When former General Services Agency (GSA) Director General, Charles Taylor launched his rebellion into Nimba County from neighboring Cote d’Ivoire, little did they know that a split would eventually put Nimbaians who had trained in mercenaries camps in Burkina Faso and Libya on the opposite sides along their route to dethrone the tyrannical regime of late President Samuel Doe.

Taylor had escaped Liberia to the United States after falling out with President Doe. Taylor was subsequently arrested in the US but the Liberian government failed to have him extradited to face trial in Liberia for alleged stealing of US$900,000 at the GSA.

Fast forward to December 24, 1989 Taylor and his band of Liberian dissidents, supported by Burkinabe and Ivorian mercenaries launched their rebellion into Butuo, in Nimba County to force Doe out of office.

As the rebel war gradually moved towards Monrovia, one of the leading battleground commanders, Prince Y. Johnson, sensing that his life was being threatened by Taylor and the rest of his forces, he broke away and formed the Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia (INPFL), who changed tactics to prevent Taylor from taking Monrovia and at the same time the INPFL was fighting Samuel Doe’s Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL).

In the end, Prince Y. Johnson’s INPFL captured Doe and the rest is history.

Fast forward to 2005 after he returned from Nigeria where he had exiled after escaping Charles Taylor’s National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) onslaught on his Caldwell base in Lower Montserrado County in 1992, Senator Johnson returned to his native Nimba and told them about his intention to become a senator having sacrificed his life to protect the people of Nimba from Samuel Doe soldiers during the civil war.

Initially, PYJ wanted to contest on the ticket of the Unity Party (UP) of Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, but having lost the primaries he decided to go independent, and after propagating his message of protecting the people of Nimba from president Samuel Doe’s soldiers in 1990, he was overwhelmingly elected senator for nine years on two occasions, and also contested the Liberian presidency but was unsuccessful.

Political God-father of Nimba County

The former rebel general and leader was dubbed by his kinsmen as the ‘political god-father’ of Nimba County due to his influence and affluence in the county political dispensation and landscape.

It is based on PYJ’s influence over Nimba, he recently turned his support to former Vice President Joseph Boakai of the Unity Party after he said his political marriage with President George Weah’s Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) was over after the President reneged on his promises to his party – the MDR.

Senator Johnson has publicly called on the people of Nimba County to vote Weah out in October 2023 because “he lied to about his promises and all of the roads that he is claiming to have constructed were negotiated by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s government.”

He said President Weah has made the Liberian government to be a southeastern government with all of the top positions being given to his kinsmen of the Southeast in Liberia. He named the likes of Finance Minister Samuel Tweah, House Speaker Bhofal Chambers, Senate Pro Tempore Albert, Chief Justice Sie-A-Nyene G. Yuoh, Associate Justice Joseph Nagbe, among many others, while political parties that supported the CDC were giving minor jobs in government.

According to PYJ, Nimba being one of the counties that voted massively for Weah in 2017 should this time around turn their support to UP standard bearer Joseph Boakai for the presidency in the October 2023 elections.

Mayor Koijee Runs to Zoekweh for Help, as former Rebel General Assures of Nimba Support

The former rebel Maj. Gen. Albert G. Paye, commonly known as Chief Zoekweh, was known during their rebel days in their fight to dethrone President Samuel Doe as the only fighter who could withstand the might of former INPFL Field Marshall, General Prince Y. Johnson. When PYJ defected from the NPFL, Zoekweh remained and never followed him to form the INFPL despite several attempts to convince to join, thus their rivalry was born on the rebel battlefields of Liberia in the 1990s.

After the war ended and Taylor became President in 1997 nothing was heard of Zoekweh again except that there were reports that he had retired to his village in Nimba County. Even during the political sojourn of Senator Johnson in the county where he won two nine-year terms, Zoekweh could nowhere be found politically.

But fast forward to 2023, the name Chief Zoekweh has resurfaced this time his help is being sought by stalwarts of the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), including Monrovia City Major, who is also Secretary General of the CDC, in the aftermath of Senator Prince Y. Johnson’s decision to switch political support from the Weah’s CDC to Boakai’s UP.

Mayor Jefferson Koijee, following his recent trip to Israel, reached out to Chief ZOEKWEH, a respected elder in Nimba County, to convey his congratulations on his wedding and extend pleasantries to Mrs. Paye. During their conversation, they discussed the politics and people of Nimba County, with Chief ZOEKWEH assuring Mayor Koijee of the elders’ unwavering commitment to President George Weah.

Reflecting on the nature of Nimbaians, Mayor Koijee emphasized their gratitude and expressed confidence that the people of Nimba would show their support for President Weah in the upcoming 2023 Presidential and Legislative elections. The Mayor highlighted tangible achievements, such as increased job creation, under President Weah’s leadership, which he believes will drive overwhelming support for the ruling party, the CDC, in the county.

Mayor Koijee reminded Nimbaians of their past support for leaders like Charles Taylor and President Sirleaf, stressing that their decision to back President Weah is grounded in a history of recognizing leaders who have worked for the betterment of Nimba County. He dismissed attempts by Senator Prince Johnson to individualize the county and manipulate the Nimba people’s decision-making process, emphasizing that the people are wise and determined to shape their own future.

Addressing criticisms regarding job creation, Mayor Koijee pointed out the paradox of critics who have become wealthier while allegedly neglecting the interests of Nimbaians. He questioned the audacity of individuals who have enjoyed significant political power for more than 18 years, now seeking to extend that to 27 years, claiming that such a proposition is outrageous and selfish.

Furthermore, the Mayor criticized attempts to exclude individuals like Cllr. Tiawon Gongloe, who hails from the Mano-speaking tribe, from participating in Nimba County’s political landscape. He emphasized the importance of reconciliation and a united Nimba County, acknowledging a new breed of Nimbaians who share this vision, including retired national youth and student leaders and statesmen.

Mayor Koijee expressed optimism that with the unity and determination exhibited by this new generation of Nimbaians, the county would overcome divisions, trivialities, threats, and intimidations, paving the way for a prosperous and unified Nimba.

Does Chief Zoekweh Have Political Influence in Nimba over PYJ?

Meanwhile, political pundits believe Senator Prince Y. Johnson is still the political god-father of Nimba County, judging from how he has successfully worked his way through the political landscape of the county.

“To win two senatorial elections for nine years each is no joke and play. The people of Nimba believe in PYJ as their ‘savior’ from soldiers during the war days and thus they always owe him gratitude to support him or whosoever he will bring to them,” some residents of Ganta said recently via a local radio.

It remains to be seen whether Chief Zoekweh can deliver the votes of Nimba County to George Weah’s CDC come the October 2023 polls, will the political god-father of Nimba, Senator Prince Y. Johnson walk his regular path of being elected to the Senate for his third nine-year term and also turn the votes of Nimba to his preferred presidential aspirant, Joseph N. Boakai?

The bookmakers are watching…