Monrovia — The Supreme Court of Liberia has halted the eviction of the opposition Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) from its headquarters.
The stay order was issued by Associate Justice Yamie Quiqui Gbeisay, presiding in chambers, after the CDC complained that Judge Golda A. Bonah Elliott of the 6th Judicial Circuit Civil Law Court in Monrovia had refused to hear their Bill of Information concerning the case.
According to the insider, all efforts to get Judge Elliott to hear their case, in accordance with due process as guaranteed by the Liberian Constitution, were unsuccessful. As a result, the party sought redress to the Supreme Court.
In a citation signed by Supreme Court Clerk Cllr. Sam Mamolu, the CDC was summoned to a conference scheduled for Friday, October 18, 2024, at 10:00 a.m. The order also called for an immediate suspension of all further proceedings related to the case pending the outcome of the conference.
The CDC’s petition for a writ of mandamus, filed on October 10, 2024, named Acting Chairman Janga A. Kowo as the petitioner, representing the party. The respondents in the case include Judge Golda A. Bonah Elliott of the 6th Judicial Circuit Court, as well as the Testate Estate of Martha Stubblefield Bernard, represented by Administrator Ebrahima Varney Dempster, and the Intestate Estate of William Thomas Bernard, represented by Executor Archibald F. Bernard and other family members. The CDC is also represented by its Acting Chairman Nathaniel McGill in the case.
Koijee Labeled LNP as Partisans Police
The petition from the court comes after the Inspector General of the Liberia National Police Gregory Coleman in a communication invited the CDC and a party representing the interest of “the Intestate Estate of the late Martha Stubblefield Bernard”, the said owner of the property that hosts the CDC Party Headquarters in Congo Town.
The Secretary General of the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) Jefferson Koijee condemned a communication from Police Inspector General Coleman.
Police Inspector General on October 7, 2024, invited opposition party CDC and the owners of the property that hosts the CDC party Headquarters to a meeting on October 10, 2024. LNP says it is a request by the Sixth Judicial Circuit Court of Montserrado County.
In response to the letter, the Secretary General of CDC accused the LNP of being involved in a conspiracy against his party, the CDC.
Secretary General Koijee said the action from the police to cite CDC to a meeting with the owner of the property that hosts the CDC Party Headquarters is not only pretentious, it is also downright ridiculous.
According to Koijee, over the past nine months, the Liberia National Police under the leadership of Col. Coleman has exhibited unprofessionalism and reneged on its statutory responsibilities to protect lives, and properties, and uphold the rule of law of the country.
Koijee highlighted several human rights violations done by the police including invading the private premises of the CDC’s Headquarters with the shooting of live bullets, tear gassing partisans, and damaged over US$50,000 worth of properties, and the injured of scores of non-civil disobedient partisans of CDC.
“The Liberia National Police has not only proven its highest level of police partisanship. The police under your leadership seems to have re-invented malicious police practices,” Koijee said.
He added: “We are not even surprised that history tells us that you Gregory Coleman worked with the then Charles Taylor notorious elite and deadly Police unit known as “Sons of Demons” (SOD), who were accustomed to perpetrating major crimes and tortures on citizens including the March 21, 2001 invasion of the state- run university of Liberia, where innocent and harmless university students were being mercilessly beaten, raped, tortured, forcefully recruiting students into war front and indicting them as dissident collaborators.”
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Koijee also accused Inspector General Coleman of reinstating dismissed police officers who were caught in armed robberies and other major crimes.
The CDC Secretary General named officers Sam Ballah, Johnny B. Dean, 106, Otis Wallace, Jr. Deputy Director for Armed Robberies and officer Victor Gbayeh as officers that were dismissed but are currently sitting at comfortable police functionalities.
“Something that is leading to the unprecedented frequency of armed robberies cases across the country as Mr. Coleman goes on Tiktok to create videos, showing gross insensitivity towards major police crimes. Under Mr. Coleman, our community is now vulnerable, and the state is being engulfed with fear and pandemonium among peaceful citizens,” Koijee said.
