In the wake of the February 22, 2023 armed attack on the Montserrado County District #17 Virginia residence of former Chief Justice Gloria Musu Scott, which left her daughter Charloe Musu gruesomely murdered and another female victim, 17, seriously injured, former Truth and Reconciliation Commissioner Cllr. Jerome Verdier alleges that the attack was sponsored by the Government of Liberia through Monrovia City Mayor Jefferson Tamba Koijee.
Speaking last evening on Spoon Talk show, Counsellor Verdier lamented the government’s intervention as extremely belated because the attack on Justice Gloria Musu Scott was a government’s operation, and that the Liberian National Police was told to stand down.
“I don’t know if you know who Jefferson Koijee is, but he was the one who organized and masterminded the attack on Justice Gloria Musu Scott. At the moment, we are trying to find out the purpose or the objective. It’s not very clear yet; it could be personal or political, because of her current political role. But the guy who entered the house is one Varlee Tellah. He lives in the Brewerville area. He works at the Monrovia City Hall, as Deputy Chief of Operations for Monrovia City Police. He’s a former ATU officer and a former fighter of ULIMO-K. He did a lot of killings in Sinoe County. He’s a very dangerous killer,” Verdier narrated on Spoon Talk.
According to Verdier, Tellah entered Justice Scott’s residence and carried out the operation. “When he entered the house, he had no top, no shirt, no dress. He entered with short pants. His intention was to sodomize the Justice. When he got in, because of the reaction of the children who tried to prevent him from entering her (Justice Scott’s) private premises; he killed one and wounded the other. And when he got in as far as the Justice, she had a pepper spray, and that was her last defense. She sprayed him a lot, and so his plan was aborted, he didn’t succeed in doing what he wanted to do,” Verdier further narrated.
“Jefferson Koijee is the one who ordered that hit on Justice Gloria Musu Scott. And, as we all have realized, killings have gone on. We have reports that we are planning on to release: the three missing boys, and that was directly done by President Weah himself; the killing of Barten Nyenswah was done by agents of the very Koijee. We have the full comprehensive report on that, and the killings go on and on.
“It’s a sad state for our country. There’s a lot that needs to be done. We hope that the international community will come in and do what they have to do; but our reports have been ready. Reports have been sent out of the country already, and we’re just going through the synopsis. Who, when, where. Most of the things we haven’t got is the objective. Except they are just killers who believe they have to kill,” Cllr. Verdier stated.
When queried whether he had substantial evidence pointing to Monrovia City Mayor Jefferson Koijee as the mastermind behind the attack on Justice Scott, Verdier responded: “We have the evidence. We are on the ground. We monitor movements on the ground. We have people within the government state apparatus who communicate with us, and we verify. We do not rely on one evidence from one person. We verify most of what we say, and that’s how we get to know. There are a lot of things that we monitor when it comes to corruption, human rights violation and crimes against humanity. We monitor them very closely.”
Verdier further narrated that City Mayor Koijee wasn’t satisfied with the outcome of the hit job because he had not sanctioned the killing of an innocent child; and that he (Koijee) “refused to see the guy after the work was done, so he paid him off through a third party.
“He (Koijee) told him (Varlee Telleh) specifically that he wasn’t sent to kill a child. He had a target, and killing an innocent baby is not part of his work, not part of his mission. So, Jefferson Koijee refused to meet the guy and they had this altercation. Koijee sent his balance money to a third party who delivered it to him. Koijee wasn’t satisfied with the outcome because a child was killed,” Verdier alleged.
When queried further whether he had sought means to divulge such sensitive information to the government and the international community, Verdier said he’s scheduled to release the report on these cases.
“We are throwing a challenge to the government to launch an independent inquiry based upon our information and based upon their own preliminary information. Government has the power, government has all the instruments of state and the resources to conduct investigations. But we’ll like to emphasize that investigations have to be independent, in the case of the three missing boys, in the case of Barten Nyenswah specifically, and the case of the EPS officer. If it was a good government, I would walk into Monrovia myself and launch an inquiry and go court and call people’s names in terms of what happened and what role they played so that they would defend themselves publicly. But that’s not the situation now, and the onus is on government.
“Barten Nyenswah was killed. All the other auditors were killed. We haven’t spoken because we haven’t investigated that conclusively. For example, the EPS officer was shot by Seward Briggs and Finda Bundoo, and they know that. Briggs is a deputy for operations within the EPS. We have witnesses to that. There is time for justice, there is time for everything,” Verdier warned ominously.
Major Koijee Responds
Against the backdrop of the startling allegations from Cllr. Jerome Verdier against Mayor Jefferson Koijee and his boss President George Manneh Weah, Koijee held a press conference today, February 24, 2023 at his Monrovia City Hall office to dispel the accusations.
According to Koijee, he has never ever in any form or manner participated in spilling the blood of a chicken, let alone of a human being; and that the accusations are meant to damage his hard-earned reputation.
“I am a manifestation that God exists. I encourage the government apparatus to launch a serious investigation to bring the perpetrators to book,” Koijee said, stating, “I am considering a lawsuit against him. My lawyers are reviewing all the things he has said against me.”
“This guy is not only accusing me. But he’s also accusing the president. By him being in the US and using the airwaves to threaten the stability of Liberia, we must utilize our relationship with the US government against those that undermine the stability of our country as we go to elections,” Mayor Koijee stated unequivocally, noting that Cllr. Verdier should be considered a “person of interest” based on his allegations about what transpired at Justice Scott’s residence.
“We all were shocked about the death and the incident at Justice Scott’s residence. She’s a prominent citizen. We are encouraging investigation into the matter. No Liberian deserves to lose their life,” Koijee lamented.
Meanwhile, the Liberia National Police (LNP) says it has launched an investigation into the February 22, 2023 attack on Justice Gloria Scott’s residence.
The Liberia National Police (LNP) says it has begun an investigation into the incident that took place at the Brewerville home of former Chief Justice Gloria Musu Scott on Wednesday night, leading to the death of one of her children.
According to a press release from LNP, Justice Scott revealed in a radio interview a few days ago that her family had witnessed multiple attempts by alleged burglars to break into her home at night, and the report from Justice Scott led to an increase in police patrol in the area.
The statement furthered that preliminary findings from the Wednesday night incident, which occurred about 9:30 pm, as narrated by Scott, revealed that a man who was part of a crew she hired to carry out some construction work at her residence remained hidden inside at the end of the workday while his colleagues had retired for the day.
The man, whom former Chief Justice Scott said she had observed during the day as looking somewhat “strange,” attacked her family at night and killed one of her daughters when he was tackled.
“The preliminary investigation shows no evidence of a break-in. The police are currently in search of the suspected robbers and urge the public to come forward with any information that will aid their investigation,” the LNP stated.
Surprisingly, when journalists queried Mayor Koijee whether he had any knowledge of one Varlee Telleh working in the MCC who was accused by Cllr. Verdier as being the mastermind behind the attack on Justice Scott’s residence, the Monrovia City Mayor said, to attempt to delve into who works at the MCC, he would not comment on that.
“I will even encourage the international community to help us to bring closure to this incident. This is not the time to politicize people’s grievance,” Koijee stated, while expressing his sincere condolences to Justice Gloria Musu Scott for the loss that she sustained.
