5000 Ekuele Masie Nguema Biyogo

Masie Nguema Biyogo — the name given to Bioko Island after Francisco Macías Nguema renamed it for himself in 1973 — appeared on coinage as part of a broader cult-of-personality apparatus that consumed Equatorial Guinea through the 1970s. Macías had by 1978 declared himself President-for-Life and banned any religion not centered on himself, executing clergy and intellectuals by the thousands. Somewhere between a quarter and a third of the country's population fled or died under his rule.

He was overthrown and executed in August 1979, less than a year after this coin was struck. The island reverted to its colonial name, Bioko, shortly after.