After eight months, organising committee sets souley onohiolo shaving ceremony for july 3

The long-awaited shaving of journalist Souley Onohiolo, dubbed Operation “Drop the Beard”, will finally take place after eight months of waiting for a government reshuffle that never came.

In 2026, Onohiolo made a bold wager: he would not shave until President Paul Biya, re-elected on 12 October 2026, replaced the cabinet that had been in office since 2019. With no reshuffle in sight, the journalist has now conceded.

“The President of the Organising Committee for the ‘Big Souley Onohiolo Shaving Project’ informs the national and international press that on Friday, 3 July 2026 at 12:00 noon, the official ‘Drop the Beard’ ceremony of Souley Onohiolo – Emeritus Journalist, Senior Reporter, and Editorialist – will take place at the Botanik’s Beauty Centre, a service-providing establishment located in the Essos district of Yaoundé,” reads the statement from the committee.

According to committee members, the shaving event is placed “under the High Patronage and General Supervision of Dieudonné Mveng Balla, Promoter of the Info TV channel.”

They describe it as “a unique and unprecedented event that will bring together the cream of the media 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 head – to impose itself as a republican struggle.”

Ultimately, Souley Onohiolo has resigned himself to shaving after holding his bet for eight months with no prospect of a government reshuffle. It is out of sheer exhaustion that the journalist is parting with his hair.

“More than that, it is 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 ceremony on 3 July will close, in the presence of the press and under the eyes of those who have followed, from near or far, this singular epic,” adds the organising committee.