Yahya Delo Djirou is the cousin of interim President Mohamed Idriss Deby. He participated in his uncle's revolution against Hissene Habré between 1989 and 1990.
He then became a founding member of an armed organization to overthrow him in 2005. He returned to become a minister and an official in his government starting in 2008. In late February 2024, it was announced that he was killed in clashes at the headquarters of the Socialist Party that he headed. His supporters consider a plan to remove him from the competition for the presidential position.