Ganta, Nimba County – All Liberia Party’s (ALP) political leader Mr. Benoni Urey and Vice President Joseph Boakai, the standard bearer of the ruling Unity Party are on a collision course in vote-rich Nimba this weekend for different reasons.
Report by Rodney D. Sieh, [email protected]
The Vice President who has been in Nimba since Tuesday is expected to cap his week-long visit with an endorsement program at the Ganta stadium while Mr. Urey is expected to name his running mate later today.
Party sources say Mr. Urey has tapped Mr. Alexander N. Duopu, son of Nimba great, Moses Duopu who was killed in June 1990 allegedly by NPFL strongman Benjamin Yeatin for questioning the leadership status of Charles Taylor of the NPFL.
Duopu was reportedly killed on his return from Nigeria to Taylor’s territories for claiming the Secretary General title of the new NPFL and disputing or seemingly eying the leadership of the NPFL, according to transcripts of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Alexander Duopu previously flirted with the idea of running for President. In October 2015, he was petitioned by women and youth of Whebe Town on the Shieflin/Robertsfield Highway in Margibi County.
Petitioners at the time expressed that Mr. Duopu had commitment that qualifies him to contest the Liberian Presidency.
It is unclear why Mr. Duopu did not continue his quest and how his marriage with Mr. Urey came about but many political observers see him as an unknown except that he hails from a vote-rich county where his father was a prominent member of the NPFL.
Mr. Duopu was born unto Mr. & Mrs. G. Moses and Beatrice Isobel Blapoh-Duopu in the Township of West Point, outside of Monrovia, but grew-up in the Borough of New Kru Town and later moved to Gardnersville on September 27, 1966.
He started his education at the St. Mary’s Catholic School in Duala, Bushrod Island. In 1978, Mr. Duopu continued his Elementary and Middle school education at the Warren Street School and the Barringer Annex in Newark, New Jersey in the United States of America. He can trace his political inheritance and involvement from his father at this point in time.
Mr. Duopu also attended the Kwendin Vocational Training Center (KVTC), Nimba County, where he graduated from Secondary Education and earned a WAEC Certificate and Diploma in 1983. Mr. Duopu is also a 1998 graduate from the University of Liberia where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Accounting and minoring Economics.
In 2002, Mr. Duopu traveled back to the United States of America where he earned a Master of Science in Accounting and an MBA in Finance from Strayer University, 2007 and 2009.
In Ganta Saturday, partisans of the ALP were busy preparing posters and banners at the Methodist Church gymnasium as they head to convention which is expected to be climaxed with a white ballot officially declaring Mr. Urey as the party’s standard bearer in the upcoming presidential elections.
On the other side of town at the Ganta Sports stadium, VP Boakai will be receiving another endorsement in hopes of solidifying his position ahead of this year’s elections.