 During the night of 17 February and the early morning of 18 February 1964, 150 members of the Gabonese military, gendarmerie, and police, headed by Lieutenant Jacques Mombo and Valére Essone, seized the presidential palace. The gendarmes on duty claimed that this was but a military exercise. However, during the "exercise" the lieutenants dragged President M 'ba from his bed at gunpoint. Bongo heard this noise and telephoned President of the National Assembly Louis Bigmann to find out what had happened. Bigmann arrived at the presidential palace and asked the rebels what Bongo had asked him. At this point they opened the gates and arrested him too. The plotters subsequently arrested every member of the Gabonese cabinet except the respected technician André Gustave Anguilé. Apparently, the plotters let him roam free in the hopes of him joining them, although before noon he asked to be arrested. Joseph N'Goua, the Gabonese minister of foreign affairs, was able to tell the French Embassy of this before he was arrested.
