Political Career
A native of Oyo, he belongs to the Mbochi tribe. He is also a cousin of Congolese President Denis Sassou Nguesso. After completing high school, he moved to Brazzaville in 1963 to pursue physical education studies. He quickly earned his certificate and began teaching physical education in Brazzaville.
To avoid being recruited into the army like many of his peers at that time, he moved back up north in 1965 and settled in Impfondo where he continued to teach physical education. Upon his return to Brazzaville in 1969, he immediately joined the Congolese Labour Party (Parti Congolais du Travail, PCT), newly founded by Captain Marien Ngouabi. The following year he was appointed as Chief of District at Abala in the Plateaux department. His remarkable public speaking skills enabled him to quickly rise through the party's ranks. In 1979 he was elected leader of the Union of the Congolese Socialist Youth (Union de la Jeunesse Socialiste Congolaise, UJSC), the youth wing of the PCT. That same year, Oba-Apounou was admitted to the PCT Central Committee, and appointed to the cabinet as Minister of Youth ; his ministerial portfolio was expanded to include Sport in 1984. He was dismissed from the cabinet in December 1985, but he remained on the Secretariat of the PCT Central Committee. He was admitted to the PCT Political Bureau (where he was assigned responsibility for the youth) in 1989, in addition to serving as Secretary of the PCT Central Committee in charge of the Youth. On 13 August 1989, he was appointed to the government as Minister of State for the Youth and Rural Development, holding that post until 1991.
After Pascal Lissouba defeated Sassou-Nguesso in the 1992 presidential elections, Oba-Apounou remained neutral for much of the 90's. But out of loyalty to Sassou Nguesso, he did not work for the Lissouba administration. He was later rewarded for his loyalty. In 1998, just months after Sassou-Nguesso's return to power at the end of a brief but bloody civil war, Oba-Apounou was appointed as President of the Defense & Security Commission in the National Council of the Transition (Conseil National de Transition or CNT - the country's legislature from 1998 to 2002). In 2001, he was elected as President of the PCT for the City of Brazzaville and began preparing for the 2002 presidential election, which Sassou Nguesso easily won. In the May 2002 parliamentary election, Oba-Apounou was elected to the National Assembly as the PCT candidate in the Abala constituency of Plateaux Region; he won the seat in the first round, receiving 73.63% of the vote. Rumors predicted that he would become the next Mayor of Brazzaville, but he was instead elected as First Vice-President of the National Assembly on August 10, 2002. Oba-Apounou was also assigned responsibility for the National Assembly's relations with the African Parliamentary Assembly on August 23, 2002.
Oba-Apounou served as First Vice-President of the National Assembly until 2007. He ran again in the 2007 parliamentary election as the PCT candidate in Abala, facing Minister of Higher Education Henri Ossébi and an independent candidate, Joseph Mbossa. Oba-Apounou placed first in the first round, receiving 40.21% of the vote against 32.55% for Ossébi, and he therefore faced Ossébi in a second round. He was defeated by Ossébi in the second round.
In February 2008 he was elected as President of the departmental coordination of the Rally of the Presidential Majority (RMP)—the coalition supporting Sassou Nguesso—in Brazzaville. He held that post at the time of the June 2008 local elections. Oba-Apounou was elected as a Senator for Plateaux Departement as an RMP candidate in the August 2008 Senate election, receiving 59 out of 61 possible votes. He was then elected as President of the Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Committee in the Senate on August 29, 2008.
Due to his years as the leader of the UJSC, Oba-Apounou remains a very popular figure. Known as "Ya Gaby" ("Ya" meaning elder), many remember him coming to the rescue of college students who did not get their student stipends on time. He was also responsible for granting scholarships to thousands of students and sending them overseas to study.
Read more about this topic: Gabriel Oba-Apounou
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