The French journalist Pierre Péan said that Aubame's training "as a practicing Catholic and a customs official helped to make him an integrated man, one of whom political power was not an end in itself.

Aubame was also a leader in solving African problems, particularly developing the Gabonese standard of living and planning urban sites.

Aubame's quick rise in Gabonese politics was spurred by the support of the missions and administration, whereas much of M'ba's strength came from the colonists.

[7] Abbé Jean Obame, stepbrother of Léon M'ba, looked after the orphaned Aubame and arranged for schooling at several Roman Catholic missions.

First appointed to Libreville from 1931 to 1935, he was transferred to Bangui in 1935 and then to Brazzaville in 1936,[9] where he co-founded a branch of the Mutuelle Gabonaise with a brother of politician Louis Bigmann.

[10] He was also a member of the Association des fonctionnaires, an organization which was dominated by two other soon-to-be politicians: René-Paul Sousatte and Jean Rémy Ayouné.

[11] Following the speech given by Charles de Gaulle on the Appeal of 18 June 1940, Aubame sided with the Free French, and in November was sent by Libreville authorities to rally Fangs for the cause.

[10] Affiliating with the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO),[9] Aubame later worked most closely with the Indépendants d'Outre-Mer, an African parliamentary group whose leaders were Senegalese Léopold Sédar Senghor and Cameroonian Louis-Paul Aujoulat.

[15] Aubame was also a leader in solving African problems, particularly developing the Gabonese standard of living and planning urban sites.

On 29 September 1951, he voted to increase the minimum wage in the overseas territories of France, and served as vice president of its Commission from 1953 to 1955.

[4] It had few philosophical differences with the M'ba-led Bloc Démocratique Gabonais (BDG), including advocating less economic dependence on France and faster "Africanization" of French political jobs.

[20] However, in the absence of an absolute majority, on 21 May 1957, both parties were obligated to submit a list of individuals that both agreed were suitable for inclusion in the government.

[21] With M'ba's victory, many elected UDSG members joined the parliamentary majority, giving the ruling government 29 of the 40 legislative seats.

[30] On 19 February, he broke his ties with Aubame; all UDSG representatives were dismissed, with the exception of M'ba supporter Francis Meye.

[33] Aubame resolved the accusation by resigning from his post as President of the Supreme Court, complicating matters for M'ba.

[33] Faced with reports of tension between the government and the National Assembly, even though 70% of its composition were BDG members, the Gabonese president dissolved the legislature on 21 January 1964[34] as an "economy measure".

His nephew, Pierre Eyeguet, a former ambassador to the United Kingdom, may have known of the plot beforehand and notified his uncle, although it is unknown whether or not Aubame established contact with the plotters.

[35] On Radio Libreville, the military announced to the Gabonese people that a coup d'état had taken place, and that they required technical assistance and told the French not interfere in this matter.

[44] Aubame was unaware of the coup until the French ambassador to Gabon, Paul Cousseran, called him on the telephone roughly a half hour after sunrise.

However, about midway through the morning an automobile carrying the revolutionary committee arrived at Aubame's residence and drove him to the governmental offices, where he had been named president.

[45] Second Lieutenant Ndo Edou gave instructions to transfer M'ba to Ndjolé, Aubame's electoral stronghold.

[49] Therefore, President de Gaulle, upon advice from his chief adviser on African policy, Jacques Foccart, decided that he would restore the legitimate government.

[55] A "state of precations" was enacted, which decreed that the local government maintained surveillance over suspected troublemakers and, if necessary, order a curfew.

[57] Essone, Mbene, and Aubame claimed that their involvement in the coup was due to a lack of development in the Gabonese army.

He stated that the French intervention was an illegal act of interference, an assertion that Gondjout and Jean Mare Ekoh, a former education minister, shared.

[59][60] He was not particularly popular during his political career, though according to Time, his arrest "ballooned him to heroic proportions in the eyes of the aroused public".

[13] Aubame, whom journalist Ronald Matthews described as having "a curiously harsh voice, a severe appearance, and... a stern character",[8] died in 1989 in Libreville.

[9] The French journalist Pierre Péan said that Aubame's training "as a practicing Catholic and a customs official helped to make him an integrated man, one of whom political power was not an end in itself.