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The Apotheosis of Côte d'lvoire's Nana Houphouët-Boigny

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2008

Jeanne Maddox Toungara
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Extract

Whether he is called Le Sage (the Wise Man), Le Vieux (the Old Man), or more recently Nana (a Baule term for grandfather), the veneration implied by these words is unequalled by any other leader in West Africa today. It is clear that after over 50 years of political activism, the President of Côte d'Ivoire, Félix Houphouët-Boigny, has brought together a combination of elements that has allowed him to gain and maintain the respect of western leaders, his African counterparts, and until recently, almost every Ivoirian.

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The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 28 , Issue 1 , March 1990 , pp. 23 - 54
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

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References

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77 The exile and death of President Ahmadou Ahidjo of Cameroon may have severely dampened Houphouët's enthusiasm to regulate the succession problem by naming a successor.

78 Cf. Fraternité matin, 19 November 1989, p. 28.

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108 According to a report in Africa Confidential, 7 October 1988, some revenues from the sale of state properties and parastatals, as well as some I.M.F. funds, may have been used as well.

109 The Times, 2 December 1989.

110 Radiofusion-Televisuel Ivoirienne, Official Visit of Babangida to Côte d'Ivoire, June 1987. Cf. West Africa, 29 June 1987, p. 1261.