By Siebo Williams, a Liberian media practitioner

In 2019 when “Team Octavin Togar Williams for PUL President Campaign” announced to Liberian journalists and members of the PUL, the Liberia nation as well as international partners that it was withdrawing from the 2019 PUL elections because it could not be part of an electoral process that was glaringly fraudulent and sinister, supporters of Charles Coffey – his opponent in that election, branded him and his supporters as ‘troublemakers’ who wanted to plunge the Union into chaos.

But before “Team Octavin Togar Williams for PUL President Campaign” could withdraw from that fraudulent PUL electoral process of 2019, several complaints were filed to the PUL membership committee as well as the Election Committee regarding a bloated PUL Voters’ Roll, failure of the Charles Coffey’s leadership to publish the voters list 30 days before the elections as spelled out in the Union’s constitution, and among others. Team Octavin then called for a Voters’ Roll cleanup but the Charles Coffey’s leadership ignored their call because of sinister motives.

         

Campaign posters  Team Octavin and Team Coffey for the 2019 PUL election that was rigged by the Charles Coffey leadership

To find a peaceful remedy, few members of the “Team Octavin Togar Williams for PUL President Campaign” decided to seek a legal course when it filed an Injunction on the 2019 PUL election. As the court hearing was ongoing to get to the nitty-gritty of the matter, the Charles Coffey’s leadership decided to ignore a Bill of Information and Declarative Judgement Petition to the Court and went ahead with the elections without the matter being resolved, as the bloated Voters’ Roll remained as it was to conduct the elections.

On the eve of the 2019 elections, “Team Octavin Togar Williams for PUL President Campaign” decided to boycott and withdraw from the process on grounds that their complaints were not addressed despite a legal suit, and thus it could be a part of a fraudulent PUL election to elect a new corps of officers for the next three years. Also some senior media colleagues called for a truce to avoid dividing the Union, but the aggrieved party had already withdrawn from the fraudulent process to save its dignity and integrity.

The fraudulent PUL election of 2019 saw Charles Coffey hijacking the leadership of the Union for another three years along with then Secretary General Daniel Nyakonah, who had vied for the PUL Vice President position then. For three years the Union remained divided, as those aggrieved members who did not support the fraudulent elections did not recognize the Coffey’s second term leadership.

Under the Coffey’s leadership, the Union was unable to make financial reports for six years regarding all of the local and international supports gotten in the name of Liberian journalists. Every time the Coffey leadership was approached regarding financial reports, they would brand concerned journalists as ‘troublemakers’.

For those PUL members who religiously followed the 2019 electoral saga, they posted on their respective social media pages that “Octavin Togar Williams was right when he said that the PUL was damaged under the leadership of Charles Coffey”.

As Coffey vacates the PUL presidency, he has left a damaged PUL and ruined legacy of a renowned and noble institution that has always been seen by Liberians as the conscience of the society – dictating the path of a democratic society, and setting the political agendas for the rest of Liberia to follow. The PUL is damaged and needs serious redemption.

History Has A Way of Repeating Itself

Fast forward to 2022, the outgoing President of the PUL Charles Coffey, decided to leave a damaging, compromised and ruined legacy behind after his illegitimate presidency at the PUL when he decided to deliberately repeat the 2019 fiasco, by purposely ignoring this time around another complaint from a different contender for the PUL presidency.

However, one of PUL presidential candidates, Julius Kullie Kanubah Campaign Team released a statement on the eve of departure calling on its supporters and sympathizers to stay put until they were informed to leave for Gbarnga.

Team Kanubah had for weeks registered several concerns regarding a bloated Voters’ Roll, which is derived from the PUL membership roster. They called for it to be cleaned, but according to the statement, no final official list was released by the Congress Committee.

It can be recalled in 2019, similar concerns were raised by former PUL Vice President Octavin Williams Campaign Team when he was seeking the PUL presidency. The failure of the Coffey administration to clean the Voters’ Roll led to a legal battle, only in the end for Coffey and his team to ignore a Bill of Information and go ahead with a fraudulent election, which of course Team Octavin withdrew from the election process.

See below Team Kanubah statement before the Kangaroo PUL Elective Congress in Gbarnga

“Ladies and Gentlemen of the media, fellow colleagues, and Comrade Leaders.

It is a pleasure seeing and speaking with you all today. 

We have called you to address some fundamental issues regarding the 2022 Congress of the Press Union of Liberia (PUL). 

The Congress of the PUL is a Constitutional necessity, required every three years. Article 10 of the PUL Constitution, running from Section 1 through Section 9 articulate the functions, roles, responsibilities, structures and schedule of the Congress. Section 2 of Article 10 states that, “Congress shall meet in the second week of November every three years for not less than one day and not more than three days knowing full well that the last day of Congress shall be the second Saturday of November.” 

The current leadership of Charles Coffey and Daniel Nyakonah has been struggling to convene the 2022 Congress of our Union. 

Just last week, the Coffey–Nyakonah leadership unilaterally postponed the Congress, using the publicly declared National Census Day (Friday) as an alibi. 

This postponement was done without our input as leading candidates for the Presidency and Vice Presidency of our Union. 

Notwithstanding, the Coffey – Nyakonah leadership, through Musa Kanneh, released a statement falsely claiming that as candidates, we were consulted. That was and is a blatant lie by the Coffey – Nyakonah leadership along with Musa Kanneh. 

In postponing the Congress, it was announced that this week, from 17 to 19 November, the Congress would be held. 

Key to the convening of any Congress of the PUL is the Membership Register since the Congress, as “the supreme decision-making body of the UNION”, brings together “the entire membership.”

As of this press conference today, the outgoing Coffey – Nyakonah leadership has failed to produce and publish any credible Membership Register of the PUL for 2022, despite occupying and serving the Union for nine (9) solid years. 

Their failure is similar to the ugly situation of 2019, which, based on a fraudulent Membership Register, led to a rigged electoral process even before the day of voting; thereby producing an illegitimate leadership. 

In the face of the repeated systematic violations of the Constitution of the PUL in relation to the convening of the 2022 Congress by the Coffey – Nyakonah leadership, we would like to again inform and urge all our supporters, members of the Press Union of Liberia, and those interested in the democratic development of the PUL and Liberia to stay put and stay clear of any and all activities surrounding the 2022 PUL Congress. 

Staying put and staying clear of the Congress means, please do not venture going to Gbarnga as yet, as doing so, would amount to condoning and crowning an illegitimate process, characterized by fraud and being orchestrated by what is revealing itself to be a network of fraudsters. 

There are several germane issues we have flagged out regarding the 2022 PUL Congress: 

First, the membership registration was characterized by irregularities amounting to fraud.

Second, the Membership Committee, which is a permanent/standing committee of our Union, has not officially published the Final Membership Register of 2022. What was published under the signature of the Membership Committee Chair, Ms. Fabine Kwiah, was the provisional Membership Register. 

Third, we have seen the release of several membership listing since 07 October. One listing had a membership of 1,372; followed by a list of 1,410, and an addendum of 36. 

Fourth, the latest Membership Register or what is being referred to as the Voter Roll was released on 13 November 2022 under the signatures of Carolyn Myers-Zoduah, Chairperson of the 2022 PUL Congress Committee, and Attorney-at-Law Ade Wede Kekuleh, Chairperson of the 2022 PUL Elections and Inauguration Committee. 

Unlike the previous provisional membership registers, the current register or voter roll has a total of 1,426 persons. We do not know how this number was produced and how the number increased over time. Yet these persons listed are deemed as Full Members of our Union, meaning they are considered as eligible to participate in the 2022 PUL Congress and to vote in the Union 2022 elections. 

Disturbingly, however, we have found that the Voter Roll (Membership Register) has not been disaggregated in line with Article 10 Section 7 of the PUL Constitution.  Article 10 Section 7 states that: “The Membership Committee, with the approval of the PUL leadership, shall publish in not less than two local dailies registered members of the Union not later than 30 days before Congress. Lists of all registered members of the Union shall be disaggregated into categories of membership; males and females; due paying and non-due paying (delinquent) members; editors, reporters, etc.” Article 4 Section 1 spells out the Membership Categories of the Union. It says, (i) Full Membership of the PUL shall be granted to Liberian journalists who hold degree(s) in journalism or mass communication from a recognized institution and have practiced for two years. (ii) Full membership shall also be granted journalist with degree(s) in any other discipline who have practiced for a minimum of three years. (iii) Full Membership shall also be granted to journalist who have practiced for five years with recognized and accredited media institutions, employed by or freelancing with either electronic or print media institutions.” 

Troublingly also, we have found that the current Voter roll (Membership Register) is flooded with non-journalists and individuals who have not met the eligibility criteria to hold Full Membership of our Union. But also, the Fabine Kwiah Membership Committee is not aware of the latest Voter Roll. 

Fifth, in releasing the new Membership Register, the names of several eligible journalists, media workers and communication professional who have expressed their unflinching support to us, have been removed without due process. This an act intended to disenfranchise and suppress legitimate members of the PUL. 

But also, we have the case of several journalists whose ID cards have been seized by the PUL leadership because these journalists are deemed to be supporters of us and desirous for change. 

Considering the above points and the repeated ignoring of our calls for an independent panel to audit the 2022 Membership Register of the PUL, we would like our supporters and members of the PUL to remain where they are until they can hear from us on the next steps. 

We should say we are exploring all available avenues to ensure the right thing is done in the interest of our Union. 

To this end, we call on relevant civil society organizations including the Elections Coordinating Committee (ECC) as well as the National Elections Commission to intervene by prevailing on the Coffey – Nyakonah leadership to do the right thing by refraining from hosting an illegitimate Congress. 

We are also asking the National Elections Commission (NEC) not to participate in facilitating the 2022 PUL Elections as doing so would amount to an assault on the democratic process and to condoning acts of fraud in the PUL which should be a democratic institution. 

Thank you!”

Despite these concerns, the Charles Coffey leadership, including his Vice President Daniel Nyakonah, whose hand he lifted to replace him for selfish reasons as PUL President, decided to ignore the concerns of Team Kanubah through the so-called Congress and Election Committees.

It is a pity that media comrades who we thought were imbued with democratic tendencies have turned their faces on the other side for personal reasons instead of the good of the PUL.

Massive Reactions after the Kangaroo Gbarnga Elective Congress and Election

To begin with, prior to going to Gbarnga in Bong County to commence the PUL Elective Congress, rival supporters of candidates in the PUL elections had accused Monrovia City Corporation Mayor, Jefferson Koijee of secretly supporting the candidature of candidate Daniel Nyakonah in his bid to secure the PUL presidency.

While the debate was on whether it was true or not, to the amazement and astonishment of majority PUL members, the Legal Counsel at the MCC, Cllr. Samuel Pearson without any duress disclosed that he was hired by the Press Union of Liberia (PUL) to counter the Injunction placed on the Elective Congress by Team Kanubah.

Did Mayor Koijee Sinisterly Get Involved?

Days before the casting of ballots, Julius Kullie Kanubah (JKK) supporters had alleged the serious sinister involvement of the Mayor of the City of Monrovia, Mr. Jefferson Tamba Koijee.

All of their allegations are yet to be substantiated or proven or other legal entity.

Among many allegations, Kanubah’s supporters, who are journalists, as well, had stated that the Mayor had allegedly given Nyakonah’s team US$10,000. They accused him of reportedly mounting pressure on Judge Kontoe to work in favor of the PUL to remove the injunction. “Hahahaha da real MCC elections oh Koijee rented bus for Daniel, Make his employees to endorse Daniel and now send MCC lawyer Samuel Pearson to represent PUL interest in a case that is scheduled for Tuesday,” s supporter of Team Kanubah posted on social media.

Cllr. Samuel S. Pearson

Indeed, Cllr. Samuel S. Pearson’s expertise was sought after by PUL to help them vacate the injunction that had been placed the day before.

Asked how the process went for the injunction to be lifted, Pearson said, “It was a fine process; I respect the PUL because they are operating in strict compliance with the law. Because when the injunction was filed, our legal services were hired by the other side. We thought that the posture they had maintained by maintaining the peace to ensure that the law takes its course, I think it’s commendable. So, as lawyers what we had to do was to make sure to file an alternative motion to ensure the vacation of the injunction that had been placed on the conduct of the PUL elections. That’s what we have done. The Judge has issued an order for the PUL’s electoral structure to proceed with the elections.”

Cllr. Pearson disclosed that it took him a little long to get the injunction vacated because, “You know to vacate an injunction isn’t a small thing. Because to file a motion to vacate an injunction it means that you have to file it with an indemnity bond. To file an indemnity bond, you have to go to an insurance company to ensure that they execute that bond. So, as to ensure to indemnify the other party so that in case of losses to the other party. Can you imagine, today is Saturday. We had to go Monrovia. And our legal services were being under an impromptus situation. We had to respond in a very robust way.”

Pearson boasted that because of this effectiveness, the PUL got the kind of result that they had wanted. According to him, all the processes required to satisfy the lifting of an injunction were met.

But what Cllr. Pearson never stated was when he became a lawyer for the PUL when in fact he is legal Counsel for the Monrovia City Corporation (MCC), headed by Jefferson Koijee. Did it click to his mind that he as a lawyer for a government entity, the MCC, was ‘being hired by the PUL in his own words,’ a civil society organization? So how then do PUL members determine whether Koijee did not support Daniel Nyakonah as was earlier speculated before the PUL’s Kangaroo elective congress? Was the Judge coerced by MCC lawyer due to the proximity of Koijee to President George Weah? How on earth can an Injunction be quashed under the cover of darkness on a Saturday for that matter when a Circuit Court is not officially opened and operational without the contending parties being heard from?

Night Time PUL Kangaroo Election – First Ever In the History of Liberia

The 1986 Constitution of Liberia, nowhere in it can anyone find whether any Election should start at 6:00 pm. But due to desperation and self-aggrandizement, the Press Union of Liberia (PUL) under the outgoing Charles Coffey’s leadership conducted a PUL election at 6 pm leading to the late hours of the night just to ensure that they elect a new leadership shredded in controversy to replace him through a fraudulent process.

Massive Public Outcries from Veteran and Seasoned Liberian Journalists over the PUL’s Kangaroo Gbarnga Elective Congress

Right after the Kangaroo Gbarnga PUL’s Elective Congress, several esteemed Liberian journalists decided to distance themselves from the fraudulent process.

One of Liberia’s best ever broadcast-television veteran journalists, Aaron B. Kollie, called for Urgent Judicial Review of Controversial PUL’S Elective Congress. 

Renowned veteran Liberian journalist, Aaron B. Kollie sought for urgent legal intervention into what has now become a controversial Press Union of Liberia (PUL)’s 2022 Elective Congress.

“Saturday evening’s late after-hour ruling handed down by the 9th Judicial Circuit Court in Gbarnga, Bong County, in the disputed Press Union of Liberia (PUL) Elective Congress, is the most historically brazen and egregious ill-advised legal judgment by a Liberian court in recent time. As a result, that must be rejected and resisted by the Liberian media in all its forms,” Mr. Kollie said in a special statement he released late Sunday evening, November 20, 2022.

According to the veteran Liberian journalist, the ruling by the court, in a newly cherished judiciary, headed by Chief Justice Sie-A-Nyene Yuoh, that has won public admiration and approbation for its open declaration to uphold the rule of law without fear or favor, has the sole intent and purpose of sowing seeds of discord and disunity within the PUL that should not be entertained, but urgently reviewed at the highest level of the judiciary.

“The letter and/or spirit of law in the instant case, has been openly and wantonly shredded by a sitting judge, extended to a Journalist’s Union that will not go unchallenged legally.  This action has all the trappings and smells of external arms-twisting and interferences, requiring urgent intervention by all stakeholders to safeguard the integrity and sanctity of the media community and the judiciary in Liberia,” he added in his statement.

By the late evening hours of Saturday, November 19, 2022, a court sitting in Gbarnga, Bong County reportedly overturned a writ of injunction that had been sought and secured by the Julius Kanubah Team on account of an alleged uncleaned voter’s registry to which the Daniel Nyakonah Team was reportedly preying on to win the Journalists Union’s presidency and its next corps of leadership.

A deeply concerned Kollie stated that reasoning and common sense must prevail, as the court in Gbarnga “should have at least done the honorable thing by giving both sides, the complainant and the accused, the benefit of the doubt to be heard, in order to determine the merit and demerit of the case at bar,” before hastily rendering or serving out a judgment/ruling in a late Saturday evening judicial bonanza. Describing the Gbarnga court’s ruling as one compared to a “kangaroo-type” court setting that witnessed supporters of the faction allegedly accused of “voter’s roll fraud,” the revered Liberian Media stakeholder added that such a voting under the cover of darkness at the Gbarnga Administrative building to elect a new PUL leadership, to the exclusion of the complainant faction, “will certainly not hold in the journalism community in Liberia, with a one-sided rubber-stamped leadership, to the exclusion of other key stakeholders, regardless of who eventually wins.”

Another veteran Liberian journalist, Moses Zangar, Jr. wrote: “I’ve never been this ashamed!  They held a shambolic election amidst all the writings of disunity on the wall. It’s as if @Daniel Nyakonah has been itching to preside over a quarter of the Union’s membership.  And this is how we nurture dictatorship in Africa. It starts from smaller groups like the PUL. But we will undo that Gbarnga fiasco and reclaim the gloomy image of the PUL.”

Also prominent Liberia statesman, Atty. George Mulbah who is not a media practitioner had a say in the Kangaroo PUL’s Elective Congress: “The decision of a trial Judge is subject to review by the appellate court. In the instant case if the petitioner Julius feel strongly that the Judge was in error he has the right to file an action against the Judge before the Supreme court and also file a prohibition to stop Daniel from taking office until the judge decision is review. In this case the Judge will become a first party or first respondent and Daniel and his team second respondent. Samuel Pearson is not a party. He was just doing his job.”

As for former the Secretary General of the Press Union of Liberia (PUL) and veteran Liberian journalist formerly of ELBC, Radio Veritas and VOA fame, Tom Winston Monboe, he added his voice to that of his colleagues, including Aaron B. Kollie, Jonathan Paye-Layleh, the Publishers Association of Liberia (PAL) and all well-meaning PUL by calling on every stakeholder of the union to uphold its sanctity and aspirations of the founders of the PUL.

In a statement posted on is Facebook page on Monday, November 21, 2022, Mr. Monboe expressed utter disappointment by actions of his colleagues to hurt the reputation and legacy of the Press Union of Liberia.

“A lot of us sacrificed, at some point at the peril of our lives to uphold the sanctity foundational to the aspirations of the founders of the PUL,” the former PUL Chief Scribe said.

Commenting further, the one-time Voice of America (VOA) Liberia’s Correspondent noted: “Our most critical period was when there was the so-called Greater Liberia faction of the PUL. Even during that era, we all demonstrated borderless allegiance to maintain the unity of the Union.”

He then lamented: “What I am reading is not good for the organization to which we have inextricable connection, bounded by a shared professional identity.”

Concluding, the PUL former Secretary General, Tom Winston Monboe, stated: “The elders of the Union need to meet and help to save the Union from what appears to be a creeping public ridicule that could cause a long term reputational damage to our revered and historical watchdog credentials.”

As for another veteran journalist, Michael Butscher, he lauded Winston Monboe saying, “I share your concern as a member of the PUL. UNFORTUNATELY, the union has been hijacked by selfish people with no clue of the mission and vision of the PUL. 

I suggest an injunction should be sought from the court to put a hold on any handing over to a new administration and a caretaker administration commissioned with a definite tenure and clear terms of reference to put the organization into order. To salvage and sanitize a once reputable entity. My take.”

It can be recalled prior to the controversial Gbarnga PUL elective congress, veteran Liberian journalist of BBC-fame, Jonathan Paye-Layleh called on the PUL leadership to put a hold on the election aspect of the Congress until all concerns raised by a contending candidate and his team regarding the process leading to the elections are amicably resolved.

Mr. Paye-Layleh, who is also a former president, Press Club, PUL; former chairman, PUL Grievance & Ethics Committee; former member, PUL Election Committee; and former, PUL Mediation Committee in the Rodney Sieh-Chris Toe Case, says he was troubled by the ongoing election-related controversy in the Union as it was set go to the poll, and called for intervention and understanding that will get the matter amicably resolved in the interest of the oneness that has kept the journalist body together over the years. But his plead fell on duck’s back as the Charles Coffey leadership fail to heed.

Journalist Samuel Doe also wrote about his disenchantment and displeasure about the PUL’s kangaroo Elective Congress held in Gbarnga.

“The PUL election results announced sounds too comical & must be rejected. The Press Union of Liberia election results announced in Gbarnga, Bong County on Saturday is the most comical and disgraced journalists’ election ever held since the formation of this noble institution the Press Union of Liberia. 

Can you imagine, From the total of over one thousand four hundred plus Official membership listing of the Press Union of Liberia that should have turned out to vote their new leaders that will constitutionally stir the affairs of PUL, during the conduct of this fraudulent election,  PUL Election Commission comically reported a laughable election results in which the election committee announced that Daniel Nyakonah the incumbent vice President who contested to replace his controversial boss Charles Coffey, who was seen escaping from a Court Sheriff to receive a Writ of Injunction prey for by Julius Kanubah’s election Team, he Coffey’s vice president according to election Committee’s report got 333 votes and the candidate who abstained from the voting process and advised all PUL members not to turn out to vote until the right things are done especially the paddling of the Voter’s roll with unfit and nonmembers of the Press Union of Liberia by the incumbent leadership of the PUL, but according to the PUL election results, the popular PUL’s candidate Julius Kanubah got 15 votes. 

What is more laughable is that despite the absence of the majority PUL voting members that were told not to participate in the process by their leader, the majority bloc did not vote thereby rendered the entire voting process unconstitutional because the voters did not reach the required numbers and it also suggests that the over 1,000 members that abstained from the voting process were those that obviously listened to the advice of Team Julius Kanubah. 

 But laughably, despite the low turnout in Gbarnga, the PUL election committee shamefully and disgracefully announced that the stayed away candidate and his majority bloc Julius Kanubah got 15 votes meaning the total numbers that turned out to vote were 445 PUL members and the balance 1,000+ members were those that truly listened to the call and advise of their leader the popular candidate Julius Kanubah who informed them to abstain from the electoral process until the right things are done. 

Unthinkably, the contention flagged by Team Julius Kanubah to the PUL Election Committee that was charged with the sole responsibility to independently conduct a free and fair election deliberately refused to honor TEAM Kanubah’s communication that humbly asked them to look into the complaint filed into their office before conducting any election that is under the banner of the press union of Liberia. 

But sadly, the election body that should play the twin mother role was one-sided and refused to honor the request of team Kanubah apparently because of the interfering of the incumbent leadership into the system. 

But save my post, there will be another Gbarnga’s election just few weeks after the legal battle at the Supreme Court is announced in favor of the majority bloc of the Press Union of Liberia. Watch out.  Team Julius Kanubah strong” – journalist Samuel Doe

Despite the rigmarole, the Secretary General of Team Kanubah, Edwin Clarke sent out a plea to their supporter to remain calm as all was being done legally to sort out the mess at the PUL.

“Colleagues, this is a notice to all of us to remain calm.  We all mean well for the PUL and we understand the emotions that has characterized the entire exercise. As for us, we don’t subscribe to any form of violence and it’s our appeal to all to stay away from such an act that doesn’t represent us. However, we like to inform you that that we have several options under the law and we will exert any of those options that will bring sanctity to the Union. Keep in the back of your minds that what is being done under the cover of darkness shows how desperate the guys are and we don’t want subscribe to them. Our next course of action will be announced soon following further consultations with a cross section of lawyers. Keep safe and remain calm.”

Another Liberian media practitioner voiced his resentment over the midnight PUL fraudulent election in Gbarnga.

Samuka V. Konneh had this to say: “Whether or not the polls in Gbarnga go ahead, the right to have been done was to get the PUL Voters’ Roll cleaned up. That, really, wasn’t much to ask and be done. Those of us who didn’t add our voices for the Voters’ Roll to be cleaned, we will bow our heads in shame, for posterity will remember our silence. I now feel my own guilt already. 

My silence on this whole PUL election wasn’t out of cowardice. I just wanted to steer clear, for personal reasons. But, now, I realize that was a fatal error in judgement. We all should have added our voices to the call to clean up the Voters’ Roll.”

The 2022 Legal Battle over the PUL Mid-night Elections amid Fraudulent Voters’ Roll

Despite the concerns raised by a contending party for the PUL 2022 elections, the PUL elective committee ignored and held a kangaroo election at midnight in Gbarnga, Bong County, thus breaching the Liberian constitution that prohibits voting activities taking place at night. That was the first wrong the PUL did.

Now that the matter is before the Supreme Court for hearing, Justice in Chambers, Joseph Nagbe sent out a signal that comes 2023, any contending party that has an issue, they should not even be bothered to go to the High Court as they will be not given due process.

Team Kanubah Takes Issues with Justice Nagbe

The National Campaign Management Team of Julius Kanubah has described as dangerous omens for democracy in Liberia comments by the Justice presiding in Chambers, referring to a legitimate contending party in an electoral case as ‘losers who are always raising issues.’

According to a press statement issued by Team Kanubah on Thursday December 29, 2022, and signed by renowned broadcast journalist Raymond Zarbay, Chair National Campaign Management Team Julius Kanubah for PUL president, Associate Justice Joseph Nagbe made the comments during a conference Thursday, December 29, 2022 into a Bill of Information by the PUL former administration on the stay order placed by Judge Boima Kontoe on the Union’s activities including a so-called induction.

Team Kanubah says it is shocking and scaring for Justice Nagbe to make such statements while at the same acknowledging that ‘if the PUL is fussing like this over election irregularities then Liberians should just set their eyes across 2023 and think what will happen.’

Despite being informed that Team Kanubah, through its lawsuit, is trying to prevent such issues of electoral irregularities and disputes in Liberia’s 2023 elections, Justice Nagbe insisted that ‘whether you are trying to prevent it or not, losers are always raising issues – that’s our politics; in fact, the America we are following now, America is at a reverse; losers are raising issues.’

Team Kanubah says although Justice Nagbe did not go into the substantive issues and magnitude of the case of electoral irregularities in the PUL which is pending before the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court in Gbarnga, his comments along with his emphasis of the need for the PUL to proceed with its bogus inauguration undermines due process and the rule of law.

The Julius Kanubah Campaign Team for the PUL presidency says while it takes note of Justice Nagbe’s promise to accept the Bill of Information by the PUL former administration, it was uncanny for him to also remark that our candidate Julius Kanubah should ‘wait for the next three years for another election, because he is very young, educated, intelligent, and professional.’

Team Kanubah views the utterances by Justice Nagbe as a clear warning to Liberians ahead of the 2023 Presidential and Legislative Elections, which might again end up in the Supreme Court because of electoral irregularities such as voter roll fraud as happened in the PUL.

The Julius Kanubah Campaign Team has meanwhile asked all its supporters and members of the PUL as well as those interested in the democratic development of Liberia to stay clear of all activities in the name of the PUL by the former administration including the so-called induction.

This is because the case of declaratory judgment is still before the Ninth Judiciary Circuit Court in Bong County; and until a hearing and legal determination is made into the case, the legality and legitimacy of any activity conducted in the name of the PUL will remain questionable.

The Damaged Legacy

The latest rigmarole regarding the PUL ongoing legal battle, purposely planned by the outgoing Charles Coffey leadership has finally vindicated those of us who opposed the same fraudulent elections process that gave him a kangaroo second term, and saw the PUL more divided than ever.

With Coffey once orchestrating a fraudulent process to elections in 2022, I am wondering what legacy in his own mind does he think he is leaving behind at the PUL?

In 2016 those of us who supported Octavin Williams were asked to vote for Charles Coffey as PUL president because the Abdullai K. Kamara (KAK deceased) leadership was arguably mainly focused on one group of journalists at the time for training opportunities, among others.

But despite those claims, the KAK leadership did not orchestrate any fraudulent process in Ganta in 2018, as KAK told some of his close friends who wanted him to cheat in the elections that he would not be part of a fraudulent process and that, if any journalist felt he was competent to go for a second term, it was up that journalist to cast his/her ballot for him.

It was KAK’s level playing field that Charles Coffey benefitted and became PUL president in 2016. But when it came to him to create similar platform for a contending party for the PUL election in 2019, he bloated the Voters’ Roll, and despite calls for him to clean it up, he refused and went ahead with an election that gave him a second kangaroo term.

In 2022 with his term ending, Coffey again repeated his fraudulent feat of 2019 by again joining his vice president Daniel Nyakonah to bloat the PUL Voters’ Roll again, thus leading to a court process. What is hard to grasp is Coffey was not eligible to contest for a third term, so why was it hard for him to create a level playing field for contending parties to compete, but rather chose to bloat the Voters’ Roll with non-PUL full members?

Now the cart has been put before the horse, the campaigners for a free, fair and transparent elections in 2019 at the PUL, including Siebo Williams, Octavin Toegar Williams, Alexander Bealded, Festus Poquie, Nathaniel Daygboye, Weemon Jallah Cole, Sandi Kamara, Shadrack Brown, Paypay P-Nas Mulbah, Sekou Sheriff, Lincoln Barcon, and many other PUL members have been vindicated.

What we saw in Charles Coffey and his leadership that they resisted in 2019 has been repeated and journalists who are supposed to be pace-setters of society are supporting fraud regarding a bloated PUL Voters’ Roll.

The founding fathers of the Press Union of Liberia, especially who have go to the Great Beyond must be turning in their respective graves, that their dream has been damaged by the outgoing PUL leadership headed by Charles Coffey and ably supported by Daniel Nyakonah.

A ruined and damage legacy is being left behind by the Coffey administration where the PUL remains more divided than ever. It is now time that all well-meaning PUL members who believe in the sanctity of the law and democracy to come forth and join the struggle to save our beloved PUL from egotistic and self-interests-seeking leaders.

Those who branded some of us as trouble makers in 2019 when we challenged the process through legal mean have now come to hail us, that what we did in 2-19 was the right thing and that Coffey has not changed but is imbued with the conduct of fraudulent election process at the PUL.

But in concluding, there more good people in the PUL than bad people, evidenced with the low turnout in Gbarnga on the fateful day in November. Those who stayed away are the real lovers of the Union, who did not want to participate in a fraudulent process, in order to be able to have voice in society to speak out against ills.

Charles Coffey, you can leave the PUL after six years with a ruined and damaged legacy, which the good people in the Union will do all to repair and bring dignity and integrity back to the noble Press Union of Liberia. (PUL). What is do certain is that the ongoing legal process will come to a logical conclusion with the good people in the PUL winning to save the Union from disgrace, public ridicule, disrepute and shame. Long live the PUL.