Monrovia – Days after key officials of the opposition Liberty Party endorsed the Presidential bid of football legend George Weah, the leadership of the party’s youth Wing has followed similar path.
Report by Willie N. Tokpah – [email protected]
LP youth wing support, which was announced on late Monday evening, is one of several endorsements heading Weah’s way pending the December 26 runoff.
Cephas Flazamaton, LP youth wing chairman said the CDC, under George Weah’s stewardship, would be the best alternative for Liberia, since his party did not make it to the runoff.
“Having being denied our party’s quest for a rerun of the first round of the election through the Supreme Court, we have decided not to be neutral in this election. We have decided to take a side,” he said.
We are here back today, for the sole purpose of reaffirming our commitment that was made back in September, where the Liberty Party and some other opposition political part youth wing assembled and decided that our country was at a dark road and agreed to fight for an opposition victory, which today we are committed to, he said.
“We say the Liberty Party National Youth Wing believe in Amb. Weah as that magnet that draws people from all sectors of the country and it would be expedient to allow him lead this country and we hereby endorse the Presidential bid of Amb. Weah,” Flazamaton said.
In September 2017, youth groups of LP, All Liberia Party, United People’s Party, Alternative National Congress, CDC and other opposition political parties signed an agreement to support any opposition political party that would make it to the final round of the 2017 Presidential poll.
Their move aimed at denying the ruling Unity Party from obtaining a third term Presidential bid.
Liberty Party Youth Wing forgo what he calls the counterproductive side in support of the interest of a massive leader, pointing fingers at Ambassador Weah.
Flazamaton asserts that support for the opposition CDC would greatly impact an opposition victory in the final round of vote.
He said, “Weah’s administration would not disappoint Liberians”, and told the gathering comprising of CDC and Liberty partisans supporting Weah doesn’t destroy their loyalty to its political leader Charles Walker Brumskine.
He said supporting CDC for the runoff, importantly shows that they have the right as independent minds to make a choice, and Cllr. Brumskine still remains their political leader.
At the same time, two other groups that claimed to have supported Alexander Cummings and Vice President Joseph Boakai in the first round have also endorsed Weah’s candidacy.
According to the groups’ leaders, they are convinced that majority of the country’s population is opting for change; as a result, huge support base is heading Weah’s way.
Responding to the endorsement, CDC National Youth Chairman Jefferson Koijee lauded the groups for their support to his political leader.
“What you witnessed here is a transformation of your victory. We must be gratified at this historical moment, we want to say to you that what you just witness indicates that your victory has gotten much clearer,” Koijee said, cautioning partisans of the CDC “not to take the pending runoff for joke”.
The CDC National Youth Chair also warned partisans against unwholesome activities during the Christmas holiday, which he feared would deny them from voting on the 26 December.