El hadj Abdoulaye Djibril Bopaka: he is the head of the Muslim or Islamic Council of
Congo and also a former member of the Cobra militia of Denis Sassou Nguesso
during the 1997 civil war. He is also the head of a parallel union of owners of
enterprises, whose locations and official registry are not known at the
ministry of Commerce or at the Brazzaville Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mine
and Artisans. The head of the Brazzaville Chamber of Commerce is Paul Obambi.
Mr Obambi can’t stand Mr Djibril, because of the duplicity of the second. El
Hadj Abdoulaye Djibril Bopaka has the attitudes of rogues or gang leaders. All
he does is to impress. One sign is what passes for the head quarters of his
many organisations, located near the airport, in street named after him, Avenue
Bopaka. It is not clear whether people just decided to call it after him or
whether it is official. On this street, he has constructed a large
building, painted Green and White and on and around it, are flags of several
countries. This self imposed leader of the Islamic community can’t also tell
you whether he is a Sunni or Shia Muslim. Mr Bopaka is truly a unique
character that I have come across on several occasions. Djibril Bopaka for also
the noises that he makes about his role during the civil, he is not known for
having carried out any act of bravery or fought in any of the battle fronts.
However what he is well known for, are
his feats in extortions, even at the height of the civil war. He operated
mostly in Oyo, the home district of the President during the civil war. It is
reported that, he was almost lynched by members of the President’s family,
because of rackets that, he began organizing within the family. He took parcels
and pretended to take them to Gabon to give the late Edith Lucie Bongo Ondimba
and those parcels never reached their destination. He also did the way when
Edith gave him money and gifts for her family and they disappeared along the
border between Gabon and Congo. Another occasion that he was almost
lynched was by the traders and fishermen population at the port of Oyo, but the
timely intervention of Ambende, the late elder brother of Sassou Nguesso, saved
Djibril from being thrown into the Alima River. The traders and fishermen of
Oyo were already tired of his racketeering. Djibril Bopaka is an unsuccessful
businessman, whose businesses survive simply because he claims to be close to
the President of the Republic. The strange man of God and a so-called devoted
Muslim doesn’t pay those who work for him and also misappropriates funds
that Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar sends for the expansion of
Islam, the building of Mosques, schools and hospitals in Congo. His attitude is
the cause of perpetual intra-Muslim confrontations, especially in Pointe Noire,
where his authority is rigorously challenged within the Islamic community.
Within the Muslim community, that he has
imposed himself as their leader, he is contested. But because of his proximity
with the president of the Republic, he is still the chair of the Islamic
community. He is also a strange businessman. He is known to have started
business by selling paints. The paint selling business, which he created was
called “Bopaka Painture”. He is a man who spends his time to want to speak or
imitate the way the president speaks and also organizes rackets of the West
African Muslim business community who besides paying taxes to the government
and the councils where they operate, they also pays another special tax or levy
to Djibril, who claims to defend them. This special tax is called the “Bopaka
impot” in French or Bopaka tax in English. He is a corrupt man who spends his
time singing the praise and virtue of the fight against corruption. But
whenever takes loan from banks, he doesn’t reimburse those loans. His is among
those who have contributed in running down most commercial banks in Congo,
because they refuse to pay back their loans and nothing happens to them.
Currently, he is campaigning for the change of the constitution, for he knows
that, in a system which is honest and transparent; his rightful place will be
in jail. Yet, these are the type of people who pass for actors or head of civil
society organisations in Congo, fighting against corruption or electoral
frauds. He is also a very incoherent man. On one hand, he is calls or
advocates for the respect of the rule of law, while other, he wants the
president to change the constitution. The only coherent thing that he does best
is to find ways and means to line up his pocket. Djibril Bopaka epitomizes all
that has gone wrong with the systemic corruption and absence of accountability
that Denis Sassou Nguesso has allowed to prosper in Congo, under his rule or
should I say, misrule.
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