The putschists who toppled Gabon's president on Wednesday named the head of the Presidential Guard, Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, as the country's interim leader.

Nguema, who according to media reports is also a cousin of deposed President Ali Bongo, will become "interim president," a spokesperson for the so-called interim council announced on state broadcaster Gabon 24 on Wednesday evening.

Nguema has been the head of the Republican Guard, an elite army unit responsible for protecting the head of state, since 2020.

According to a report by Jeune Afrique, his mother was related to Ali Bongo's father, Omar, who ruled the small country on the Atlantic coast from 1967 until his death in 2009.

Like the Bongo family, believed to be one of the richest families in the world, Nguema has been linked to allegations of corruption. He is said to own several properties in the United States.

Ali Bongo, the deposed president, is accused of high treason, the group of high-ranking officers who seized power told state television earlier, adding that other government officials as well as Bongo's son, Nouredine Bongo, had been arrested.