President Bola Tinubu is currently one of Africa’s oldest presidents, having turned 72 on March 29.
Remember that Senegal’s 44-year-old President, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, was sworn in on Tuesday, April 2, making him the continent’s youngest president ever.
Other countries in Africa have presidents in their fifties and sixties.
However, other countries, such as Nigeria, have older leaders.
According to StatiSense, there are around 14 African countries with presidents aged 70 and up as of March 2024, including Nigeria’s President Tinubu.
These African presidents are listed below:
Paul Biya, 91: The Cameroonian president is the oldest in Africa, presently at 91.
He is the second president of the West African country, and no other president has come after him as he held on to power since 1982.
In 1979, Cameroon introduced a new law that designated the prime minister as the president’s constitutional successor.
The then President Ahidjo unexpectedly stepped down on November 4, 1982, and Biya succeeded him by virtue of the constitution.
He was sworn in on November 6 of the same year and has consistently been re-elected since then.
Alassane Dramane Ouattara, 82: He has been president of Ivory Coast for 13 years and is the second oldest president on the African continent. He was first elected in 2010 and has been re-elected for the second and third terms.
Ouattara’s candidacy became controversial when he announced his plan to contest for the third term.
However, a constitutional court ruled that his first term was under a different constitution and did not count for the new one.
Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, 81, is the current president of Equatorial Guinea and has been in power since August 3, 1979.
Mbasogo is the second president of the Gulf nation since its independence.
The Equatoguinean politician and former military officer is the second-longest consecutive serving president in the world after Paul Biya of Cameroon.
Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa, 81: He is the president of Zimbabwe who came into power on November 24, 2017.
He was a long-time ally and vice president of Robert Mugabe.
Mnangagwa became president after Mugabe was removed as the president.
Nana Akufo-Addo, 80: The Ghanaian president came into power in 2017 and once served as the country’s attorney general from 2001 to 2003.
He was also the foreign affairs minister between 2003 and 2007 under the Kufuor-led government.
Other African presidents who are between 70 and 80 are listed below,
President of the Republic of Congo – Denis Sassou Nguesso (80)
President of Uganda – Yoweri Museveni Uganda (79)
President of Eritrea – Isaias Afwerki (78)
President of Algeria – Abdelmadjid Tebboune (78)
President of Djibouti – Ismail Omar Guelleh (77)
President of Ethiopia – Sahle-Work Zewde (74)
President of South Sudan – Salva Kiir Mayardit (72)
President of Nigeria – Bola Tinubu (71)
President of South Africa – Cyril Ramaphosa (71)
President of Angola – João Lourenço (70)
