PHOTO: One of the SUP protesters who got blooded up (Left)
By Our Staff Writer
Images on social media and eyewitness accounts speak of a bloody encounter between protesting students of the University of Liberia campus-based party, SUP and disrupters of the ruling CDC’s Council of Patriots, as official ceremony marking the country’s 175 independence anniversary was being held in the other extreme end of Monrovia on Tuesday, July 26, 2022.
Reports say while SUP militants were peacefully carrying out their FIXOURCOUNTRY campaign protest around the UN Drive within the Mamba Point diplomatic enclave, militants of CDC COP violently moved in and disrupted the protest, leaving a number of the SUP protesters injured, some seriously.
But so far, the ruling CDC has not officially reacted to the claim of violent assault being unleashed by their supporters against the SUP protesters.
Ahead of the celebrations, SUP officials announced their demonstration, with its Chairman Chairman Mustapha N. Kanneh saying that the protest would be held and that they were boycotting this year’s Independence celebration, due to bad governance and rampant corruption; stating there was nothing to celebrate in the midst mass suffering.
The July 26 violence has been strongly condemned by two of Liberia’s opposition parties—the National Democratic Coalition (ND) and Alexander Cummings’ Alternative National Congress (ANC). (SEE FULL TEXT OF BOTH PARTIES’ STATEMENTS AT THE END OF THIS STORY BELOW)
The NDC said in a statement issued on Wednesday: “The shameful reaction of government to the FixOurCountry campaign is a clear indication that the roguish Weah administration will not perform or cooperate to improve the conditions of the Liberian people. It is therefore time for Weah to leave. So, Weah must go!”
The NDC statement signed by its Chairman Professor Alaric Tokpa said: By now, it should be clear to the Weah administration that no one has monopoly over violence in a post war country. The choice to express constitutional rights is not cowardice. The desire for peace in Liberia is not cowardice. The determination to remove the Weah government from power through the ballot box is what the democratic and progressive forces fought for with their lives. That is what will be pursue unabated. However, if the Weah government has chosen to invite the application of violence in the political field, it should have itself to blame.”
The ANC in its statement placed the blame for the violent breakup of the SUP protest squarely on the feet of top CDC officials in government.
ANC is particularly alarmed and disturbed by evidence of video images in which the thugs and bandits were escorted by uniformed police officers of the Liberian National Police (LNP), who watched and smiled, as peaceful students were attacked, beaten, tied and made naked in public.
“This is political gangsterism and reckless bravado that taints our decency and democracy as a people, and strikes a poisonous bullet in the spinal cord of our democratic tradition of free speech and peaceful assembly,” says Alexander Cummings, Standard Bearer of the ANC.
According to the ANC, it has written a formal letter to Liberia’s Justice Minister, Cllr. Frank Musa Dean calling on the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Liberia, Cllr. Frank Musa Dean, Jr., to immediately order a full investigation and the arrest of the alleged perpetrators of Tuesday’s violent attack.
In one account, a local radio station, K-news quoted the Spokesperson of SUP, Mohammed Shabazz Jalloh as saying, Mayor Koijee was the mastermind behind the CDC supporters’ action.
“They provided justification that the reason why they were inflicting wounds on peaceful citizens was because the Government provided free tuition for the students. From their speeches, you could understand that these were thugs of the CDC. They were identified by their paraphernalia and by their names,” the SUP spokesman added.
NDC CONDEMNS THE BRUTAL ATTACK
ON UNIVERSITY OF LIBERIA STUDENTS
BY THE WICKED DICTATORSHIP OF GEORGE WEAH
STANDS IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE
UNIVERSITY STUDENT MOVEMENT AND THE LIBERIAN PEOPLE
Calls for Weah to Leave!
The National Democratic Coalition (NDC) strongly condemns the brutal attack of the wicked George Weah CDC dictatorship on the courageous University of Liberia student community for organizing and leading the FixOurCountry campaign during the 175th anniversary of Liberia’s independence.
Alaric K. Tokpa, NDC Chair (Left) and Nyaquoi K. Kargbo, Political leader (Right)
On July 26, 2022, the brave militants of the Student Unification Party (SUP) of the university of Liberia used the occasion to call national and international attention to the plight of the Liberian people through the peaceful FixOurCountry demonstration. The concerns raised by the students have been attested to nationally by political parties, civil society organizations, religious institutions, and members of the Liberian public for a very long time.
The July 26 attack on the leaders and militants of SUP led to physical injuries to young people and future leaders of Liberia. we do not know yet whether any death will result. But, by unleashing state sponsored thugs on the University of Liberia students, the ineffective Weah government has only added to the list of atrocities that it continues to commit in Liberia.
The shameful reaction of government to the FixOurCountry campaign is a clear indication that the roguish Weah administration will not perform or cooperate to improve the conditions of the Liberian people. It is therefore time for Weah to leave. So, Weah must go!
If blood has become the only acceptable price for freedom, peace, social justice, and development in Liberia, the University of Liberia students, under the formidable and fearless leadership of SUP have made the ultimate sacrifice. Weah must go!
By now, it should be clear to the Weah administration that no one has monopoly over violence in a post war country. The choice to express constitutional rights is not cowardice. The desire for peace in Liberia is not cowardice. The determination to remove the Weah government from power through the ballot box is what the democratic and progressive forces fought for with their lives. That is what will be pursue unabated. However, if the Weah government has chosen to invite the application of violence in the political field, it should have itself to blame.
The NDC holds the CDC government of George Weah directly responsible for the brutality displayed by the state sponsored thugs against the leaders and militants of SUP on July 26. The NDC therefore calls on ECOWAS, the African Union, the United Nations, the European Union, the United States government, and all other international friends of Liberia to call on George Weah to stop the evil in Liberia. The international community should not sit by and watch the Weah dictatorship drown Liberia in blood and instability before intervening. Its time for Weah to go.
The false belief that the children and people of Liberia can be brought into submission through violence is an illusion. After the July 26 attack on the peaceful University of Liberia student demonstrators, the Weah dictatorship has a choice to make; either to avoid future violence against the Liberian people and get ready to leave office come 2023 or speed up its own downfall. Whatever the case, the NDC remains committed to standing with the constitutional and legitimate demands of the University of Liberia students and the downtrodden people of Liberia.
Issued by Authority of the Executive Committee of the NDC on this 27th day of July 2022
Signed: Approved:
Alaric K. Tokpa Nyaquoi K. Kargbo
National Chairman Political Leader
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ANC CONDEMNS UNPROVOKED VIOLENT ATTACK AGAINST PEACEFULLY PROTESTING UNIVERSITY STUDENTS AND CALLS FOR THE IMMEDIATE INVESTIGATION, ARREST AND PROSECUTION OF JEFFERSON KOIJEE, BEN BELIEVE TOGBAH, ABDURAHMAN BARRIE AND OTHERS FOR THUGISH VIOLENCE
ANC leader Alexander Cummings
Monrovia, Liberia. 27 July 2022 – The Alternative National Congress (ANC) has strongly condemned the unprovoked violent attack, torture and humiliation, on peaceful protesting students of the University of Liberia under the banner of the Student Unification Party (SUP), by state-sponsored thugs and bandits, recruited, organized trained and financed by Jefferson Koijee, Nathaniel McGill and President George Weah – for the sole purpose of violently crushing political dissent and instilling fear and terror in the opposition community and citizens who disagree with the Government’s policies and practices.
The group of thugs and bandits, under the command and instruction of Jefferson Koijee, were, during the violent attack, led by officials of the CDC-COP including Ben Believe Togba, Poker Roberts and one Abdurahman Barrie, outgoing Student Council President from the African Methodist Episcopal University (AMEU) – a fellow who is believed to head the Consortium of University Students for the Re-election of President Weah. In fact, in a Facebook post, few minutes after the violent attacks, Ben Believe Togba, leader of the attackers, wrote boastfully on his page: “under special instructions from our supreme leader Jefferson Tamba Koijee, we carried out attacks against UL students (SUP) this morning. Next time we will use live bullets!”
ANC is therefore calling on the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Liberia, Cllr. Frank Musa Dean, Jr., to immediately order a full investigation and the arrest and prosecution of Jefferson Koijee, Ben Believe Toba, Poker Roberts, Abdurahman Barrie, and others, for the violent attacks on peaceful protesting students.
In a letter to Liberia’s Justice Minister Frank Musah Dean, with copies to the American Ambassador, AU and ECOWAS, the ANC vehemently frowns on what appears to be a persistent pattern of conduct of grooming and institutionalizing domestic terror by George Weah, Nathaniel McGill and Jefferson Koijee to distribute violence through thugs and bandits in order to instill fear in the opposition community and silent dissenting voices.
ANC is particularly alarmed and disturbed by evidence of video images in which the thugs and bandits were escorted by uniformed police officers of the Liberian National Police (LNP), who watched and smiled, as peaceful students were attacked, beaten, tied and made naked in public.
“This is political gangsterism and reckless bravado that taints our decency and democracy as a people, and strikes a poisonous bullet in the spinal cord of our democratic tradition of free speech and peaceful assembly,” says Alexander Cummings, Standard Bearer of the ANC.
The ANC says the organization, financing and sponsoring of violent thugs and bandits by Weah, McGill under the direct control and command of Koijee – for the sole purpose of instigating violence and inflicting unimaginable havoc of mega proportions against the opposition community and dissenting voices – is a reprehensible abuse of public office and is tantamount to domestic terrorism.
It is a matter of public knowledge that university students from the Student Unification Party (SUP) had long announced that they would protest, and had in fact gone on July 26, 2022 to peacefully present a petition to the United States Ambassador, with a demand: “Weah Must Fix the Country.” In counter reaction, thugs and bandits, acting under the command of Koijee, under the theme “Weah is Fixing the Country” and escorted by officers of the LNP, stormed the gathering of the peaceful protesting students, chased them with rocks and sticks, abducted and kidnapped some students, and tied and naked them. In a video circulating on social media, thugs and bandits sponsored by the government were seen manhandling Christopher Walter Sisulu Sivilii in the presence of some officers of the Liberia National Police (LNP), which brings to memory the ugly past in our country’s history when rights activists were brutalized and hunted simply because they stood up for the right things to be done, that led to 14 years of civil unrest.
“This is an unacceptable provocation and creeping lawlessness which must not be tolerated, says Senator Daniel F. Naatehn, National Chairman of the ANC.
Though not surprising, it is sad that the Government is yet to release a statement regarding the act of gangsterism exhibited by loyalists of the ruling party on the day marking the country’s 175th independence celebration. The ANC is therefore calling the attention of the international community – the United Nations, the African Union, ECOWAS, European Union, and the US Government – to this barbaric act and encourage all civil society organizations, women and student groups and other political parties to condemn the attacks on July 26 at the American Embassy near Monrovia.
ANC says, the right to protest is a fundamental right, guaranteed under Article 15 (Freedom of Expression) and Article 17 (Freedom of Peaceful Assembly) of the 1986 Liberian Constitution. It is the right of every Liberian to peacefully assemble against ills in the society. The systematic pattern of conduct by Weah, McGill and Koijee to recruit, organize, train, finance and sponsor thugs and bandits to crush and inflict injuries on dissenting voices and the opposition community during the exercise of their democratic right, is unacceptable.
Fresh on our minds is the 2018 bloody riot and thuggish violence led by Koijee against opposition rally in District 13; the 2019 bloody violence in District 15 by thugs under the command of Koijee; and several violent attacks on multiple occasions by Koijee-led thugs against peacefully protesting university students. The persistent violent pattern of conduct by Koijee has led United States Congressman Rep. Chris Smith, a Ranking Member of the House Subcommittee on Africa and co-chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission to remark: “I am especially concerned by allegations surrounding Monrovia Mayor Jefferson Koijee and the thuggish behavior of the Congress for Democratic Change Security Force he heads.”
Similarly, the International Justice Group (IJG) has dubbed Koijee as the “perpetrator-in-chief “who behaves like a violent psychopath who acts under the authority of President Weah and is shielded and protected by him.” The IJG has accused Koijee of overseeing violent actions by “vigilante groups” loyal to the party and current Government, and has been responsible for incitment and participation in acts of violence against citizens and opposition member.
It can be recalled that Weah, McGill and Koijee have been linked to organizing, financing, sponsoring and arming vigilante militias comprising armed robbers, ex-combatants and violent militants from the ruling CDC into the “Sabu Unit”, “Kuba Unit”, and “Moscow Empire”; groups noted for carrying out bloody attacks against opposition figures and innocent civilians to instill fear and cause death.
ANC is also therefore calling on the Minister of Justice to set up an independent panel to investigate and probe the thuggish behavior blessed by Weah and McGill, and executed through Koijee.
LIBERIA DESERVES BETTER!
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Aloysius Toe
National Secretary General