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The announced shaving of journalist Souley Onohiolo goes by the name Operation “Tomber la barbe” and will take place after an 8-month wait for a hypothetical government reshuffle.
Indeed, the journalist had bet that he would only shave once President Paul Biya, re-elected on October 12, 2026, had replaced the government that has been in office since 2019.
The President of the Organising Committee for the “Big Souley ONOHIOLO Shaving” project informs the national and international press that on Friday, July 3, 2026, at 12:00 noon, the official ceremony of “Tomber la barbe” for Souley ONOHIOLO, Emeritus Journalist, Senior Reporter, and Editorialist, will take place at the Botanik’s Beauty Centre, located in the Essos neighbourhood of Yaoundé, says the committee’s statement.
The organising committee members stated that the shaving ceremony is placed under the high patronage and general supervision of Dieudonné Mveng Balla, promoter of the Info TV channel.
This is a singular and unprecedented event that will bring together the media elite from Cameroon and around the world, around a man whose personal and silent revolt spanned eight months of hair commitment – a forest of beard and unshaven scalp – to establish itself as a republican struggle.
Ultimately, Souley Onohiolo resigns himself to shaving after holding his bet for 8 months with no government reshuffle in sight. It is thus reluctantly that the journalist decides to part with his hair.
More than that, it’s a symbol of resistance, a mark of civic engagement and a firm will to impact society – to move the lines. It is this story that the July 3 ceremony will close, in the presence of the press and under the gaze of those who followed, from near or far, this singular epic, added the organising committee.
