As president, he created a political party, the Rally of the Togolese People (RPT), and headed an anti-communist[3] single-party regime until the early 1990s, when reforms leading to multiparty elections began.

"[5] Usually Eyadéma is said to have been born on 26 December 1935 in the northern quartiers of Pya,[6] a village in the prefecture of Kozah in the Kara Region, to a peasant family of the Kabye ethnic group.

This time there was no bloodshed (the deposed Grunitzky managed to escape to exile in Paris) and Eyadéma installed himself as president on 14 April 1967, in addition to awarding himself the post of Defence Minister.

According to Comi M Toulabor (researcher at the Centre d'études d'Afrique noire), Eyadéma "had been a personal friend of the French president, Jacques Chirac.

"[13] Three years after taking power, Eyadéma created the Rally of the Togolese People as the country's sole legal party.

[15] He attempted to legitimize his rule with a multiparty presidential election in August 1993, which was boycotted by the opposition; facing only two minor challengers, he won 96.42% of the vote, although turnout was reportedly low outside of his native Kara Region.

He was the chairman of the Organisation of African Unity from 2000 to 2001, and he attempted, unsuccessfully, to mediate between the government and rebels of Ivory Coast in the First Ivorian Civil War, that began in that country in 2002.

But because of the criteria imposed by the government, politicians such as Gilchrist Olympio, Yawovi Agboyibo, and Professor Leopold Gnininvi boycotted the meeting.

"[4] Eyadéma had an extensive personality cult, including an entourage of 1,000 dancing women who sang and danced in praise of him; portraits which adorned most stores; a bronze statue in the capital city, Lomé; wristwatches with his portrait, which disappeared and re-appeared every fifteen seconds; and a comic book that depicted him as a superhero with powers of invulnerability and super strength.

[21] In addition, the date of a failed attempt on President Eyadéma's life was annually commemorated as "the Feast of Victory Over Forces of Evil.

[24][25] There were other survivors, but he deliberately misrepresented the details of the accident to make himself look like a hero with superhuman strength who miraculously survived the disaster when everyone else was killed.

[4] Zakari Nandja, chief of the Togolese army, pronounced Eyadéma's son Faure Gnassingbé as the new president of Togo.

Alpha Oumar Konaré, president of the Commission of the African Union, immediately declared this act to be a military coup d'état and against the constitution.

[35] Eyadéma's funeral was held on 13 March 2005, in the presence of a number of presidents and other international dignitaries; Presidents Mathieu Kérékou of Benin, John Kufuor of Ghana, Laurent Gbagbo of Ivory Coast, Mamadou Tandja of Niger and Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria attended the ceremony.