Africa-Press – Liberia. The Liberia Football Association (LFA) is facing a full-blown constitutional crisis as its leadership stands accused of orchestrating a “judicial coup” to dismantle opposition ahead of the April elective congress.
At the center of the storm is a five-year ban slapped on Ms. Benita Whitney Urey, President of Shaita Angels FC, and the subsequent suspension of the LFA’s own Appeals Committee.
In a scathing petition to FIFA and the Confederation of African Football (CAF), Ms. Urey and a coalition of aggrieved stakeholders, including Jubilee FC, are sounding the alarm over what they describe as a “systematic suppression of voters” and the weaponization of the LFA Secretariat to guarantee a predetermined electoral outcome.
A Convenient Ban?
The crisis erupted on December 19, 2025, when the Grievance and Disciplinary Committee (GDC) banned Urey for five years over alleged match manipulation in the 2024/2025 National League.
The ruling, critics argue, rests on “flimsy evidence” specifically WhatsApp screenshots involving players from a different club, Paynesville FC, that mention her name.
Despite paying her appeal fees on January 9, 2026, Urey’s quest for justice has been met with a dead end.
Instead of a hearing, the LFA leadership took the unprecedented step of suspending the Appeals Committee, effectively locking Urey out of the footballing world without the due process guaranteed by LFA and FIFA statutes.
The ‘Assault’ on Judicial Independence
The conflict reached a boiling point when the Appeals Committee, led by the respected Cllr. Edwina Edjerah Barchue, refused to bow to executive pressure.
In a defiant January 21 letter, Barchue slammed the Executive Committee’s attempt to investigate her committee as an illegal overreach.
“Any attempt by the Executive Committee to investigate or suspend a judicial body for issuing a decision constitutes a violation of judicial independence,” Barchue wrote, essentially accusing the LFA leadership of behaving like a law unto themselves.
Legal experts say the LFA’s decision to “vacate” judicial rulings it dislikes specifically those regarding a requested Extraordinary Congress sets a dangerous precedent that could lead to Liberia being suspended by FIFA.
Silencing the Majority
The LFA leadership is also accused of disregarding the will of its members.
Records show that 25 of the 49 eligible voters a demanded an Extraordinary Congress to address these very governance failures.
When the Appeals Committee ruled that the LFA must honor this request, the leadership responded not with compliance, but with the suspension of the judges.
This “scorched-earth” tactic, stakeholders say, is a desperate move to stifle dissent before the April polls.
Will FIFA Act?
The petitioners are now calling on FIFA to intervene before the LFA collapses into total lawlessness. They are demanding:
The immediate reinstatement of the Appeals Committee, the annulment of the “retaliatory” ban on Ms. Urey;
Direct monitoring of the April elections by FIFA/CAF observers.
“This is no longer just about football; it’s about the death of the rule of law within the LFA,” a source close to the stakeholders told FrontPage Africa.
When contacted for a response to these mounting allegations, LFA Media Manager Anthony Kokoi was reached by this paper, but up to press time, he had not responded to inquiries. FIFA sources confirm the petition is currently “under active review.”
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