Michèle Ndoki Escapes Arrest After Disô Coalition Exposes Election Irregularities

Cameroonian lawyer and political figure Barrister Michèle Ndoki, co-founder of Les Bâtisseurs de la Nation (The Nation Builders), has fled her home after narrowly escaping arrest in the aftermath of the disputed 2025 presidential election.

Her flight followed the publication of preliminary findings by the Disô project, a citizen-led election-monitoring initiative coordinated by the Nation Builders and a coalition of civil-society groups. The data gathered by the project contradicted official figures later released by the Constitutional Council — findings that declared long-time incumbent Paul Biya the winner.

Two years of preparation

The Disô project was two years in the making, developed quietly between 2023 and 2025 by a network of lawyers, IT specialists, and civic organisers under Ndoki’s leadership. The name Disô — meaning “sentinel” in several Cameroonian languages — reflected its purpose: to watch over the people’s vote.

Initially, the team aimed to deploy 30,000 trained volunteer observers across all ten regions of Cameroon. Despite facing limited resources and growing political pressure, the project successfully trained and mobilised 9,000 observers. On election day, thousands more citizens contributed through crowdsourced data — sending photos, voice messages, and signed results sheets (procès-verbaux) from polling stations to the Disô platform.

Using a PWA smartphone application, the system transmitted data to a central online platform for cross-verification. This created one of the most comprehensive citizen-generated databases of election results ever assembled in Cameroon’s political history.

“The goal was simple: transparency,” Ndoki explained during a press briefing. “Every vote recorded by citizens strengthens democracy. We wanted to give people confidence that their voices were seen and counted.”

Preliminary findings that contradicted the state

Within 48 hours of the polls closing, Disô’s analysts completed a first aggregation of verified data. The findings, presented publicly at a press conference in Yaoundé, showed Issa Tchiroma Bakary leading with a comfortable margin—a result that sharply diverged from official projections.

“Our figures were consistent, verifiable, and based on signed documents,” said KIngsley Sheteh Newuh, one of the Nation Builders co-founders. “There was no ambiguity. The pattern was clear: Biya had lost.”

The press conference drew national and international attention, placing Disô and its public face, Michèle Ndoki, in the direct crosshairs of the authorities. This came after multiple threats by Minister of Territorial Administration Atanga, Nji Paul, directly targeting Michele. He issued warnings during many press conferences.

The crackdown begins

Even before the Constitutional Council could convene to proclaim the results, security forces moved against the Disô coalition. According to members of the group, uniformed officers arrived at Ndoki’s residence.

A source close to the lawyer confirmed that she received a discreet warning that an arrest warrant had been issued and that her movements were being monitored.

That same night, Ndoki left Yaoundé and went to Douala, where she stayed low, avoiding her residence. However, as the monitoring increased in the buildup to the announcement of the official results, she decided Cameroon was not safe for her anymore. Travelling through backroads and rural corridors, she journeyed across the Adamawa and Far North regions, navigating through territory marked by insecurity and occasional checkpoints. After several days, she went into hiding and so far, has refused to disclose her location. But she reassures that she is safe.

“I chose to go through the North because there were already so many protests there and attention had shifted to that and focus was also on Issa Tchiroma Bakary and his residence. Also, no one was expecting me to be moving towards a volatile region, when people were moving away,” Ndoki told MMI.

Her escape proved timely. In the days that followed, the government launched a nationwide sweep targeting opposition and civil-society figures, detaining dozens in Yaoundé, Douala, Garoua and Bafoussam.

A voice of resistance

From her current location, Ndoki has remained in communication with her team and allies. She has been a guest on MMI’s Road To Etoudi to talk about the work they are doing.

“The evidence we gathered belongs to the people. No power, however entrenched, can erase that truth. Disô is not about politics — it’s about accountability.”

The lawyer’s calm defiance has made her a symbol of civic courage in a country where dissent is often met with criminalisation.

A prominent figure in Cameroon’s democratic movement, Ndoki was already known for her outspokenness. A former vice-president of the opposition Mouvement pour la Renaissance du Cameroun (MRC), she was arrested in 2019 for leading post-election protests and later released after eight months in detention. Since then, she has shifted her focus from partisan politics to civic engagement, founding Les Bâtisseurs de la Nation to “build democratic citizenship from the ground up.”

Inside the Disô project

Disô’s design was both technical and grassroots. It combined mobile data collection with civic education, encouraging citizens to act as witnesses to the electoral process. Observers were trained to document polling procedures, note irregularities, and photograph results sheets before they were transmitted to official collation centres.

Data from the field was reviewed by verification teams to ensure authenticity and consistency. According to internal reports, 72 hours after the end of election day, the system had received more than 52,000 entries, including 8,700 high-resolution images of signed results sheets.

Disô’s findings were subsequently cross-referenced against the official results later announced by the Constitutional Council — revealing major discrepancies in multiple constituencies, including sudden reversals of tallies in favour of the ruling party.

Reactions and international concern

Human-rights organisations and regional observers have voiced alarm at the targeting of opposition leadership in Cameroon.

Meanwhile, Cameroon’s government has remained silent on the attempted arrests but has accused “foreign-funded entities” of trying to “destabilise the country.” ELECAM, the official electoral commission, dismissed the citizen data as “unofficial and misleading,” though it did not address the specific irregularities documented by Disô observers.

A dangerous precedent

Analysts warn that the crackdown on citizen monitoring could set a dangerous precedent. “When governments criminalise transparency, they erode the very legitimacy they seek to protect,” said a regional election observer familiar with the situation. “Disô showed that technology can make manipulation harder — and that is precisely why it was targeted.”

For Ndoki, the consequences have been deeply personal. Friends describe her journey to safety as harrowing, involving days of travel under threat, limited communication, and reliance on local sympathisers in the north. Yet, they say, she has remained resolute.

“She knew the risks,” said one of her colleagues. “She told us that if the truth costs her freedom, it is still worth telling.”

The broader struggle for democracy

Cameroon’s 2025 election has been widely criticised for its lack of transparency, limited media access, and the exclusion of opposition candidates through administrative hurdles. With President Biya now in power for over four decades, calls for democratic renewal have grown louder — but so have state efforts to silence dissent.

In that context, the story of Michèle Ndoki and the Disô coalition reflects a broader battle over truth and accountability. Their experience highlights both the possibilities and perils of citizen empowerment in tightly controlled political systems.

From exile, Ndoki continues to advocate for the release of detained opposition figures and all protesters who came out peacefully to denounce the fraud. “The people of Cameroon did not vote for fear. They voted for change.”

As the country awaits potential international responses and civil-society pushes for transparency, one thing is clear. Disô initiative has transformed Cameroon’s democratic landscape, showing that even under pressure, citizens can build systems of accountability that power cannot easily erase.

MMI News