At 91, Paul Biya holds the record for Africa’s oldest sitting Head of State.
He also is the second longest-serving president in Africa.
Over the past few days, Biya made the news, especially in his country that he had passed on but this turned out to be untrue.
It was not the first time rumours of his death were spreading on social media.
This is due to keeping a low profile and delegating most of his day-to-day activities to the country’s prime ministers.
The 91-year-old leader – in office for more than four decades - has not been seen in public since September 8, when he attended a China-Africa forum in Beijing.
Following the rumours, the government spokesman, René Sadi, issued a statement denying the rumours.
He added that President Biya would return home "in the next few days", the BBC said.
The head of the president's private office who is currently with him in Geneva, also said he is in excellent health.
Biya’s current term drawing to an end in November 2025 and critics say that it is long past time for Cameroon’s national leadership to pass to a younger generation.
On Friday, and in further directives to the rumours of Biya’s death, Cameroonian authorities banned the media from discussing the health of the President.
Interior Minister Paul Atanga Nji told regional governors that these stories “disturb the tranquillity of Cameroonians”.
“Any debate in the media about the president’s condition is therefore strictly prohibited,” he insisted, threatening that “offenders will face the rigour of the law.”
Nji said the health status of the president was a matter of national security, urging governors to create units to ensure the order was being followed by private media outlets and social media.
Who is Paul Biya?
Paul Barthélemy Biya’a bi Mvondo was born on February 13, 1933, at Mvomeka'a, Meyomessala Subdivision, Dja-et-Lobo Division, South Region.
He is the son of Etienne Mvondo Assam and Anastasie Eyenga Elle.
Biya pursued his higher education in France in the fields of political science and law and returned to Cameroon, which had gained independence in 1960.
Biya married Jeanne-Irène Atyam in the early 1960s; she died in 1992. He remarried in 1994 to Chantal Vigouroux.
He has three children. He is Cameroon's second Head of State. He came to power on November 6, 1982, following the resignation of President Ahmadou AHIDJO on November 4, 1982.
Before that, he served as prime minister (1975–1982).
Before becoming PM, Biya had served in different capacities from 1962 including being Chargé de Mission at the Presidency of the Republic upon his return from Paris, and Director of Cabinet of the Minister of National Education, Youth Affairs and Culture.
He also served as Secretary-General of the Ministry of National Education, Youth Affairs and Culture, Director of the Civil Cabinet of the President of the Republic, Secretary-General of the Presidency of the Republic, Minister, Secretary-General of the Presidency of the Republic and as Minister of State, Secretary-General of the Presidency of the Republic.