A wave of offensive remarks directed at President Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, his mother, and his wife has drawn a sharp rebuke from Hugues Ongoundou. In a particularly strong statement, Ongoundou clarified that his condemnation is not an endorsement of the government or its policies. He stressed that targeting a mother and grandmother, who are far removed from political life, or the spouse and parents of a public official, crosses a fundamental line that extends beyond the individuals themselves. Denouncing what he termed “verbal insalubrity” and the normalization of obscenity in Gabonese public debate, Hugues Ongoundou called for a clear distinction between legitimate criticism and vulgarity, announcing his intention to explore legal avenues to address these transgressions.
The insults leveled against the Head of State’s mother—a discreet woman with no political involvement—alongside those targeting his wife and the President himself, represent an extreme gravity. I must confess, these statements left me utterly stunned.
My focus here is not on politics. I am not here to defend a record, an ideology, or any affiliation with the current administration. I am addressing something far more profound: the fundamental dignity, values, and very soul of our nation.
More than just three individuals are being insulted
When a mother and grandmother, detached from political contests, is dragged through the mud with vile remarks simply because she is the Head of State’s mother, a critical boundary has been breached.
When a woman, a wife and First Lady, becomes a target of obscene comments, it is our collective moral compass that is under assault.
It is no longer solely 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 country that suffers.
It is our values that are eroding.
Ultimately, it signifies a spiritual desertion, a loss of the very essence of a people.
And I choose my words carefully.
The symbol transcends the individuals
Within any nation, certain symbols rise above individuals. The mother embodies transmission. The grandmother represents memory.
The woman constitutes an essential part of family and society. The father likewise represents this chain of transmission linking generations.
When these figures are publicly humiliated and reduced to objects of political insults, a part of our moral heritage is trampled upon.
It is the symbolic backbone of our country that is being shattered.
Not in its trivial sense, but in what it represents: power, uprightness, symbolic authority, and a people’s capacity to stand tall.
These excesses are symptoms of a suffering national body
What has transpired should not be dismissed as a mere misstep on social media.
These excesses are, in my view, symptoms of a national body that is unwell, suffering, and adrift. They bear witness to a gradual weakening of certain moral benchmarks.
There was a time when patriotism, respect for elders, consideration for parents, and a sense of honor were integral to civic education and transmission.
Today, a portion of this teaching appears to have vanished.
This is the misfortune of virtue and the prosperity of vice.
We are witnessing a disturbing reversal: the one who 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 insult becomes a spectacle, when it transforms into entertainment, when it becomes a media commodity, it is virtue itself that ends up being relegated.
Every laugh, every normalization makes us collectively responsible
I will go further.
Every Gabonese who laughs at such vile remarks, shares them for amusement, or contributes to their dissemination, participates, knowingly or not, in their normalization.
Every citizen who accepts that political debate devolves into an insult contest contributes to the weakening of our societal standards. And each time we elevate insult to celebrity status, canonize the insulter, or promote them 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 demand.
We are all responsible when those who insult become the most listened to. I am not here to curry favor, bowing down
I want to be unequivocally clear.
I am not here to flatter the authorities.
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 degradation that is steadily encroaching upon our public sphere.
And conversely, I wish to commend those Gabonese who challenge the President and his policies without crossing these unacceptable lines.
Responsible opposition exists.
Men and women who can acknowledge what is well done 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 implies civic responsibility.
One can denounce.
One can investigate.
One can contest.
One can demonstrate.
One can challenge.
One can even be extremely harsh in criticism.
But an obscene insult targeting a mother or a woman is neither an argument, nor a sign 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 upbringing, a history, a responsibility.
I understand the respect due 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 engage with legal counsel to examine existing legal avenues and potential judicial actions that could be taken regarding 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. As a citizen. As a son.
I want things to be crystal clear: my objective is not to silence political criticism.
Quite the opposite.
I desire for us to rediscover a political debate where intelligence, constructive disagreement, and responsibility gradually replace insult, obscenity, and humiliation.
We must choose between virtue and the normalization of vice
Gabon cannot sustainably settle into this destructive pattern.
A nation is not solely destroyed by economic or political crises.
It can also be destroyed by the gradual collapse of its moral foundations.
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, the state’s downfall begins with a moral collapse.
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 am not asking anyone to love the President of the Republic.
I am not asking anyone to approve of his policies.
I am simply asking that we remain capable of respecting ourselves.
Because, fundamentally, 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
