The Etoudi walls appear to be closing in on President Paul Biya in Yaoundé.

Barrister Akere Muna, Archbishop Samuel Kleda, Professor Maurice Kamto and Jean-Michel Nintcheu are about as influential as you can get within the Cameroon political structure and all of them have advised Mr Paul Biya that any attempt on his part to bid for re-election will be unrealistic and a costly mistake.

There are also reports that the late David Abouem à Tchoyi, the former Secretary General at the presidency and CPDM party grandee, had told government insiders that Paul Biya’s path to another term will be unwise, and that he needed to seriously consider the country and the future generation.

All of the names above have publicly called for President Biya to step down and Cameroon Intelligence Report understands that there are many more prominent members of government who are pushing for Biya to go but doesn’t want to be accused of disloyalty to the 92-year-old president.

Recently, the Minister of Territorial Administration Paul Atanga Nji and the Minister-Secretary General at the presidency Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh were alarmed by anti Biya statements from top Roman Catholic clerics and some renowned Imams.

Many political commentators believe an extension of Biya’s rule will lead the country into civil war. There’s also some evidence that the Far North region that has always been Mr Biya’s stronghold is now slipping away.

Paul Biya himself has been revising his view on what it would take for him to bow to the growing pressure. These days Unity Palace has been making public presidential decrees reportedly signed by President Biya appointing junior officials to insignificant positions in the administrtion while ignoring more than six vacant ministerial portfolios.  Majority of the cabinet ministers died before the COVID 19 pandemic.

His latest appearance on a wheelchair inside Etoudi has exacerbated the ongoing concerns about his age, health and fragility. This does not look great for a leader many Cameroonians already know has overstayed his time in the Unity Palace.

The 2025 presidential election is not just going to be about flying to Maroua and read a speech for five minutes and return to Yaoundé and wait for ELECAM and the constitutional court to declare you as winner.  2025 is also going to be about projecting physical strength as a leader which Biya does not have.

Ultimately, the decision to stand down has to come from Mr Paul Biya. He is dismissive of everything and only relies on the military and his powerful presidential guards.

There are also some CPDM militants still fully behind the 92-year-old president and consider him to still be sharp. They include his wife Chantal Biya, her blood relation Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh who currently moonlights as Minister-Secretary General at the presidency, 90-year-old House Speaker Cavaye Djibril, 91-year-old Senate leader Niat Marcel and a sea of corrupt traditional rulers whose chieftaincy titles are still being contested all over the country.

But with the presidential election barely some few months away and with many deep within the Biya generation now dying like flies, it feels as if the clock has again reset and is ticking.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai