World's Worst Dictators

Gnassingbe Eyadema:

Gnassingbe Eyadema makes it on the list too. He was the President of Togo from 1967 until his death in 2005. He thought of himself as a superhero. Every store in Togo had his picture. The day of his failed assassination attempt was called as the “the Feast of Victory over Forces of Evil”.

He had participated in two successful military coups, in 1963 and 1967, and became President in April. As President, he created a political party, the Rally of the Togolese People (RPT), and headed a single-party regime until the early 1990s, when reforms leading to multiparty elections began. Though his rule was seriously challenged by the events of the early 1990s, he eventually consolidated power again and won multiparty presidential elections in 1993, 1998, and 2003. He died in 2005, and was replaced by his son. At the time of his death, he was the longest-serving ruler in Africa.