SENATOR STEVE ZARGO, Senate Committee Chairman on Defense, has maintained his accusation against the Mayor of Monrovia, Jefferson Tamba Koijee, accusing Koijee of being the mastermind behind the counter-protest. He accused Mayor Koijee of influencing the CDC-COP to brutalize the SUPists, as Koijee has been the financier of the group since it declared support for the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC). Consequently, Senator Zargo is calling on President George M. Weah to suspend Mayor Koijee pending the outcome of the investigation into the July 26 violence.
SENATOR ZARGO FURTHER disclosed that a pickup bearing a CDC-COP license plate also needs to be thoroughly investigated and the findings of who purchased it and/or who is financing its movement be made public. He recommended that the financier be apprehended.
THE LOFA COUNTY Senator yet accused Mayor Koijee of using the lawyer of the Monrovia City Corporation (MCC), Cllr. Arthur Johnson, to bail out the seven arrested CDC-COP members, who were arrested and forwarded to the Monrovia City Court by the Liberia National Police (LNP).
THE SERIOUSNESS OF Senator Zargo’s accusation says the Senator needs to come forth with his evidence. The bloody July 26 incident has received widespread condemnation, reflecting its unacceptability to stakeholders, international partners and the government of President George Manneh Weah. Further, the allegations tend to place Mayor Jefferson Koijee in a dark position, one not appropriate for a public official.
THE CDC LEGISLATIVE Staffers Association, summing up this matter, has said, “We are kindly calling on the plenary of the Liberian Senate, as well as the Committee on National Security and Intelligence, to please mandate the senator to provide pieces of evidence to assist the police with the investigation, if there is any evidence of such, in his possession. But anything to the contrary, let there be punitive action taken against him.”