By Alpha Amadu Jalloh
Guinea is racing toward the 28 December 2025 presidential election, a moment when the country should finally break from confusion and military improvisation. Instead, the nation finds itself trapped in a political nightmare manufactured not by the junta alone but by the man who has spent two decades pretending to be the face of opposition. Celou Dalein Diallo has committed a political sin so heavy, so selfish, and so damaging that it will stain his legacy permanently. His refusal to support Abdoulaye Yero Baldé of FRONDEG, the only candidate with the credibility and momentum to stand up to General Doumbouya, is not merely a mistake. It is a betrayal. A historic, unforgivable betrayal.
This is the truth many Guineans whisper but are afraid to say publicly. Celou Dalein Diallo does not want democracy in Guinea. He wants Celou Diallo’s presidency or nothing. That is the real fight. That is the real obsession. That is the real curse that has kept Guinea’s Fulbe electorate in political captivity for years.
Let us speak bluntly. The UFDG is a party built on the illusion of national unity but structurally designed to serve one man. It is not demographically balanced. It is not ideologically coherent. It is not intellectually driven. It is a party where wealthy, barely educated financiers wield the loudest voices, drowning out the thinkers, the strategists, and the new generation. These men operate on instinct, emotion, and blind loyalty, not on national vision. And Celou keeps them close because they are easy to control.
He feeds them a narrative that he alone is the protector of Pulaaku, the lone defender of Fulbe dignity. Under that emotional spell, they follow him with religious devotion. Not because he brings results. Not because he wins elections. But because he has perfected the art of emotional blackmail. He constantly reminds them of ethnic wounds and convinces them that any rival Fulbe figure is a threat to their identity. It is a cynical manipulation, and he has used it to choke the political space for decades.
This is why he cannot stomach Abdoulaye Yero Baldé. Baldé represents everything Celou wanted to bury. A younger Fulbe intellectual. Charismatic. Disciplined. Pragmatic. Nationally appealing. Capable of attracting support from all regions. Competent enough to build alliances outside narrow ethnic borders. And worst of all for Celou, the man leads a party, FRONDEG, that is becoming a serious national force.
Celou sees Baldé as the first real threat to his monopoly on Fulbe political relevance. That is the core of his refusal. Not strategy. Not ideology. Not concern for the country. Pure personal fear.
And this fear is costing Guinea everything.
This is the election that could truly challenge General Mamady Doumbouya’s grip on power. Incumbency is powerful, yes, but not invincible. A united opposition, led by someone untainted, someone calm, someone strategic, could shake the system. Abdoulaye Yero Baldé is that figure. That is why Alpha Condé’s RPG is contemplating backing him. That is why Sydia Touré is inching closer to him. That is why Lansana Kouyaté sees him as the realistic alternative. That is why even active candidates are whispering that stepping aside to support Baldé may be the only patriotic move left.
Everyone with a functioning political brain sees the stakes.
Everyone sees the opening.
Everyone sees the moment.
Everyone sees the chance to push Guinea out of military rule.
Except Celou.
He does not see Guinea. He sees only himself. He does not see democracy. He sees only his ego. He does not see the Fulbe people. He sees only his political throne, unchanged since 2007, held tight even as opportunities slip through his fingers year after year.
At the moment when the country begged for unity, he chose division. When the Fulbe electorate wanted hope, he gave them despair. When the opposition needed strategy, he gave them stubbornness. When Guinea finally had the opportunity to present a real challenger to Doumbouya, he shut the door with arrogance and finality.
His words were not a slip of the tongue. They were a declaration of selfishness.
│ “We will not support Abdoulaye Yero Baldé’s candidacy now or in the future.”
│ – Celou Dalein Diallo
Not now.
Not in the future.
Not ever.
This was not politics. This was personal vengeance dressed as principle.
Celou would rather keep Guinea under a military presidency than allow another Fulbe leader to rise above him. He would rather suffocate the chance for democratic change than allow Baldé to become the new political face of the community. He would rather lose again and again than let someone else win once.
This is not leadership. This is an obsession.
Let us be brutally honest. Celou Dalein Diallo has become one of the biggest obstacles to democratic transition in Guinea. He has trapped his own community in a political cage built from emotional dependency. He has refused to allow any Fulbe figure with national potential to grow. He has manipulated the political suffering of his people to keep his status intact. And now that a real opportunity has arrived in the form of Abdoulaye Yero Baldé, he is ready to burn the entire house down instead of passing the torch.
Guinea deserves better than this. The Fulbe electorate deserves better than this. The opposition deserves better than this. The future deserves better than this.
Abdoulaye Yero Baldé’s candidacy under FRONDEG offers Guinea its first serious chance in years to challenge the suffocating weight of military rule. A united front behind him would shake the system. Celou chose to sabotage that. And history will not be forgotten.
When the dust settles, when December 2025 is over, when Guinea looks back to understand why the transition failed again, the answer will not be complicated. It will not be hidden. It will not be subtle.
It will be this moment.
This refusal.
This betrayal.
Celou Dalein Diallo’s unforgivable error will stand as one of the most destructive choices ever made by an opposition leader in Guinea. He has proven that personal pride means more to him than the people he claims to represent. And the stain of that decision will follow him long after the political winds have shifted.
This is not simply a mistake.
It is a political crime against hope.
And it will linger forever in Guinea’s history.
Disclaimer:
The views expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author and do not in anyway reflect the opinions or editorial policy of Africa Publicity
