By Allison Z. T. Dunner
In what can only be described as an astonishing act of political theater, Celue Doe-Addo, a woman of unproven paternity and zero legal standing, has surfaced with a self-appointed voice in a national matter far beyond her remit: the reburial of President Samuel Kanyon Doe.
Let us begin with the facts. On 8 May 2025, Former First Lady Mrs. Nancy B. Doe, together with her daughter Mrs. Veronica Mamie Doe, issued a final and official letter of cancellation to the Government of Liberia regarding the State Reburial plans for their beloved husband and father. Their letter outlined an appalling trail of exclusion, spiritual insult, and Government backed interference led by none other than Senator Zoe Emmanuel Pennue, a man surrounded by a catalogue of deeply disturbing allegations ranging from property theft to ritual killings. The First Lady’s letter exposes the reburial scheme for what it truly is a disrespectful, politically hijacked production masquerading ahead of President Joseph Nyuma Boakai’s Memorial and National Healing Day.
And then like an ill-timed joke delivered at a funeral Celue Doe-Addo emerges the very next day with her own public letter, directly contradicting the widow of the late President and his eldest, legitimate child.
Who is Celue Doe-Addo to even be writing this letter? As an investigative journalist, I am duty bound to ask the hard questions the public tiptoes around. This is a woman who, by most insider accounts, is known as a loud “outside child” reportedly fathered through one of the President’s youthful indiscretions with a woman known more for her “cultural performances” at Liberia’s historic Kendejah Cultural Center than fidelity who famously danced without brassieres as a teenager. As is customary in many Liberian households, the First Lady graciously raised her among the Doe children out of maternal mercy, not recognition of legitimacy.
For over 30 years, while the Former First Lady waged relentless legal and political battles to protect her husband’s legacy, Celue Doe-Addo was nowhere to be found. She was silent, uninvolved, and invisible through every wave of public humiliation and institutional obstruction the family endured. Yet now, with the scent of cameras flashing and public attention swelling, she resurfaces from the shadows to claim a voice not just equal to, but greater than that of the very woman who bore the cost of history. This is not bravery; it is a calculated act of betrayal cloaked in borrowed government fabric, and it reeks of entitlement, manipulation, and contempt.
Let us not forget, it was this same Celue Doe-Addo, who just last month orchestrated a one-woman memorial service in Liberia for an entire country’s President, without a single notice to the Doe Family, no coordination, no consultation, and certainly no consent. What was meant to be a solemn tribute turned into an amateur spectacle so poorly executed that it became the subject of widespread mockery online. Videos circulated, memes followed, and public opinion responded with ridicule, not reverence. In fact, her “performance” was received so poorly that she abruptly left Liberia earlier than planned, reportedly to escape the backlash. And now, fresh off that public embarrassment, she re-emerges with a glowing tribute to a government that has disrespected the very family she claims to represent? The irony is both painful and theatrical.
Her gushing praise for Minister Jarso Jallah called out in the Doe Family’s official cancellation letter for their silence and complicity reek of political pandering. Her suggestion that this process “transcends politics” is not just ironic it is laughable. Even more absurd is the fact that, through my independent investigation, apart from Senator Zoe Pennue, we have found no evidence whatsoever that Celue Doe-Addo had any prior communication with Minister Jallah, before the very day she penned that letter. Her glowing commendations of the Minister’s “unwavering dedication” are therefore not only exaggerated they are entirely manufactured. One must ask: how does someone lavish such effusive praise upon a person they have never spoken to, consulted with, or even met?
Even more troubling is how Celue conveniently positions herself as the voice of “unity,” while actively undermining the direct descendants of President Doe. There is no law, no tradition, and no spiritual order in Liberia that places an “outside child” with no documented proof of paternity above a widow and her firstborn daughter.
