey chase motor every junction/pothole with “owo mi da”.

The latest one that pisses me of is that they even disturb you because you just bought something going your way. We bought kitchen fittings @ Orile dem rush us.

Person dey carry mattress on top keke dem block am.

This is Tinubu’s structure. IGR My foot, more like extortion."

https://www.nairaland.com/7473579/may-forced-defend-ourselves-attacks/1#119050646

This is Tinubu's plan, embarrassment awaits you Sir 📌💯

As expected, so I'm not surprised..

Please Mr Researcher, also research about the beat performing President/government in Africa, preferably west Africa...

Sit tight leaders, very stupid people

The funny thing about these leaders is that their people celebrated when they took power mostly through the military and their people felt they've been liberated from bad leadership. Imagine Colonel Damboya or whatever from Guinea, after 5 years as the military dictator, he's now contesting for election as president against his clear promise that he'll hand over to civilian leadership.

He went as far as suspending 2 major opposition political parties, next action will be the amend the constitution to enable him contest as many terms as he want

Mbasogo actually toppled the Head of state who was his uncle while he was head of the army and had him executed after declaring him mad.

franchasofficia:
Black Africans really need God's intervention because this failure in leadership and refusal to leave after decades of failure seems to be a common natural deficiency

The length of time is not neccesarily a manifestation of failure...it is what one does in office...that's the koko

Deng of china and LKY spent very long times in power, and left their countries better than they met them. Most African leaders on the other hand , whether they stay in power for very long or whether they do four to eight years and get out, are still bad, because many African countries have resources and have decieved themselves that all they need to do is to sell the resources and share the money, and they will be ok.

Resources whose prices they do not control, so when they run out of money, they can't raise the price to earn more money...so na loan dem go take


China and Singapore had limited resources, so whoever was running the country knows that brainpower surpasses selling resources...that's why they are industrial superpowers. If we followed them since independence, we would have been there too...but everyone wants to share money.

That's why I always say we never had good leaders in subsaharan africa, including Nigeria. It is not because of the whites, it's because we no dey use our resources to make stuff the world needs...like the chinese, japanese, etc.

Maybe they all admire Queen Elizabeth II who ruled UK for 71 years. And they rule like the Queen because they hardly do anything. They have prime ministers who do everything.

DrMB:
40+ years in power? What's the first word that comes to mind when you see leaders like Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo (43 years) and Paul Biya (43 years) on this list?
Looking at the backgrounds, mostly military or militia, do you think a long tenure is more common or easier to achieve when coming from a non-civilian background? Share your thoughts! 👇

Is it difficult to place their countries beside the names?

doncartel:
Maybe they all admire Queen Elizabeth II who ruled UK for 71 years. And they rule like the Queen because they hardly do anything. They have prime ministers who do everything.

British monarchs don't have absolute powers compared to African leaders. You can criticse the queen or king of england, or even hit them on the head (happened to the current king self when he was a prince) and you won't get arrested.

Power is in the hand of a prime minister

Also uk better pass many African countries because they don't have enough resources to be selling like we do...so they had to rely on innovation and scientific development, which is why they got strong enough to beat us and colonize us.

African leaders sit tight and share money, because they think that resources will be there forever. That;s not how to develop.

Demetrix:
Tinubu is planning such for Nigeria but Peter Obi and atiku will pocket him come 2027

Obedients will think something in their head and take it as facts.

They will all die there.

No be curse,

Na FACT.

1. Equatorial Guinea

2. Cameroon

3. Uganda

4. Eritrea

5. Rwanda

Demetrix:
Tinubu is planning such for Nigeria but Peter Obi and atiku will pocket him come 2027

Yen Yen Yen as usual,
Incoherent jargons......