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Monrovia –Liberia is engulfed by unease, as heightened tension reverberates in the country, in the wake of scores of ex-rebel generals threatening to arrest Montserrado County District #10 lawmaker, Representative Yekeh Kolubah, while the Government of Liberia through Montserrado County Attorney, Cllr. Edwin Kla Martin has accused some opposition figures, including the lawmaker of plotting to overthrow President George Weah.
Amid threats to arrest Rep Kolubah, issued by some fierce former rebels who participated in the country’s almost two decades of civil war that wantonly claimed the lives of approximately 250, 000 people and destroyed hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of public and private properties, throngs of supporters of the lawmaker are as of this morning still converged at the District #10 Rep’s Old Road Community residence, in a bid to resist his arrest either by the ex- rebel generals or government, which through Montserrado Attorney Cllr. Martin has summoned him to an inquest regarding statements he made on Sunday.
During a political rally Sunday, at the Congo Town Headquarters of the former ruling Unity Party, where he has gone to join four collaborating opposition political parties (UP, ANC, ALP and LP), Rep Kolubah, a fearless critics of President Weah, is accused of among other things stating that they will make President Weah’s government to run away from power, and that “We will move as soon as you our leaders ask us to do.”
But the lawmaker later issued a disclaimer stating that the true meanings of his statements at the Sunday program are subject to interpretation by only him and not by others.
However, Montserrado County Attorney Cllr. Martin thinks otherwise, claiming that Rep Kolubah is rather working in cohort with former Liberian Vice President Joseph Boakai and ALP political leader Benoni Wilfred Urey to “unseat” the Weah-led government.
The Montserrado County Attorney registered what he calls serious concern over assertions attributed to Rep Kolubah, where he is quoted as saying “We will move as soon as you our leaders ask us to do.”
Cllr. Martin contends that for the Montserrado lawmaker to have made such statement in the presence of former Veep Boakai and businessman turned politician Benoni Urey without the pair debunking same is an indication that the three men are working together to topple the government of President Weah.
Said Cllr. Martin: “This behavior of the Honorable Representative is absolutely incompatible with the exercise of freedom of speech and freedom of peaceful assembly. Even more troubling is the fact that representative Yekeh Kolubah took the stage in the presence of Mr. Benoni Urey, political leader of the All Liberian Party (ALP) and former constitutional Vice President Joseph Nyumah Boakai and openly threatened to overthrow the democratically elected government of President George Manneh Weah within three months without any reaction or open rebuke from either Mr. Urey or Former Vice President Boakai.”
“They are hiding behind street protest to rain insults at public officials and the President of Liberia and have now made known their evil plan to destabilize the government by whatever means possible,” Cllr. Martin insisted.
Cllr. Martin is of the belief that what he terms as the threats made by Rep Kolubah should not be overlooked, indicating that they are cleverly planned, organized and are being staged to destabilize the Weah-led government and impose upon the people of Liberian what the Montserrado County Attorney calls a devilish and wicked system.
Through a communication erroneously dated June 15, 2019, Cllr. Martin then summoned Rep Kolubah to appear before him (Cllr. Martin), on Tuesday, April 16, 2019, at 12:30 pm for an inquest over assertions attributed to the lawmaker.
However, Rep. Kolubah has since slammed Cllr. Martin as a drug user, to whom he (Rep Kolubah) would not subject himself for any probe.
“If that County Attorney is under the influence of drugs, I am an elected representative of my people not appointed as the county attorney; therefore, I cannot submit myself to him,” Rep Kolubah told FrontPage Africa recently.
‘Echoes of April ‘6 fracas’
Amid the incessant noise in the country, as if the Montserrado County Attorney’s summon for Rep Kolubah to appear before him was not weighty enough, a band of former rebels drawn from multiple fighting groups now defunct, along with some former soldiers of the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL), ordered the lawmaker to turn himself in to their Benson Street office, for what they called Rep Kolubah’s accusation against them, alleging that they collected money from Presidential Affairs Minister Nathaniel F. McGill, to go after critics of President Weah and his administration.
The former rebel generals have given Rep Yekeh, himself a former rebel general of the erstwhile National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), a 72-hour ultimatum to turn himself over to their office, threatening that failure on his part, they would do so forcefully.
“We give Yakeh Kolubah 72 hours to report to our office. If he does not report to my office; we will bring him by force,” said Ofori Diah, chairman of the ex-rebel generals and former chief of staff of the defunct Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD)
Meanwhile, Rep Kolubah has stated that he will not turn himself over to the former rebels, and that any attempt on the part of the ex-militia generals to use force will be met by stiff resistance, stating that he would then defend himself.
In the wake of the rigmarole, multiple observers told PUNCH online service Wednesday that what’s unfolding in the country seems a replay of what led to the infamous April ‘6 melee that set the country ablaze in a war that was occasioned by thousands losing their lives while tens of thousands others fled into exile.
One observer recalls that in August 1995, a peace treaty was brokered in Abuja, Nigeria, by the 16-member Economic Community of West African States which established an interim Council of State with the setting up of a tentative timetable for elections. But on April 6, 1996, fighting broke out in Monrovia when then Councilman Charles Taylor attempted arresting rival warlord Roosevelt Johnson (now deceased).
