{"id":94843,"date":"2025-09-18T23:06:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T23:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=94843"},"modified":"2025-09-18T23:06:00","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T23:06:00","slug":"togo-leaders-sister-in-law-arrested-after-calling-for-end-to-family-rule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=94843","title":{"rendered":"Togo leader\u2019s sister-in-law arrested after calling for end to family rule"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A former Defence Minister and vocal critic of Togo\u2019s government, Marguerite Gnakad\u00e9, has been arrested, according to security sources.<\/p>\n

Gnakad\u00e9, the sister-in-law of long-serving leader Faure Gnassingb\u00e9, recently called for his resignation and urged the military to stand with the people in ending decades of dynastic rule.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was arrested for serious acts, including her recent public appearance inciting the military to rebellion,\u201d a police source told the AFP news agency. Local media reported she was arrested by security forces at her home in the capital Lom\u00e9 on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Togo has recently been gripped by deadly protests calling for Gnassingb\u00e9 to resign and release political prisoners.<\/p>\n

The protests came amid popular anger and growing weariness with a family-run regime that has been in power for six decades. Gnassingb\u00e9, who has led the country since 2005, succeeded his father Gnassingb\u00e9 \u00c9yad\u00e9ma, who had ruled for 38 years from 1967.<\/p>\n

A new constitutional structure that allowed Gnassingb\u00e9 to prolong his hold on power while shifting to a new role as President of the Council of Ministers further fuelled the protests.<\/p>\n

In May, Gnassingb\u00e9 was sworn in to the new position, which is the highest office in the government\u2019s executive branch and has no official term limits.<\/p>\n

In recent months Gnakad\u00e9 has written articles criticising Gnassingb\u00e9, including calling for him to resign and make way for a \u201cpeaceful, inclusive, and national transition\u201d. She has also supported protests against his leadership.<\/p>\n

Gnakad\u00e9, a widow of Ernest Gnassingb\u00e9, the late elder brother of Faure Gnassingb\u00e9, served as defence minister from 2020 to 2022.<\/p>\n

She was one of the first women to hold such a strategic government position, and her vocal criticism of the government comes as a significant shift.<\/p>\n

News of her arrest went viral on social media.<\/p>\n

She is currently being questioned by the authorities. Some reports suggest the charges against her are related to alleged connections with exiled opposition figures and attempts to incite disobedience within the armed forces.<\/p>\n

One security source told the BBC that there was \u201cgeneral discomfort in the barracks with some people against her arrest, because she helped to improve working and living conditions of soldiers when she was the defence minister\u201d.<\/p>\n

Some sources indicate she may be accused of acts that could jeopardise the stability of the military institution.<\/p>\n

These allegations would constitute serious offences if proven, and according to judiciary sources, she could face imprisonment ranging from 10 to 20 years if found guilty.<\/p>\n

The coming days are expected to provide more clarity regarding the precise reasons for Gnakad\u00e9\u2019s arrest.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, a grouping of opposition parties and civil society group, Touche Pas A Ma Constitution (Don\u2019t Touch My Constitution), condemned her arrest, saying it was carried out by \u201chooded\u201d security officers \u201cwithout a warrant\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce again, this is an abuse of power that characterises the regime\u2019s retrograde practices. The aim is to silence a dissenting voice,\u201d it said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The group demanded her immediate release without conditions, as well as freedom for all those being detained for their political opinions.<\/p>\n

A youth-led movement known as M66 has also given a 72-hour ultimatum demanding her release, warning that they will call for nationwide demonstrations if this is not done.<\/p>\n

\u201cTogolese people are fed up with [the] arrests of dissident voices. What is worse is that [Gnakad\u00e9] is a former defence minister and the Togolese armed forces are there doing nothing\u2026 The movement is not going to give up despite all the threats,\u201d said Mokonzi, one of the M66 leaders.<\/p>\n

In June, at least seven people were killed during a crackdown on protests against the Togolese leader, civil rights groups said. The bodies were recovered from rivers in the capital.<\/p>\n

The government however denied the deaths were linked to the protests.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"TogoA former Defence Minister and vocal critic of Togo’s government, Marguerite Gnakad\u00e9, has been arrested, according to security sources.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1972,8809,10,9,2517],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-africa","category-marguerite-gnakade","category-politics","category-popular","category-togo"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=94843"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94843\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=94843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=94843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=94843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}