Rep. Yekeh Kolubah Accuses Liberia National Police of Falsely Incriminating Him, Vows To Go To Court

Monrovia – Representative Yekeh Y. Kolubah of Montserrado County District #10 has rubbished claims that he was carrying guns in his vehicles during Monday’s mass anti-government protest.

Rep. Kolubah, a key member of the Council of Patriots (COP) was one of the thousands of protesters that were sprayed with water cannon and teargas by the Liberia National Police (LNP).

The LNP’s action led to a stampede as panic protesters sought refuge, abandoning their belongings, among them were food items and vehicles.

The police impounded the cars and later announced that it found several weapons including a 9-Millimeter Lugar black pistol with one magazine and four rounds and a barrister Pistol in two of the vehicles belonging to Rep. Kolubah.

However, in his first interview following the incident, Rep. Kolubah said he does not own a gun and the purported discovery of firearms in his vehicles was a calculated plot of the Government of Liberia to falsely incriminate him.

“No, I don’t own a gun. As a matter of fact, I am the Co-chair [of the House committee] on National Defense. I am entitled to a gun to protect myself but the police have refused to give me a gun,” he explained.

“Those guns were not owned by me. They were placed in my cars by Sam Siryon. You saw the recording when they first searched my cars while the journalists were going live.”

Sam Siryon is the Deputy Director of the National Security Agency (NSA). Speaking on Sky FM’s popular 50-50 show on Tuesday, Rep. Kolubah claimed that despite serving as a senior member of the Committee on National Defense at the House of Representatives, the Police, with the consent of House Speaker Bhofal Chambers, has denied him of carrying gun for self-protection.  

“The point is, if the Speaker has armed men behind him and protecting him, then what about us? I was elected just as he was elected, because he is comfortable with the armed men behind him so he leaves us vulnerable. That’s why all of the problems in this country is caused by us, the lawmakers. And because we have compromised our functions, the country is running the way it is running.”

The Montserado District #10 lawmakers vowed to take court action against the LNP for allegedly damaging his vehicles. 

“No, I don’t own a gun. As a matter of fact, I am the Co-chair [of the House committee] on National Defense. I am entitled to a gun to protect myself but the police have refused to give me a gun.”

– Rep. Yekeh Kolubah, Representative, Montserrado County District 10

Conflicting Accounts By Top Officials

Meanwhile, in the wake of the incident, Police Inspector General Patrick Sudue and the Director of the Executive Protection Services (EPS), Trokon Roberts, in attempts to explain what really happened left rooms for more questions.

IG Sudue explained the vehicles were abandoned by protesters at the entrance of the Capitol Building and they (LNP) drove them to the Police Headquarters which is within the same vicinity. 

According to him, there, he immediately ordered his officers to search the vehicles and while they were searching, they allegedly found the arms and ammunitions along with a knife and other deadly objects in the lawmaker’s official car marked ‘HOR 65.’

Based on the discovery of the weapons, IG Sudue said he immediately halted the exercise and ordered his men to call the press to continue with the search in order to ensure transparency in the process.

While, EPS boss Roberts told journalists that when the LNP removed the crowd, a source immediately called him and informed him that two of the cars used by the protesters had guns in them.

He claimed at first, he was reluctant about the “intel” but after incessant calls, he decided to drive with few of his men to the Police Headquarters on Capitol Hill.

According to him, upon his arrival, he ordered the highest-ranking officer on ground to search one of the impounded vehicles and when they discovered the pistols and the knife, he immediately called the Deputy Inspector General for Operations, who was not on the scene of the first search. They then decided to call the media to witness the second search.

More Condemnation Greeted ‘Police Onslaught’

On Monday, a crowd of some 5,000 protesters gathered on the street lying between the under-renovation Executive Mansion and the Capitol building.

With no new petition to present to the Government, organizers of the protest said the assembly was to remind President George Weah to respond to the demands made in the June 7 ‘Save the State’ protest petition they streamlined into five major concerns.

Amongst their request were the call for the dismissal of Mr. Samuel Tweah as Minister of Finance and Development Planning, the publication of the President’s asset declaration forms, making the investigative report of the US$25 million mob-up exercise public, an investigation into the L$16 billion saga and more support to the gender division of the Ministry of Gender Children and Social Protection. 

After several hours of peaceful demonstration that was characterized by dancing, singing and chanting of anti-government’s songs and slogans, the protest soon got a dramatic twist when anti-riot police stormed the area and began firing tear gas and water cannon at the protesters.

According to protest organizers, the incident led to the injuries of several of their members who are currently admitted at various hospital in Monrovia. 

COP’s Chairman, Henry Costa, in a news conference late Monday evening termed the action of the police as an “onslaught by the state.”

“Our peaceful protest ended in an onslaught by the State,” he lamented.

“Our people were peaceful until they were provoked and teargassed and several of them got wounded. We have been told at least five of them are in police custody and for what?”    

The opposition Alternative National Congress (ANC) described the firing of teargas on peaceful protesters as a clear trademark of tyrants. The ANC added the action by the LNP subjected protesters to fear, suffering, injury and risk of death. 

“This singular act on the part of the government is intended to abrogate the constitutional right of assembly guaranteed to citizens of this nation and sets the precedence for future use of arbitrary decisions to revoke our constitution in part or in whole. It is unacceptable and will not be tolerated, the ANC condemned.

However, Information Minister Lenn Eugene Nagbe contended the use of teargas was triggered by protesters’ decision to lit coal pot on the grounds of the Capitol, the seats of the National Legislature, the Supreme Court and the Liberian presidency.