Monrovia – The feud between the most popular student political party in Liberia and some prominent figures of the CDC-led government appears to be exacerbating.
Report by Alpha Daffae Senkpeni, [email protected]
A recent situation at the Monrovia City Hall on Monday evening was the latest after tension sparked during an event intended to bring together government officials and youth leaders to dialogue national development.
At the event, a segment of the student-cum-youth leadership appeared aggrieved; they were protesting against an embattled president of the Liberia National Student Union (LINSU), whom they claimed is not the legitimate leader.
The tension had been brewing for months amongst members of the student community, but the situation reached its peak when the aggrieved students staged a protest on July 23 at the City Hall.
Several students were arrested by the Liberia National Police in its bid to avert the fiasco, but the Student Unification Party (SUP), which is a member of the umbrella organization, in a statement released on Tuesday, claimed that several of its members were allegedly flogged and arrested by the police.
SUP is, however, accusing Jefferson Koijee, Mayor of Monrovia – also a staunch stalwart of the ruling party – and Patrick Sudue, Inspector General of the LNP, for orchestrating the action against their colleagues.
‘Dark Days’ Retuning?
In the SUP statement signed by its Secretary General Martin Kollie and Chairman Butu Levi, the party alleged that the ‘dark days’ of Liberia are returning under President George Manneh Weah regime.
“SUP wants to duly inform the Liberian people and the International Community that the government of ex-Soccer Star George M. Weah has become severely brutal against peaceful students, youth leaders, and armless civilians in Liberia,” the statement claims.
SUP is further claiming that since the inception of the new regime, it has faced “countless number of police brutalities” mainly in Monrovia, claiming that the LNP has “a well-planned mission to revert the democratic gains of Liberia made since August 2003”.
Police Refutes ‘Flogging and Arrest’ Claims
Responding to an inquiry by FrontPage Africa, IG Sudue denied the allegations, explaining that the police officers only ‘extracted’ four leaders of the protesting students.
He said they were taken to the police headquarters in order to thwart the ‘disgruntle planned protest’ at the event, which was intended to discuss the development of young people in the country.
“Nobody beat them; we were doing it [arresting] to safe Liberia’s face for our international guests,” Sudue said of the event, which was reportedly attended by some international guests.
“Those guys wanted the whole program to be disrupted, so they came [there] to riot, that’s why they came under the disguise of attending the program but they came to disturb.”
He insisted that the intervention of the police was necessary and intended to avert the situation from plunging into an “uncontrollable disaster”.
However, the ruling student political party of the state-run university is demanding the “immediate and unconditional” release of five of its prominent members that were arrested by the police during the protest.
“SUP is calling on the African Union, ECOWAS, US Embassy, United Nations, European Union, MRU, and all pro-democratic groups to consolidate the gains made so far by dealing with the signs and symptoms of early dictatorship under President Weah,” reads the statement.
‘Koijee Not Link’
Meanwhile, Pekeleh Gbuapaye, communications officer of the Monrovia City Corporation, told FPA Monday that “Mayor Koijee is not linked to the arrest of any students. He (Koijee) was talking to students to see how best the situation would have been resolved.”
Gbuapaye said the order to arrest the ‘disgruntled students’ was not made by not the Monrovia Mayor, adding that Koijee was inside the hall attending the event when the situation degenerated.
“He has no authority to order the police officers to arrest students; the police officers were getting orders from their bosses. So, if you have said that city police was arresting students then you can link that to Mayor Koijee,” he said.
The MCC communication officers also refuted news of a visible conflict between officials of the student community and the youthful Mayor while allegations of his [Koijee] meddling into student politics intensify.
Gbuapay said Koijee is “a politician who will be talked about and subjected to questioning.”
Feud Deepening
While the feud appears to be deepening between some officials of the CDC on one side and a segment of the student-based political party and members of LINSU on the other, there are concerns the situation might deteriorates into crisis that may attract the attention of the international community.
There have been several other incidents involving students’ protests in the past six months.
One protest in late June led by SUP against the government argued that the administration was doing little to remedy the deplorable economy of the country.
The LNP has also been recently accused by SUP for using heavy hand against the students. And following Monday’s incident, it now appears that the tension is even more at a boiling point.
Stated SUP: “Going forward, we will be compelled to resist and repel any further attacks from those ruthless police officers under Col. Patrick Sudue. The government must refrain from launching such attack on peaceful citizens.
“These attacks by state security forces on the order of higher-ups are becoming a daily and weekly routine. We are prepared to defend our people and even die for this cause if need be! They must be ready to bullet us.”
However, LNP Sudue, who is also a Sociology instructor at the University of Liberia, said as head of the national police, he has adopted a moderate style of intervening or curbing protest despite the “sweeping allegations”.
Referencing the recent melee between two opposing student political parties on the Capitol Hill Campus of the university, the LNP boss said he used a moderate approach to intervene and successfully calm the situation.