An attempted coup d'état occurred in Cameroon in 1984, when presidential palace guards unsuccessfully tried to overthrow President Paul Biya.
[1] After nearly 23 years as President of Cameroon, Ahmadou Ahidjo resigned for unclear reasons in November 1982 and was succeeded by Prime Minister Paul Biya.
Despite his resignation, Ahidjo remained President of the Cameroonian National Union (CNU), the ruling party, and retained enormous political influence.
In early April 1984, President Biya ordered a transfer of all presidential palace guards who came from the predominantly Muslim north, probably because he had been alerted to a coup plot involving those soldiers.
[3] The failure of the coup attempt was followed by Biya's full consolidation of power; in 1985 he relaunched the CNU as the Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (CPDM).