Yaoundé, Cameroon—

Supporters are urging Cameroon’s 91-year-old President Paul Biya, the world’s oldest leader, to run in 2025 presidential elections that could extend his more than four decades of rule.

They say Biya is the only one who can bring peace and development to the country, but the opposition says Biya must step down after ruling Cameroon for decades.

Hundreds of people sang in Cameroon’s capital Yaoundé on Sunday, calling on Biya to accept the nomination of the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM) in the 2025 presidential election.

Biya founded the Democratic Union of Cameroon on March 24, 1985, three years after his predecessor, Cameroon’s first president, Ahmedou Ahidjo, stepped down due to health problems and handed power to Biya.

Biya has served as President of Cameroon since 1982 and leader of Cameroon’s political parties since 1985.

On Sunday, during the party’s 39th anniversary, party officials organized rallies in all Cameroon’s towns and villages to ask people to support Biya as a candidate in the 2025 elections.

Senior Nepal Communist Party official Furu Jonathan called Biya the party’s natural candidate and said the country had peace, unity and economic growth. Jonathan said Bea was strong and healthy.

“We don’t think you change a winning team,” Jonathan said. “If there is any challenger, let him come up but we have not seen any challenger who can defeat our candidate so we are all relying on him and calling on him to continue to rule and lead our country to rise because it is his Vision”.

Biya has not said whether he will be a candidate.

Cameroon’s top state officials appointed by Biya, as well as Biya’s party officials, praised the long-serving leader for building at least 6,000 kilometers of roads, bringing electricity and water to towns and villages, and building hundreds of classrooms and hospitals.

But Cameron’s opposition and civil society disagreed with that positive assessment, saying the Bank of Cameroon and the Agricultural Development Fund set up to finance projects for farmers collapsed under Biya.

The opposition also said corruption was widespread during Biya’s rule, with Transparency International ranking Cameroon as the most corrupt country in 1998 and 1999.

Cabral Libii, 44, is an opposition lawmaker with the Cameroon Party for National Reconciliation (PCRN) and came third in Cameroon’s 2018 presidential election.

Libby said Cameroonian youth will not continue to watch as Biya weakens the economy, deprives civilians of their freedoms and liberties, and rules Cameroon with an iron fist while showing signs of being a lifelong ruler.

He said Biya was a source of sorrow for the extremely high unemployment, underemployment and crisis in the English-speaking west, which had claimed more than 6,000 lives.

Libby said Cameroon’s opposition and civil society were organizing to put forward a candidate to oust Biya, who they said was old and frail and rarely appeared in public.

Libby said Cameroon needs young, dynamic leaders to save the country from underdevelopment.

Opponents said many young people were hired to attend rallies to give the illusion that Biya was popular.

Both the government and Nepal Communist Party officials in Biya deny employing civilians, especially poor youths.

At 91, Biya is the world’s oldest leader and the second-longest-serving president, behind his neighbor Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea.

Biya’s party says he has won every presidential election since Cameroon returned to multi-party politics in 1990, but the opposition says previous elections have been marred by fraud.