Bello Bouba Maigari

Bello Bouba Maigari (born 1947) is a Cameroonian politician who has been the President of the National Union for Democracy and Progress (UNDP) since 1992. He previously served as Minister of Tourism and Leisure in the government of Joseph Ngute from 2011 to 2025, the Minister of Transport from 1984 to 1988, and the sixth prime minister under President Paul Biya from 1982 to 1983.

Born in Bashéo, Maigari was educated in Yaoundé and France. He joined politics in the early 1960s joining the Union of the Peoples of Cameroon (UDC). In 1966, after President Ahmadou Ahidjo declared Cameroon a one-party state, Maigari joined the Cameroonian National Union (CNU) where he joined the government and served in both administrative and ministerial offices. After Ahidjo resigned as president in 1982, Maigari was appointed prime minister by the new President Paul Biya. Aged 35 when being appointed to the role, Maigari was the youngest holder of the office. He served in this role until 1983 where he was replaced by Luc Ayang.

In January 1984, Maigari was appointed Minister of Transport, serving in the role until October 1988. In the late 1980s, Maigari became a strong advocate for democratic reforms, good governance, and electoral transparency in Cameroon. In 1991, he left the CPDM and joined the newly formed National Union for Democracy and Progress (UNDP) where he eventually became its president in January 1992. He subsequently became an opposition leader to President Biya, with his party winning 68 seats in the 1992 parliamentary election, the first multi-party elections, with Maigari himself winning a seat. He also ran in the 1992 presidential election but then lost to Biya.

However, in the early 2000s, he became more aligned with President Biya again and was appointed the Minister of Tourism and Leisure in December 2011. He served in this role for nearly 14 years where in June 2025, he started to cut tied with President Biya again. He officially resigned from the role the following month and officially declared his bid for the 2025 presidential election.

Biography Bello Bouba was born in Baschéo, in Benoué Department in the North Province of Cameroon. He was appointed Deputy Secretary-General of the Presidency on June 30, 1975, ). In the government named on January 7, 1982, he became Minister of State for the Economy and the Plan; Biya was said to have appointed Bello Bouba at the behest of Ahidjo; many thought that Ahidjo intended for Bello Bouba — a Muslim from the north, like himself, and unlike Biya — to be his ultimate successor and that Biya was intended to serve as essentially a caretaker president in the meantime. Ahidjo and Biya soon came into conflict with one another, however. Ahidjo went into exile, replacing him with Luc Ayang. However, Biya halted the legal proceedings against them. Bello Bouba went into exile in Nigeria following the failed April 1984 coup attempt against Biya.

Bello Bouba announced the formation of a new party, the National Union for Democracy and Progress in Cameroon (UNDPC), in Paris on May 25, 1990. After the party was legalized (as the UNDP) in March 1991, he returned to Cameroon on August 17, 1991. At the UNDP congress held in Garoua on January 4–5, 1992, Bello Bouba became President of the UNDP, ousting the party's previous leader, Samuel Eboua. He was elected to the National Assembly in the March 1992 parliamentary election as a Deputy from Benoué. receiving 19.22% of the vote. He and Fru Ndi disputed the official results which proclaimed Biya the winner Biya appointed two UNDP leaders, Hamadou Moustapha and Issa Tchiroma, to the government in November 1992, apparently in an attempt to divide and weaken the UNDP. Bello Bouba strongly opposed the appointments, but despite their indiscipline the two were not immediately expelled from the party.

After Moustapha and Tchiroma again accepted positions in the government as part of a July 1994 cabinet reshuffle, Bello Bouba said on July 23, 1994 that this would mean the end of their membership in the UNDP. Subsequently, while visiting Maroua on July 30, 1994, Moustapha's car was attacked by people throwing stones at it. As a result, the car went off the road, with one person being killed and a number of others being injured. 28 UNDP members were arrested for the attack. The UNDP denied responsibility and blamed the government for the attack, saying that it was used as a pretext for a crackdown on the UNDP.

Moustapha and Tchiroma challenged their removal from the party, but they were ultimately expelled by the UNDP Central Committee in January 1995. Following their expulsion, Moustapha and Tchiroma established their own "authentic" faction of the UNDP, rejecting Bello Bouba's leadership. This faction then became the National Alliance for Democracy and Progress (ANDP), a new party featuring a slight alteration of the UNDP's name. according to Bello Bouba, "there is absolutely no political will on the part of the ruling party to move towards peaceful development ... there is no universal suffrage in a country in which half of the voters are prevented from exercising their right to vote." The UNDP won only one seat in that election, and Bello Bouba described it as a "farce", alleging that low voter registration was used to rig the election in favor of the ruling Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (RDPC); some party members, however, reportedly attributed the UNDP's poor performance to disapproval of Bello Bouba's cooperation with the RDPC in the government. he said that, although parties are created to win power, it is not necessary for them to participate in every election, and that the UNDP supported Biya for the sake of continued peace and economic growth. Speaking on February 14, 2009, Bello Bouba defended his party's participation in the government, saying that its participation gave it the opportunity to directly work for the benefit of the country in a way that would not be possible if it merely criticized the government from the outside.

In mid-May 2009, it was announced that Bello Bouba would stand as the UNDP candidate in the 2011 presidential election. Bello Bouba's ministerial portfolio was altered on June 30, 2009, when he was appointed Minister of State for Transport. As a presidential candidate, Bello Bouba—who had a limited base of support that was largely confined to the north—was considered to have no serious chance of winning the 2011 election. It was thought that he would continue supporting President Biya, who was expected to stand for another term, and wanted to remain in the government.

Bello Bouba ultimately did not stand as a presidential candidate when the vote was held in October 2011. Biya again won re-election easily. In the government named on 9 December 2011, Bello Bouba was moved to the post of Minister of State for Tourism and Leisure. He was installed in his new ministry on 10 December.