Lawyer Alice Nkom said on 26 October 2026 that she had accepted a mandate to defend dismissed Captain Kenneth Effoudou, who faces a defamation suit brought by lawyer Félicité Esther Zeifman, and she rejected objections to her choice of client.
"My place, my role and my legitimacy are neither to be discussed nor questioned," Nkom said in a public statement, adding that she would tolerate "no interference and no attempt at destabilisation." She described herself as the captain's "mother of heart" and said she had been formally designated to lead his defence.
Zeifman, who describes Nkom as her mentor, had publicly contested the decision, saying Nkom could not be unaware that the captain's accusations were false. Nkom did not address that argument in the statement.
In a separate statement the same day, Nkom mourned Hadja Haoua, whom she called "our sister" and "a fighter," and said the circumstances of the death should not be left as a forgotten news item. She gave no account of what happened and named no one as responsible, saying she would return to the matter at greater length.
The two statements place Nkom, a long-standing figure at the Cameroon bar, at the centre of a legal dispute and a death her words treat as a matter of public conscience.
Sources
- 237 Actu Affaire Effoudou : Me Alice Nkom prend la défense du Capitaine et recadre Me Zeifman
- Actu Cameroun Me Alice Nkom : " … j'apprends la disparition de notre sœur Hadja Haoua "
- Cameroun Actuel Décès de Hadja Haoua : Me Alice Nkom exprime sa douleur et réclame que la lumière soit faite sur sa disparition