IPNEWS-Monrovia: On Tuesday, January 5, 2022 when the opposition Alternative National Congress (ANC) political leader Alexander Benedict Cummings (ABC) was granted a criminal bond bail by the Monrovia City Court for alleged forgery and criminal conspiracy having been sued by another opposition All Liberian Party (ALP) political leader Mr. Benoni Urey, the ANC political leader told his supporters to brace for a ‘long political battle’ in the wake of the legal suit.

Cummings, upon being granted bail by the court on Tuesday, said he sees the ALP’s action as an opportunity to lay the allegation of the tampering of the CPP Framework Document to rest. He said it is his intention to see the entire saga settled. While thanking the ANC and his supporters for standing with him, he acknowledged that it was only the beginning of a long legal fight. “…the battle is, however, just beginning so, let’s get ready for a long political fight. Thanks for your show of support,” he said.

The ANC political leader also hailed the judicial system so far for doing the right thing and hopes that it will continue to do so in the future so that the rights of ordinary people are respected.

On Wednesday, January 6, 2022 when Solicitor General Seyma Syrennius Cephas briefly spoke to SPOON Talk via telephone, he was quizzed whether the Government of Liberia had any interest to get back at Mr. Alexander Cummings of the ANC because of reports that the ANC political leader was accused of being one of those lobbying internationally to sanction the George Weah-led administration due to bad governance.

According to SPOON Talk panelists, a law suit from a private citizen against Mr. Cummings alleging forgery and criminal conspiracy, automatically becomes a case for the Government to prosecute since it is an alleged criminal case.

The panelists wonder whether the Government of Liberia was using the Benoni Urey lawsuit against Cummings to get at him politically since he is alleged to be one of the masterminds working behind the scene internationally to sanction the Weah-led administration.

But reacting to the inquiry, Cllr. Cephas said the Government is only prosecuting the case because of its alleged criminal nature. He said the only interest the Government has in the case is for justice to be done for all parties to be satisfied. “This case did not originate from the Government so since it has criminal nature all the Ministry of Justice is doing is to ensure all parties are given due process for justice to be done in accordance with the law,” Cllr. pointed out.

On how long with the case will go on, Cllr. Cephas said if there are no impediments along the way, the legal time table should be about 41 days given all factors being constant.

But some callers on SPOON Talk Wednesday had apprehensions, stating that there could be manipulations along the way for the government to get even with Mr. Cummings, who also accused the Weah-led administration of being the secret hand behind the legal suit against him.

The ANC political leader on Monday, January 3, 2022 accused the George Weah-led government of conniving with the political leader of the All Liberian Party (ALP), which is also a member of the opposition Collaborating Political Parties (CPP), to further enhance the disunity brewing among the opposition political parties.

However, Information Minister Ledgerhood Rennie debunked the allegation against the government and noted that, “The Liberian Government is focused on continuing its efforts at delivering on the national development agenda and has interest in the petit and divisive internal political arrangements of the CPP.”

Meanwhile, Mr. Alexander Cummings says the criminal case against him by a colleague in the opposition is a conspiracy intended to taint his hard-earned character and paint him as they are.

Political pundits wonder why is it that the ALP which has decided to leave the CPP has chosen to put a wedge within the Collaboration when it is already leaving by taking legal suit against one of its members. “This only shows sinister motives and a plan to disrupt the CPP and ANC from being a political force to battle the CDC in 2023. Taking Cummings to Court might put a dent on him if he is found guilty of a crime did not commit and may not be qualified to contest the 2023 elections,” one pundit says.

“The All Liberian Party had a convention and decided that we will withdraw from the CPP and then we will prosecute whosoever was involved in forging our signature, altering the document that we participated in that is called the Framework Document and bring them to justice,” Benoni Urey said recently.

Urey said the ALP went in the collaboration in good faith hoping that they will meet the desires of the Liberian people. He, however, maintained that the document was altered: the signature page was forged, the exit clause was removed and the front page of the document was change.

The Spoon Talk panelists also wondered why is Mr. Benoni Urey behaving as a frontline soldier for the CPP which his ANC party has already announced is leading? “Whose battle is Mr. Urey fighting within the CPP that his party has left,” the panelists asked.

The ALP on Monday complained Mr. Cummings and the ANC to the Monrovia City Court alleging that Cummings had illegally attached the signatures of its leaders to an alleged altered Framework Document filed with the National Elections Commission.

Though the CPP Framework Document was crafted when the ALP political leader, Benoni Urey was Chair, it was submitted to the National Elections Commission under the Cummings’ administration following some revisions after a public backlash at some provisions in the original document.

Appearing on the OK Afternoon Drive on Wednesday, Mr. Cummings said, “That is the objective.  They are trying to make me like them. They want me look like a criminal.”

Cummings denied altering the Framework Document which forms the basis of the legal action brought against him.

He said, there is nothing in the current Framework Document of the Collaborating Political Parties that gives him advantage over other members of the CPP.

Responding to questions about whether he still intends to remain in the collaboration, he answered in the affirmative but said, he would consider going alone to make his case to the Liberian people if it comes to a point where the parties in the CPP are not willing to work together.

“I will run for president in 2023 if the CPP stays together as the standard bearer of the CPP ticket. I will run for president if the CPP doesn’t stay together,” he said.

In response to claims that he (Cummings) had organized a meeting in Accra, Ghana with a plan to offer money to former Vice President Joseph Boakai of the UP to step aside and give him smooth ride to the CPP standard position, he said, “When you earn your money legitimately as I have, you don’t spend your money stupidly.  I don’t pay to play.”

Mr. Cummings is in a head-to-head fight with former Vice President Joseph Boakai to head the Collaboration’s ticket to face off against President Weah.

While Mr. Urey accused Cummings on the VOA of tearing apart the CPP, Cummings said he is determined to build an opposition coalition that may likely not include the ALP to take on President Weah in the 2023 presidential elections and make him a one-term president.

It can be recalled that after an investigation into the alleged tampering of the Framework Document, the investigative committee’s report were submitted to the CPP lawyers who crafted the Framework Document and revised same for review.

In their response the lawyers stated that they made a number of revisions both in substance and structure and the Framework Document as revised was presented at a meeting convened for that purpose and attended by the leadership of the four political parties.

Their revision, according to them, was based on an invitation from the four parties to review the Framework Document as concluded by the four political parties.

The CPP, at the time, according to the lawyers, had stated that the Framework Document reflected the will of the four parties to form a collaboration but wanted to ensure the Framework complied with full legal prescriptions both in terms of substance and structure.

The lawyers, however, stated that they at the time voluntarily agreed to support the process as part of their patriotic commitment to Liberia. “We did so knowing that our contribution will assist in reconciling and engendering an environment for better collaboration and coordination.”

They asserted in a communication addressed to the CPP chairman at the time, Senator Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence, “We note with concern, however, that the issues raised in your letter of October 12, 2021 and upon which we are requested to opine have become the subject or intense internal and external discussions over the past several weeks. This has rendered the process overwhelmingly political thereby marginalizing the efficacy and effect of the Framework Document. Under these circumstances, we find it extremely difficult to advice on the issues presented to us.”

Political bookmakers are watching as the legal proceedings unfold at the Monrovia City Court for Liberians to know the truth but nothing else but the truth.