Faure Gnassingbé, in full Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé (born June 6, 1966, Afagnan, Togo), businessman and politician who became president of Togo in 2005. 1  A year after Gnassingbé’s birth, his father, Étienne Eyadéma (who later took the name Gnassingbé Eyadéma), seized power in Togo during a military coup.