Gabon: Disgraced, Patience Dabany drags 8 PDG officials to court

Almost a month after its publication by Luc Oyoubi, former interim secretary general, Joséphine Nkama, also known as Patience Dabany, has decided to challenge her expulsion from the Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) and to take eight of her former comrades, presented as the new leaders of the political party, to court before the court of first instance in Libreville.

She does not intend to be kicked out of the political party created by her former husband Omar Bongo Ondimba and presided over less than a year ago by her son Ali Bongo Ondimba. On Tuesday, April 2, Joséphine Nkama, also known as Patience Dabany, officially filed a complaint with the court of first instance in Libreville for “cessation of manifestly illicit disturbances,” in accordance with the provisions of Article 416 of the Civil Procedure Code and in line with the law on political parties in the Gabonese Republic which states that “disputes within political parties (…) fall under the jurisdiction of the judicial courts.” She argues that only the Permanent Discipline Committee (CPD), a specialized body of the party, has the power to expel her in case of misconduct.

However, the mother of Ali Bongo asserts that the expulsion she was subjected to, made public on March 7, 2024, is “illegal.” “This curious expulsion is the work of a group of eight PDG militants who have arbitrarily constituted themselves as the Permanent Discipline Committee (…) This famous expulsion is the result of a manifestly illicit act which can only be stopped judicially,” wrote her lawyer, Me Jean-Paul Moumbembé, to the president of the court.

Therefore, Patience Dabany hopes to have Paul Biyoghé Mba, Alain-Claude Bilie-By-Nze, Jeannot Kalima, Yves Fernand Manfoumbi, Angélique Ngoma, Denise Mekamne, Antoine Menie, and Charles Otandault, the new leaders of the PDG, appear before the judge in a civil hearing.

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