ONE OF THE George Weah administration’s consistent critics has been the Chairman of the erstwhile Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), Cllr. Jerome Verdier. At first, Verdier’s advocacy was bent on the establishment of a war and economic crimes court for Liberia, but recently took a different trend and persistently focused on the Mayor of Monrovia, Jefferson T. Koijee.
VERDIER NOW HEADS the United States-based International Justice Group (IJG), and has been working with other Liberians in the US to bring the attention of the US government to crimes, mainly human rights abuses, in Liberia.
EVEN THOUGH THE IJG has its own format and procedure of investigating, concluding and reporting crimes, many are beginning to wonder whether Executive Director Verdier’s sole objective is to tarnish the reputation of, and bring to his knees, the head of the Monrovia City Corporation (MCC), as he has tied almost all the mysterious deaths, disappearances and murders to the inclination of the mayor.
VERDIER HAS MADE many allegations of murder and human rights abuse against Koijee, with the latest being the murder that occurred at the home of Cllr. Gloria Musu Scott, but all these allegations are observed to have been made without the corresponding evidences to indict the accused.
In 2019, Verdier accused Koijee of hiring 200 men from neighboring Ivory Coast to disrupt the June 7 protest, which was being planned by the opposition to bring the attention of the government to a series of economic and human rights concerns. However, the protest was well executed, with the Liberia National Police (LNP) providing water for the protesters. There was no observation of any strange movement or any attempt to deter the gathering. This allegation has been laid to rest without investigating the facts or fallacies surrounding it.
VERDIER IS ON record of accusing Koijee of being an associate of Chuckie Taylor, son of former Charles G. Taylor, who orchestrated heinous crimes against the citizenry. Besides accusing Koijee of being an associate of Chuckie, Verdier claimed that the mayor was also a child soldier who was recruited to fight the war for ex-President Taylor.
SO GRAVE FROM an astute lawyer and the Chairman of the TRC, other members of the TRC Bench, including Rev. Dr. Cllr. Pearl Brown Bull, Rev. Gerald Coleman, Massa Washington and John Stewart, categorically refuted the allegation and clarified that the allegation did not emanate from Verdier in his capacity as the TRC Chairman. According to them, at no time did the TRC receive a statement, written or verbal, or complaint from any witness, perpetrator, person of interest, etc., suggesting that Koijee was a part of any warring faction, perpetrating group or individuals linked to gross human rights violation, war crimes or crimes against humanity.
A DAY AFTER the attack on Cllr. Gloria Musu Scott’s home in Brewerville, Verdier appeared on Spoon Talk and accused Koijee of using one of his operatives who work as Deputy Director for Operations of the Monrovia City Police, Varlee Telleh, to execute the assassination plan. He claimed that it was this same Telleh that Koijee used to murder Matthew Innis, who worked at the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL). According to him, Telleh was later murdered along the Bomi Highway to conceal information, but somersaulted and claimed that Telleh had been taken out to the Ivory Coast through Nimba County.
AGAIN, THIS ALLEGATION has proved to be another made-up story, as the mayor has turned in Varlee Telleh to the LNP for questioning. When the victim, Cllr. Scott, visited the LNP headquarters and was questioned about Telleh being the perpetrator, she said the accuser, Verdier, should be the one to answer to that question.
