5 African leaders who made history by slumbering in public

Sleep is a vital part of the existence of mankind. As generally agreed to be designed by the Maker, this is the period where the body takes time to rest after moments of prolonged work to regain its strength.

More often than not, this rest is programmed to come at night, however, due to some lifestyle habits and work schedules, sleep times are altered.

The urge to sleep comes mostly to those who are stressed and the worst culprits of all have been politicians and high profile officials. Due to the workload planned for execution, almost all are usually deprived of good sleep. This, in turn, forces them to sleep during important state assignments or public events.

Below is a list of African leaders, past and present, who have been caught on the wrong side of the camera:

Mohamed El-Amine Souef 

The former foreign minister and Comorian diplomat, ambassador to Egypt, and Permanent Representative to the Arab League between 1995–1998 was caught in the full glare of the public after he was captured napping at the 30th Arab League Summit.  

Robert Mugabe

Arguably the most interesting African leader, the 95-year-old former Zimbabwean president has been caught sleeping at public functions for a record 9 times, one of which was after he was elected Chairman at the AU Summit in Addis Ababa. 

Olusegun Obasanjo

Obasanjo is a former president of Nigeria. He served in the army as a general before becoming Head of State from 1999 to 2007. He also served as Chairperson of the African Union. The former president was caught taking a nap during an event recently.

He was further seen in a selfie with actress Uche Jumbo, an image that went viral in 2007 after the actress captioned it: Guess who was sitting beside me ? OBJ!!!! so of course I had to take a selfie???p.s he’s not sleeping.

That’s definitely a price you pay for being famous.

Jacob Zuma

Former South African President Jacob Zuma was caught sleeping in 2006 as Finance Minister, Pavin Gordhan, delivered the nation’s 20th medium-term policy statement. A video posted online showed Zuma slumped to one side.

Yoweri Museveni

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni was caught pants down sleeping in parliament in 2014, however, according to the government, the president had a habit of meditating hence the reason his eyes were closed. The station was banned for televising the images.