Nancy Doe rejects plans for husband’s memorial

Former first lady Nancy B. Doe has rejected plans to memorialize her late husband former President Samuel K. Doe.

Monrovia, April 4, 2025: Madam Doe in a statement issued on Thursday, April 3, said the plans by Senator Zoe Emmanuel Pennue to memorialize her husband is unauthorized.

Mrs. Doe is therefore demanding that her late husband be shown due respect.

Full statement below:

April 3, 2025 — It has come to our attention that a supposed Military Traditional Memorial Service has been organized by Senator Zoe Emmanuel Pennue, a man who has continuously sought to advance his own SINISTER agenda under the guise of honoring Liberia’s fallen leader, the late President Samuel Kanyon Doe, Sr.

We wish to make it abundantly and categorically clear that no individual or group of individuals, especially led by Senator Zoe Emmanuel Pennue, has the right to interfere with my husband’s remains without the expressed approval and involvement of myself and our appointed spiritual leader.

Zoe Emmanuel Pennue is from the Pennue family and bloodline which makes him a nephew and son to the sister to the late president. He has no rightful claim or authority over the Doe family when I’m alive as well as my children and that he must CEASE his UNWARRANTED, ILLEGAL and UNAUTHORIZED interference in matters that concern my family, especially that of the remains of my late husband.

The Doe family— consisting of myself, our children, and our direct bloodline—has been working closely with His Excellency President Joseph Boakai’s government to ensure that my husband receives a dignified and rightful reburial. A reburial date will be announced in due course by the appropriate authorities, and no unauthorized actions by Zoe Emmanuel Pennue will be tolerated.

It is appalling that Zoe Emmanuel Pennue, a man who has relentlessly tormented my children and me, is now inserting himself into this solemn matter. This is the same individual who has openly declared over the years,

That’s why Samuel doesn’t have a grave, and I will make sure in my capacity as a lawmaker and senior government official that he will never have a grave.’ Such statements and many others against the late president and ourselves exposed his malicious intent, and it is utterly unacceptable that someone harboring such hostility is involved in any capacity with my husband’s reburial activities.

We demand that Zoe Emmanuel Pennue immediately remove himself from ANY and ALL activities related to my husband’s remains and allow the Doe family, in collaboration with the Liberian government, to carry out the reburial with dignity and respect.

Any further unauthorized actions by Zoe Emmanuel Pennue will be met with FULL LEGAL resistance. The Doe family stands firm in ensuring that my husband receives the honorable resting place he deserves, free from interference and spiritual manipulation. Signed, Mrs. Nancy B. Doe Former First Lady of the Republic of Liberia