IPNEWS: Out of shock and dismay, Grand Bassa Senator Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence is set to endorse Joseph Boakai-Jeremiah Koung’s ticket this weekend in the port city of Grand Bassa County.
Sources within the Liberty Party tell IPNEWS that the decision to formally endorse the Boakai-Koung ticket came after intense lobbying led by Bomi County Senator Edwin Melvin Snowe, and his former chief of office-staff, now Montserrado County Senator Abraham Darus Dillion alongside former Deputy Director, at the Liberian Broadcasting System Patrick Hannah.
The intense lobby by Senator Snow begin evident following reports of behind-the-scenes negotiation allegedly initiated by former President Ellen Sirleaf for a Cummings-Nyonblee ticket.
Last week rumors spread across Liberia of an intense lobby for a Cummings-Nyonblee ticket which abruptly ended following a deadlock allegedly over accepting an overture to return Liberty Party to Senator Karnga-Lawrence as a political leader by embattled chairman Musa Hassan Bility.
The ongoing negotiation led by Snowe comes as no surprise after a revelation by Nimba Senator Jeremiah Koung that the genesis of his vice-presidential ambition was generated by a call-up by Senator Edwin Snowe for a pick in the forthcoming 2029 general and presidential elections.
According to the report, Senator Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence has now accepted the shock from April 28, 2023, picking of Nimba County Senator Jeremiah Kpan Koung as running mate by Unity Party Standard Bearer, Joseph Nyumah Boakai, and is set to endorse the ticket this weekend in the port city of Grand Bassa county.
Meanwhile, fear is crippling in south-eastern Liberia following the announcement of the Boakai-Koung ticket over a potential reprisal against south-easterner particularly citizens of Grand Gedeh county.
IPNEWS correspondent says the news over the Joseph Baokai picked of Nimba Senator Jeremiah Koung, who is heavily backed by incumbent Nimba Senator, and former rebel general Prince Y. Johnson was the talk among separate groups at a program on May 6 to commemorate the birthday of Liberia’s 20th president and formally erect his memorial statue held in Zwedru, Grand Gedeh county.
Senator Prince Johnson has repeatedly justified the execution of former president Samuel K. Doe for a series of murders allegedly committed by loyalists of the Doe regime.
Speaking recently on the Spoon talk, Senator Prince Johnson stated that the killing of former president Samuel K. Doe was to liberate citizens of Nimba who were being murdered like ‘goats’.
“I have no regrets for my action during the war. I did not go shooting and killing innocent people but what did you want me to do when children and parents whose relatives were killed and dumped in a well on Du-Port Road by elements of Samuel Doe were celebrating for capturing the man (Samuel Doe) that killed their people? Look, I’m not afraid of War crimes court, bring it and we all will go there.” Senator Prince Johnson responded to the accusation of him directing the killing of Samuel K. Doe.
Even though Senator Koung has pledged his commitment to the establishment of the war and economic crimes court so that all Liberians that committed war crimes and crimes against humanity can account for their wrongs but swiftly came under sustained criticism by opium leaders of Nimba county.
In reaction, GYM National Chairman Mr. Ephraim T. Nyumah described Senator Koung’s commitment as a political rhetoric that is intended to fool the electorate.
For his part, presidential hopeful Cllr. Taiwan Saye Gongloe’s supporters say Nimba Senator Jeremiah Koung is deceiving voters by announcing support for establishment of a war and economic crimes court.
The Gongloe supporters contend that Mr. Koung, running mate of Liberia’s opposition leader Amb. Joseph Nyumah Boakai, has no record of supporting war crimes court.
Mr. Koung is the political leader of the Movement for Democracy and Reconstruction (MDR), founded by former Liberian warlord, now Nimba Senator, Prince Y. Johnson.
The campaign to establish a war and economic crimes court often irritates Senator Johnson, notorious for overseeing the brutal murder of then-sitting President Samuel Kanyon Doe during the civil war.
There is no public record if Senator Johnson and Mr. Koung shared the same thoughts regarding the call for Liberia to establish a war crimes court.
a group of youthful volunteers from across the country supporting Cllr. Gongloe presidential, insist that Mr. Koung is announcing support for war crimes court because he wants state power.
“This statement is not just a deception, but a call to blindfold the electorate to buy into their deception and falsehood to treat them as they have been treated by President Weah,” GYM alleged.
The Gongloe supporters argued that there is no guarantee that Mr. Koung will support a war and economic crimes court when he has no record of supporting it in the past.
“We can’t trust him even when his political godfather consistently frowns on people that call for the court,” they added.
