Monrovia – Members of the Student Unification Party (SUP) at the state-run University of Liberia jeered and chased the newly appointed Deputy Defense Minister for Operations, Tarplah Z. Davis, who threatened to “kill” would-be protestors of the ‘Weah Step Down Campaign’ and critics of Pres. Weah, from the main campus of the University of Liberia.
Prior to his appointment as Deputy Minister of Defense for Operations, Davis went live on Facebook and openly expressed his disgust for critics of the President and planners of protest in Liberia.
He assumed that the constant protests taking place in Liberia is a strategy set up by would-be protestors to loot and destroy properties in Liberia and make the government appear ugly to the international community.
In his live video session, he promised to defend the government of President Weah, his family and others from plans intended to thwart or go against the Liberian Constitution.
“The symbol of everything that I have worked for personally is in Liberia. And I told people, anybody tries my property, I will kill them. I have said it and will continue to say it openly,” Davis stated in his live video session.
He added: “I, Zoely Zoe or Tarplah Z. Davies, will never ever sit down in this America when Henry Costa and his likes who are thinking about covertly overthrowing the Government of Liberia and thinking about looting the resources of our country.”
He is yet to be confirmed to the position by the Liberian Senate.
Davis who recently returned to Liberia visited the political palava hut of the University of Liberia on Wednesday, to clarify his comments in the Facebook live broadcast to the students.
As he was explaining, a group of students from SUP, the campus-based political party at the university started to boo him.
After noticing the mounting tension from the students, Davis ran into the Louise Arthur Grimes School of Law building for safety.
“He went in the political palava hut and started to justify his statement he made that he will kill people, that is why we chased him out of the palava hut.”
– Mohammed Deygbo, Chairman, Student Unification Party
According to the students, the campus of the University of Liberia is a “no-go zone” for the Ministry of Defense Deputy Minister for Operations.
In a conversation with FrontPageAfrica, the Chairman of SUP Mohammed Deygbo stressed that people like Davis who threaten to kill peaceful citizens do not have the moral ground to visit the University of Liberia, lest to talk about standing in the political palava hut to speak to conscious minded students.
Deygbo said: “He went in the political palava hut and started to justify his statement he made that he will kill people, that is why we chased him out of the palava hut.”
He added: “Zoely Zoe (Davis) was chased out of the political palava hut. He ran into the Law School and the guys at the Law School hid him in the bathroom. We want to tell him that the University of Liberia campus is a no-go zone for people like him.”
Davis has not been the only official in the CDC-led government to be jeered at the main campus of the University of Liberia.
Just last month, the 27 of October, students of the University of Liberia blocked the vehicle of the Minister of State for Presidential Affairs, Nathaniel McGill from attending a fundraiser on the university’s Capitol Hill campus.
The Minister of State for Presidential Affairs had been invited to serve as chief launcher of the fundraiser, organized by the Centennial Class of the Graduate and Professional School.
McGill, who had joined an array of guests including the Special Representative of the ECOWAS Commission to Liberia, Babatunde O. Ajisomo, to grace the occasion, was prevented from stepping out of his vehicle at the entrance of the auditorium by the students.
The university students, predominantly of the Student Unification Party (SUP), surrounded the Minister’s vehicle, chanting “rogue, rogue” and battle cries. They refused to leave the premises despite the intervention of the administration and the Centennial Class’ officials.