After serving as an adviser to President Omar Bongo in the 1980s, he was a minister in the government of Gabon from 1990 to 1991 and again from 1997 to 2009; during that time, he was identified with the reformist wing of the ruling Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG).
[6] Following Bongo's re-election, Mba Obame was moved to the post of Minister of National Education on 25 January 1999, while remaining Government Spokesman.
[7][9] As Interior Minister, Mba Obame encountered strong criticism in the press after he reportedly proposed selling Mbiané—a small, uninhabited island lying in potentially oil-rich waters—to neighboring Equatorial Guinea.
He also addressed rumors that businessmen and foreigners were leaving the country in anticipation of post-election violence, "reassur[ing] everyone that the major concern of all 23 presidential candidates is the preservation and consolidation of peace and national unity that we inherited from the late President Omar Bongo Ondimba.
However, several of the candidates—Casimir Oyé-Mba, Jules-Aristide Bourdes-Ogouliguende, Victoire Lasseni Duboze, and Bruno Ben Moubamba—promptly denied this, saying that they were still running and did not support Mba Obame.
[18] Despite this show of support, when the Constitutional Court announced the final, official election results on 13 October 2009, the top three candidates were Ali Bongo Ondimba with 41.79% of the vote, followed by Pierre Mamboundou (25.64%), and André Mba Obame (25.33%).
[24] On 25 January 2011, Mba Obame declared himself president, citing the example of Côte d'Ivoire, where Alassane Ouattara was internationally recognised as the legitimate winner of the 2010 presidential election while incumbent Laurent Gbagbo refused to step down.
[26] The Gabonese government planned to fly his body from Libreville to Oyem in the north on 29 April 2015, but was unable to do so due to opposition supporters crowding at the airport.