{"id":35022,"date":"2023-04-20T16:17:13","date_gmt":"2023-04-20T16:17:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/we-wanted-election-not-coup"},"modified":"2023-04-20T16:25:25","modified_gmt":"2023-04-20T16:25:25","slug":"we-wanted-election-not-coup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/we-wanted-election-not-coup","title":{"rendered":"We wanted election, not coup"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Liberia. <\/strong><\/span>Presidential hopeful Cllr. Tiawan Saye Gongloe says it\u2019s heartbreaking for people to blame the Progressive Alliance of Liberia (PAL) and the Movement for Justice in Africa (MOJA) for Liberia\u2019s dark days, arguing that they wanted elections, and not a coup.<\/p>\n

Appearing on local broadcaster OK FM Tuesday, 18 April 2023, the renowned Liberian human rights lawyer gave his reflection on the 1980 coupe that killed then-president William R. Tolbert.<\/p>\n

He said the progressives were very angry and disappointed when they heard the news that there was a coup and that Tolbert was killed and his government was overthrown.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut for people to blame the progressive and MOJA members for the country\u2019s dark days and even accuse us of the overthrow of the government is very heartbreaking because we wanted [the] election to unseat the government, not through military means,\u201d Cllr. Gongloe said.<\/p>\n

According to him, at no time in history did MOJA and the PAL ever support or mastermind the overthrow of the Tolbert government.<\/p>\n

Cllr. Gongloe explained that President Tolbert told the country and the True Whig Party that elections would have been held in 1983.<\/p>\n

Besides, Cllr. Gongloe said President Tolbert had promised that he was not running for office. Gongloe argued that if the elections were held in 1983 as promised, either the late Gabriel Baccus Matthews or Dr. Togba-Nah Tipoteh would have emerged as the President of Liberia because they were extremely popular then.<\/p>\n

He said the coup d\u2019etat took place in 1980 and President Tolbert was killed while they were preparing for the 1983 elections.<\/p>\n

Gongloe suggested that the 1980 Coup d\u2019etat damaged the chances of Matthews and Tipoteh becoming President of Liberia.<\/p>\n

\u201d There were two progressive movements. We have MOJA and PAL. I was not part of the coup d\u2019etat, but I still think that the coup d\u2019etat was a rescue mission,\u201d said Gongloe.<\/p>\n

\u201cI may be wrong but I think so. PAL, led by Baccus Matthew had a midnight march at the Executive Mansion and some people were arrested and jailed,\u201d Cllr. Gongloe recalled.<\/p>\n

\u201cMOJAL came up with a statement and told them that they were wrong. They were in jail on April 11, the night the coup d\u2019etat took place. Also, MOJA was … on their installation program,\u201d Cllr. Gongloe disclosed.<\/p>\n

According to him, they got angry because they \u201cwanted an election to unseat the government.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he could have worked in the government, but he was not satisfied. \u201cWe wanted to defeat the True Whig Party at the pool,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n

Gongloe claimed that the True Whig Party knew that it would not have won the election because the progressive started defeating them on the campus of the University of Liberia and they wanted to take it to the national scene.<\/p>\n

He disagrees with people who blame the progressive movement for Liberia\u2019s backwardness. Gongloe insisted that Liberians are aware that the progressives advocated and gave their lives for the peace, democracy, and multi-party system they are enjoying today.<\/p>\n

He said the problem with Liberia is that the major change agents have been unfortunate to be elected to power.<\/p>\n

\u201cActually, freedom is not free. During that time, we advocated for social justice, economic empowerment, multi-party democratic system, freedom of expression, and security, among others,\u201d said Cllr. Gongloe.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf today, people see us as responsible for Liberia\u2019s backwardness, there is nothing wrong about that because even in the Bible the children said that to Moses,\u201d Cllr. Gongloe noted.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Liberia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Liberia. Presidential hopeful Cllr. Tiawan Saye Gongloe says it\u2019s heartbreaking for people to blame the Progressive Alliance of Liberia (PAL) and the Movement for Justice in Africa (MOJA) for Liberia\u2019s dark days, arguing that they wanted elections, and not a coup. Appearing on local broadcaster OK FM Tuesday, 18 April 2023, the renowned […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":35021,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[233,237,234],"class_list":["post-35022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-liberia","tag-liberia"],"yoast_head":"\nWe wanted election, not coup - Liberia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Presidential hopeful Cllr. 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