This guy maybe? Renamed a bunch of things with the names of himself and his family members, including the word for bread. Got a gold statue of himself built. Put himself on the money and made his autobiography required reading in schools. He still talked up the need for democracy as far as I know, but didn't seem very good at masking that it was a weird dictatorship.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saparmurat_Niyazov
This guy maybe? Renamed a bunch of things with the names of himself and his family members, including the word for bread. Got a gold statue of himself built. Put himself on the money and made his autobiography required reading in schools. He still talked up the need for democracy as far as I know, but didn't seem very good at masking that it was a weird dictatorship.