TheCable

President Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea is set to extend his stay in office to 43 years.

On Tuesday, Nguema, who is Africa’s longest serving ruler, declared that he would be running for another term according to the “will of the people” and the mandate of the ruling party.

The announcement was made at the opening of the third extraordinary congress of the Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea (PDGE).

In 1976, he staged a coup against Francisco Macias Nguema, his uncle, and has led the oil-rich country on both military and civilian platforms since then.

He went on to place his uncle on trial for what was termed “the genocide of the Bubi people”, after which he was sentenced to death and executed by a firing squad.

Nguema returned the country to civilian rule in 1982, where he alone contested for president and won a-seven-year term.

His term was renewed in 1989, 1992, 1996, 2002, 2009, and now would be running again in 2016 with a seven year term in view.

The longest serving leaders in Africa, following in Nguema’s trail, are Jose Eduardo dos Santos of Angola and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.

Mugabe is the only living African leader to have remained in power since his country’s independence.

Zimbabwe gained freedom in 1980.