Africa-Press – Liberia. The ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) has been accused of harbouring a plan to kill Senator Prince Yormie Johnson, founder of the Movement for Democracy and Reconstruction and the man who was instrumental in securing the vote-rich Nimba County for George Weah to win the presidency in 2017.
The accusation comes a few weeks after the Nimba County Senator party claimed that his decision to split from the ruling party of President George Weah’s has put his life in danger, saying he was being threatened.
“There are plans by the George Weah government to assassinate our founder and vision bearer, Senator Prince Johnson. We received this intelligence from a high-placed source. Liberia is enjoying democracy and peace and [we] do not want anything that will disturb this peace and democracy,” Alieo Wollo, the MDR’s Vice Chairman for Recruitment and Mobilization, said yesterday at a press conference.
However, Wollo did not elaborate on the plan but claimed that they have received a tipoff from a highly-placed security source, which he claims is credible.
Wollo’s accusation, while not proven, mirrored an allegation by Sen. Johnson that he has been receiving life threatening messages since withdrawing his party’s support from the President’s re-election bid.
“Now that we have withdrawn our political support and have decided to take one of our sons to contest for the presidency, they are threatening our lives, they are calling us all kinds of names, and putting innocent children against us all because of petty cash that cannot feed them,” Johnson claimed.
The allegation came after Johnson has asserted that Weah’s inability to keep his end of the deal that brought them together during the 2017 run-off election is the cause of the MDR’s disassociation from the ruling party.
The Senator’s biggest complaint has been Weah’s failure to appoint more people from vote-rich Nimba County to high government positions, even though the numbers are not specific. The Senator has also accused the Weah government of doing little or nothing to improve the living conditions of the Liberian people.
However, Weah’s party has denied this, saying the Senator, who was important to Weah winning the election five years ago, is once again doing so for his own selfish gain.
Weah has appointed few officials from Johnson’s party to Ministerial and Deputy Ministerial posts, with the most notable appoint being Cllr. Cooper Kruah, who is now the Minister of Post and Telecommunication.
In an interview with Daybreak Africa on VOA nearly three weeks ago, Johnson said his decision to withdraw his support from Weah is because the people of his county have not benefited from the Weah-led government.
The Nimba legislator remains the political ‘godfather’ of his county, with a large political following, and has played critical roles in two consecutive elections in Liberia.
His support for former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in the 2011 election run-off and for Weah in 2017 were critical to both presidents gaining power.
But, all efforts by Weah and his party to mend the broken relationship appear to be futile, as the Senator Johnson appears determined to abandon the political collaboration he has had with the CDC since 2017.
Johnson has claimed that a delegation from the ruling party paid him a visit to ask him to reconsider his choice, but he turned them down. However, the ruling party and Weah are yet to deny Sen. Johnson’s claims.
Meanwhile, the Senator earlier accused President Weah of lying about having inherited a broken economy, saying he challenged the President to publish the turnover note given him by his predecessor, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
The accusation was made hours ahead of Johnson’s party statement, which alleges that the ruling party was attempting to kill the Nimba County Senator.
“US$150 million was in the turnover notes given to President George Weah by former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Let me be called a liar by the publication of the turnover notes,” the Senator said.
Johnson noted that when Weah took office in 2018, he advised the president to audit the Sirleaf government but he (Weah) failed to do so due to some personal reasons.
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