Even though, I was not very convinced, I nevertheless
respected his point of view. I did meet Anani Bindji Rabier again on the 9th
of October 2015 and still in the office of Mr Auriol Lonkio Tchatchouang and I
questioned him again about what he knew on the death of Marien Ngouabi. He
replied in French: “Denis Sassou Nguesso a pour profession, tuer” or in
English: “Denis Sassou Nguesso has as profession, assassin”. And he told me
that, there are three people who are still alive in Brazzaville who know pretty
well that, Denis Sassou Nguesso is responsible for the assassination of Marien
Ngouabi. He claimed the three people were Eyabo Gaston, Ekoudji Akala and
Martin Mberi. But he added that, they were too afraid to express themselves on
the issue because, it would amount to their death warrants. Then after a while, he proposed that, I should
accompany him to his house located across the city of Douala, in a neighborhood
called Bonaberi. When we arrived at his sumptuous home, he showed me around his
living room that looks more like a museum than a normal house. The walls of his house are full of pictures
that he has taken with leaders around the world that he has met and interviewed.
They ranged from Nelson Mandela of South Africa to
Pinto Dacosta of Sao Tome and Principe, William Tolbert of Liberia to Prince
Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia. He also has a well framed picture of the death
body of Ruben Um Nyobe. Ruben Um Nyobe was the leader of the UPC or Union of
the Population of Cameroon, the framed picture on the wall of Anani’s home shows
Ruben Um Nyobe lifeless body laid on a matt at the Esseka mortuary. The date
was 13th September 1958. And under the picture of Um Nyobe are
flowers and a burning candle in memory of the nationalist leader of
French-speaking Cameroon. Anani Bindji Rabier told me that day, which was the 9th
of October 2015, that, he was perhaps the only journalist on earth or the last
person to have met two presidents who were violently assassinated. They are
William Tolbert of Liberia and Marien Ngouabi of the Republic of Congo. At that
time, it was called the People’s Republic of Congo. On this day, perhaps he
thought, I doubted his claims about what he knew on Marien Ngouabi’s death.
Hence, he went and brought the book that he has written. It was already typed,
but had several corrections and annotations. It was in titled: “Nouvelle Affair Africaine”.
Before reading the part on Congo, we first went into
his dining room, sat on the table and eat rice with fish sauce accompanied with
a bottle of Medoc French wine. While eating, I told him that, I have read three
books related to Denis Sassou Nguesso. But I gave him the names of two books on
Denis Sassou Nguesso that I have read were: Denis Sassou Nguesso: Le Manguier,
le Fleuve et la Souris and Un homme d’honneur: le destin exceptionnel d’un
enfant de la brousse by AndrĂ© Soussan. He smiled and said: “the first was his
campaign programme of 1997 that he used to criticize the rule of Pascal
Lissouba. But ironically, they are the same vices of Lissouba that he is currently
applying in Congo. He told me. And
concerning the second, which was a biography of President Denis Sassou Nguesso,
he told me that, it was full of lies. And he came back to the first book, when I
told him that, in it, Denis Sassou Nguesso said, he never wanted to succeed
Marien Ngouabi after his death.
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