Danièle Obono

Obono was born on 12 July 1980 in Libreville, Gabon.[1] to a prominent Gabonese family.[2] She is the daughter of Hortense Simbou Mbadinga, a secretary at Air Gabon, and Martin Edzodzomo-Ela, an economist who was a senior executive at the Paribas-Gabon bank from 1975 to 1979 before he was dismissed for his opposition to the regime of Omar Bongo,[3] who was also a candidate in the Gabonese presidential election of 1998.[4][5] She lived in Gabon until she was about ten years old, and she attended university in Montpellier.[2] She became a naturalized French citizen in 2011.[6]

After graduating from university, Obono became a librarian in Paris.[7] In 2002, she obtained a master's degree in history at the University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne, studying the economic relationship between France and Gabon during the second half of the 20th century under the supervision of Jacques Marseille.[8] In 2003, she started a doctoral program in political science at the Institute of The African World (fr), focusing on social and democratic movements in Nigeria, though she began her political career before completing that degree.[2]

A member of La France Insoumise, Obono was elected in the legislative election of 2017.[9][10] She was also the spokesperson for Jean-Luc Mélenchon, together with Alexis Corbière.[11]

In the legislature, Obono has served on the Law Commission, the Commission on European Affairs, and the Foreign Affairs Commission.[12][13][14]

In August 2020, the right-wing French magazine Valeurs actuelles published a seven-page fantasy story and illustrations of Obono as a slave in chains facing the sunset, shackled beside a fire, under the title "summer fantasy story", prompting an outcry from politicians of all parties.[15] The right-wing French close to Marine le Pen magazine also falsely claims that it was a satire while it offended millions of people throughout the country.