Togo's political class is in mourning. Former Togolese Prime Minister and unsuccessful 2020 presidential candidate Agbeyome Kodjo passed away on the night of 03 to 04 March 2024 following an illness. According to sources, the leader of the political party Mouvement Patriotique pour la Démocratie et le Développement (MPDD) and influential member of the Dynamique Monseigneur Kpodzro (DMK) died in Ghana, more precisely in Accra.
Born on October 12, 1954 in Tokpli, a native of Tokpli in the Yoto prefecture, Agbéyomé Kodjo Messan was a student at the University of Poitiers in France, where he was already listed as one of the activists of the JRPT (Jeunesse du Rassemblement du Peuple Togolais) and earned an unflattering reputation as an informer for the powers that be in Lomé during the time of. Gnassingbé Eyadema
With a degree in organizational management from the early 80s, he began a brilliant career as Sales Director of SONACOM (Société Nationale de Commerce) between 1985 and 1988, before joining the government as Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture in December 1988. It was with this portfolio that he attended the Sovereign National Conference, which will remain one of the wounds of his life, with the unusual and improbable spectacle of a minister crying his eyes out in front of the national television cameras, as he was taken to task by the speakers.
This event, which left its mark on him and wounded his ego, would later determine his political stance and explain his radical positioning alongside the late Gnassingbé Eyadéma. He thus became one of the regime's hawks, locked in a back-and-forth reckoning with those he felt had humiliated him.
Ejected during the first transitional government led by Prime Minister Joseph Kokou Koffigoh in September 1991, he returned in force a year later with the portfolio of Territorial Administration and Security.
He had a run-in with the head of government, who dismissed him. Agbéyomé Kodjo refused to step down, even threatening to have Me Koffigoh arrested.
In the end, it was his appointment as Managing Director of the Port Autonome de Lomé (PAL) that prompted him to leave the government. He left the management of PAL with fond memories and a flattering record, even if suspicions of embezzlement still hang over him.
On the rumors of the celebration of his "first billion FCFA" when he was in this position, he affirms hand on heart that the party in question was that of his wife's birthday.
Gérard ADJA was one of his collaborators, as was Jonas SILIADIN, while businessmen such as Pierrot Akakpovi, Gabriel Améyi and many others have prospered thanks to him, and have not had a short memory of it.
Elected RPT deputy for the 3rd constituency of Yoto in 1999, after being the only candidate, he was appointed President of the National Assembly. In this position, he maneuvered to have the then Prime Minister, Eugène ADOBOLI, a senior international civil servant who had been living in Switzerland for ages, disconnected from Togolese realities and propelled to this position by the late Gnassingbé Eyadéma, dismissed by a combination of circumstances.
In August 2000, he ended up as ADOBOLI's head, following a vote of confidence for which he pulled the strings from start to finish, thanks to intrigues and maneuvers of which he alone is the secret.
Appointed to the Prime Minister's office in place of the man he had plotted against, he would remain there for barely two years, caught up by his "bulimia for power and megalomania", according to Fambaré Natchaba.
It has to be said that he had long held a privileged position with the late Gnassingbé Eyadéma, who regarded him as "his son"; almost "the best of us", as Jacques Chirac, Alain Juppé's former French President, put it.
"He's the only one who crossed his legs in the presence of the Boss (the late Gnassingbé Eyadéma)", confirms a regular visitor to the salons of Lomé 2, the residence of the Head of State.
"His zeal to look good in front of the Boss was matched only by his inordinate ambition, which he managed to hide less and less," continues the latter.
To stack the odds in his favor, he goes so far as to pair up with one of Eyadèma's daughters. Purely out of interest. "Even if he loves women (he's fond of saying: she's hot, a term that's become a code word), with the Gnassingbé girl, it was pure strategy", one of his former government colleagues believes.
On June 27, 2002, however, in conflict with the Head of State, he published a scathing indictment of the regime in the Akéklé newspaper before going into exile in France.where he returned on April 8, 2005, after the death of Eyadèma Gnassingbé.
His act, considered courageous by some, was severely criticized by his RPT comrades, who did not hesitate to lynch him in the media, considering it a betrayal of the man to whom he owed everything!
They are not alone. Gilchrist OLYMPIO, at the height of his popularity and fierce opponent of Gnassingbé Eyadéma at the time, said: "What you have done is unnatural. If you disagree with the man who made you what you are, you simply distance yourself, without making much noise", the President of the UFC is said to have told him, during a meeting in his Parisian exile.
His political career was also marred by the macabre events of Fréau Jardin. While he was Minister of Territorial Administration and Security, a demonstration organized by opposition political parties turned tragic on January 25, 1993. Dozens of civilians lost their lives. For the opposition, there was no doubt that it was Agbeyomé Kodjo who had instructed his police officers to fire on the crowd. Eyadema's former minister has always denied this version of events.
During his hearing before the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (CVJR), he indicated that he had informed the organizers of the event of the macabre plan of the RPT political party to which he belonged. He said he had not been followed in his approach by his interlocutor Professor GNININVI.
After the death of General Eyadema, Agbeyomé Kodjo joined the opposition. He took part in almost all the struggles for change in Togo. Open to dialogue, he took part in numerous opposition coalitions to defeat the Gnassingbé regime. His most recent venture was with the Dynamique Monseigneur Kpodzro (DMK), which nominated him as the sole opposition candidate for the 2020 presidential election. He promised voters that with him, their votes would no longer be stolen by the current regime.
Right up to his last breath, the former president of Togo's National Assembly contested the results of the last presidential election, in which Faure Gnassingbé won. According to Agbeyomé Kodjo, the UNIR candidate's fourth victory was a fraud, and he decided to set up a parallel government. Prosecuted for "inciting revolt against state authority", "insulting representatives of public authority", "spreading false news" and "apology for crimes", he left Togo and continues to challenge Faure Gnassingbe's regime on social networks. May his soul rest in peace...
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