Togo : Opposition figure Agbeyomé Kodjo passes away in exile this weekend
The Togolese opposition figure, Agbeyomé Kodjo, former Prime Minister under the regime of ex-President Gnassingbé Eyadéma, passed away this weekend in exile following a sudden illness.
Aged 69, Kodjo finished second in the presidential election of February 2020, results he never accepted. Since this contested election, the candidate supported by the « Monseigneur Kpodzro Dynamic », referring to the former Archbishop of Lomé, has been forced into exile, notably since July 2020.
Shortly before his departure, Kodjo’s residence was surrounded by the military, and he was temporarily detained by the gendarmerie. « I am currently in a cornfield », he declared a few months after his departure.
In March of the same year, his parliamentary immunity was lifted at the request of the prosecutor’s office in Lomé, following his self-proclamation as president of the Republic. Agbéyomé Kodjo was then prosecuted for endangering the internal security of the state, spreading false information, and disturbing public order.
The late Agbeyomé Kodjo began his political career in the 1980s as a minister and later served as director-general of the Autonomous Port of Lomé. He was also president of the National Assembly from 2000 to 2022.
Kodjo had already experienced exile in 2002 after demanding reforms within Gnassingbé Eyadéma’s Rally of the Togolese People (RPT). His return in 2005, following the president’s death, marked the beginning of his political struggle, with the creation of his own party in 2008 and his candidacy in the 2010 presidential election.
Although in 2015 his party did not participate in the elections, he supported the candidacy of President Faure Gnassingbé before aligning with several political parties and civil society organizations with the support of Bishop Philippe Fanoko Kpodzro.
