Emmanuel Bob-Akitani (July 18, 1930
UFC website, May 27, 2003 . – May 16, 2011
UFC website, May 16, 2011 .) was a

Togo Togo (), officially the Togolese Republic (french: République togolaise), is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its c ...

lese politician who was the main opposition candidate in the

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A ...

and

2005 Togolese presidential election Presidential elections were held in Togo on 24 April 2005, following the death in office of long-time president Gnassingbé Eyadéma. The main candidates were Eyadéma's son, Faure Gnassingbé, and opposition leader Emmanuel Bob-Akitani. The ele ...

s. He was the Honorary President of the Union of Forces for Change (UFC). Born in 1930 in

Aného Aného, previously known as Anecho is a town in southeastern Togo, lying on the Gulf of Guinea near the border of Benin. Founded in the late 17th century by Ane people fleeing from Denkyira attacks in Elmina (now in Ghana), Aného developed as a ...

, Lacs Prefecture, Bob-Akitani was a founding member of the UFC and was, at the time of the 2003 election, the UFC's First Vice-President. Akitani stood as the UFC's candidate in 2003 because UFC President Gilchrist Olympio had been barred from running due to his failure to meet the residency requirement."Togo: Eyadema wins 57% majority in presidential election"
IRIN, June 5, 2003. According to official results, he placed second behind long-time President

Gnassingbé Eyadéma Gnassingbé Eyadéma (; born Étienne Gnassingbé, 26 December 1935 – 5 February 2005) was the president of Togo from 1967 until his death in 2005, after which he was immediately succeeded by his son, Faure Gnassingbé. Eyadéma participated i ...

in the 2003 election, with 33.68% of the vote against 57.78% for Eyadéma. The UFC alleged fraud and Bob-Akitani claimed to have won the election. Following Eyadéma's death, he ran again in the April 2005 election as the candidate of an opposition coalition that included the UFC. He was again declared runner-up in the election, behind Eyadéma's son, Faure Gnassingbé, amidst widespread allegations of seized ballot boxes and other

electoral fraud Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election manipulation, voter fraud or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share of ...

. At a UFC party congress in July 2008, Bob-Akitani was named Honorary President of the UFC."L’UFC a désigné son candidat pour la présidentielle"
Republicoftogo.com, July 20, 2008 . He died in May 2011 in

Lomé Lomé is the capital and largest city of Togo. It has an urban population of 837,437

References

1930 births 2011 deaths Togolese democracy activists Union of Forces for Change politicians 21st-century Togolese people {{Togo-politician-stub