The much-anticipated shaving of journalist Souley Onohiolo, dubbed Operation “Drop the Beard”, will finally take place after an eight-month wait for a government reshuffle that never came.

Onohiolo had vowed not to shave until President Paul Biya, who was re-elected on 12 October 2026, changed the cabinet that has been in office since 2019. Eight months later, with no reshuffle in sight, an organising committee has set the date for the ceremonial removal of his beard.

“The President of the Organising Committee for the ‘Big Souley ONOHIOLO Shave’ project informs the national and international press that on Friday 3 July 2026 at 12:00, the official ‘Drop the Beard’ ceremony of Souley ONOHIOLO, Emeritus Journalist, Senior Reporter and Editorialist, will take place at the BOTANIK’S Beauty Centre,” located in the Essos neighbourhood of Yaoundé, the committee announced in a statement.

The committee added that the event will be held “under the High Patronage and General Supervision of Dieudonné Mveng Balla, Promoter of the Info TV channel.”

Described as “a singular and unprecedented event that will bring together the cream of the media from Cameroun and around the world,” the ceremony will celebrate a man whose quiet personal rebellion spanned eight months of sustained hair growth—a dense beard and untrimmed head—transforming into a republican struggle.

Ultimately, Onohiolo has resigned himself to shaving after maintaining his pledge for eight months without any prospect of a government reshuffle. It is out of sheer exhaustion that the journalist will finally part with his hair.

“Better still, a symbol of resistance, a mark of civic engagement and a firm determination to impact society—to move the lines. That is the story that the 3 July ceremony will conclude, in the presence of the press and under the gaze of all those who followed, from near or far, this singular epic,” the committee added.