Laurent Gbagbo: What's Gone Wrong?

Gaunt and unkept. Last seen pictures of the iconic former president of Ivory Coast are worrying.

Laurent Gbagbo looking unkept and disheveled during appeal hearing at the ICC is a worrying cry for help, say his supporters.

Months ago, an amateur footage of the icon looking weakened, a shadow of his former self and holding on to an unidentified woman went viral on social media.

Early days in Court at the ICC. Laurent Gbagbo stands tall after spending 10 grueling months in solitary confinement in Korogho.

Laurent Gbagbo the icon was at his best during peace talks with former South African President Thabo Mbeki.

Love him or loath him, Laurent Gbagbo is arguably the most iconic political figure in Côte d'Ivoire, alongside father of independence, Félix Houphouët-Boigny. From the early 1970s to the post-electoral crisis of 2010 and 2011, Gbagbo saw it all. Multiple spells in government prison, but the man with the oozing charisma has been the "do or die" choice for a large percentage of the electorate.
At the pic of the brief civil war in 2010, Laurent Gbagbo stood upright in the face of adversity, but the latest images of the "Christ of Mama" are worrying, although he now has been acquited by the International Criminal Court, and looks almost certain to be freed of the claws of the international jurisdiction when judges decide on the appeal hearing that recently took place in the Hague.

Political figures and Ivorian close quaters to the man are adamant that the tight-knit entourage in Brussells where he has been "under house arrest" since the January acquittal, is nothing but an amateurish bunch of hangers-on, unable to look after their champion.

In March of this year, horrified millions discovered footage of a weakened and seemingly handicapped Gbagbo alongside an unidentified woman. The latest and even more shocking picture of him was of a bearded, unkempt and dishevelled, once charismatic former President. Cyberspace was in awe and the debate is still raging.

For the die-hard GOR (Gbagbo ou rien-Gbagbo or nothing) family, their man is at the hands of greedy and shady political figures whose sole purpose is to succeed him by making sure he never returns to his homeland.

Laurent Gbagbo, the firebrand political animal who revelled at the bully pulpit to galvanise his supporters has been missing in action. Silent since his acquittal, whilst his co-accused Charles Blé Goudé is making the round of media interviews.

"Indeed President Gbagbo has been suffering mental and physical abuse all day long in Brussels. This is the picture of a man who knows he is no longer in charge. He's told all his visitors about being in some kind of danger with this second wife, who, he naively thought was going to be an armour. We now know that she is worse than his jailers." Says J.B, a female supporter.

According to B.M, a social media personality: "Gbagbo fought in vain for people who aren't worth it. People close to him have been telling us he is doing very well, but we now see the cry for help in his body language. They wished he stayed away for their political future, but God willing, our supreme guide will soon be back to shame them all. We have information that the old man has been wearing the same coat and adidas trainers for months. They should be ashamed of themselves."

The ICC is yet to set him free, whereas presidential election will be held in three months back at home where he still have to deal with a 20 years custodial sentence for matters related to the bloody events of 2010. The political party (FPI) he founded with his wife Simone is split in the hands of scavengers. Will Laurent Gbagbo run for the last gig? Only God can save the GOR, who have been relentlessly accusing the other partner, Nady Bamba and her cronies of having plotted to wreck his household, the party and the image he built with blood, sweat end tears.

The medium is the message and revolutionaries always make sure to own it. Call it a propaganda weapon or a media weapon. What Laurent Gbagbo wants is to inform and involve his people...He is not silent! Didn't he once say: "I was surrounded by compromises, betrayals, mercantile alliances and duplicity. Of course my entourage was drowned out...It was easy to see. All around me, some were betting on my downfall and my survival at the same time."

Published By Claude B. Djaquis

ivorycoasttribune.com

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