Legendary Congolese musician Koffi Olomide has commenced legal action against those he alleges are abusing his name.
In a letter to the Attorney General of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Koffi, whose real names Antoine Christophe Agbepa Mumba, says his image is being tarnished and his right to privacy abused.
“My name is being quoted abusively and shamelessly all day long, thus tarnishing my image and going so far as to infringe on my private life,” he said to social media content creators, artistes and especially residents of Kinshasa.
In recent weeks, Koffi’s infidelity has been a subject of public discussion in Kinshasa. It follows the conclusion of his divorce to his wife Alyane.
Moments later, a video compilation linking Koffo to an affair with his daughter’s friend Deborah Bonginda emerged.
Koffi’s daughter, Didi Stone Olomide, is a 23 year old French model. A video circulating in the DRC collects sequence of events in which Deborah interacted with Didi and later the father.
Koffi Olomidé is one of Africa’s most popular singers who is not new to sexual controversy having been found guilty of statutory rape of one of his former dancers when she was 15. The verdict was in 2019.
He was handed a two-year suspended jail sentence by a court in France in absentia, as he failed to turn up.
The ruling meant that the Congolese star only faces arrest if he committed further offences.
Olomidé, 66, was ordered to pay 5,000 euros ($5,700; £4,300) in damages to the former dancer.
The court in Nanterre, outside Paris, also ordered him to pay a fine of the same amount for helping three women enter France illegally.
Olomidé’s lawyer has hailed the ruling as a victory, telling journalists it would result in the withdrawal of the star’s international arrest warrant.
Koffi Olomidé is a huge star of rumba and soukous which are popular across much of Africa.
The singer, whose real name is, Antoine Agbepa Mumba, has been in trouble with the law several times before:
In 2018 Zambia ordered his arrest after he allegedly assaulted a photographer
In 2016 he was arrested and deported after he assaulted one of his dancers in Kenya
In 2012 he was convicted in DR Congo of assaulting his producer and received a three-month suspended prison sentence
In 2008 he was accused of kicking a cameraman from DR Congo’s private RTGA television station and breaking his camera at a concert, but the two later were later reconciled.
KOFFI’S LETTER
Ref: 001/ACAM/KO/KIN/2023
Copy sent for information to:
Mr. Attorney General
From Kinshasa/Gombe
In Kinshasa/Gombe To Madam and Gentlemen the chroniclers:
Naty LOKOLE
Ken MPIANA
Thierry MOMBAYA
Vincent TSHILUIZI
AYDOR
Chantal Bola
Popol MUPASULA
MBUTA LIKASU
All, in Kinshasa
Concerns: Formal ban on citing my name in your broadcasts Of musical chronicles: Television, YouTube and others.
(Last caveat)
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am sorry to see that my name is quoted abusively and shamelessly all day long in your musical chronicles, thus tarnishing my image and going so far as to infringe on my private life.
I categorically oppose this light and unscrupulous practice and wish to inform you that your action constitutes a violation of article 31 of the constitution of our country which guarantees the right to privacy.
I am copying the Attorney General to whom I would not hesitate to lodge a complaint against you, if you persist in doing so instead of making amends.
I would have warned you.
Antoine Christophe AGBEPA MUMBA (Koffi Olomide)
Credit: Additional Reporting By BBC
