Addressing a news conference in Monrovia last Thursday, the Standard Bearer of the Rainbow Alliance, a collaboration of opposition political parties in Liberia, Mr. Reginald B. Goodridge, Sr., has vowed to sue President George Manneh Weah for what he noted was a “verbal assault” from the President.
Mr. Goodridge, however, made it clear: “We are aware that Mr. Weah is immune from certain judicial processes from the lower courts, due to executive privileges as President of Liberia. But we will file this case, keep it on the record and patiently wait until Mr. Weah leaves office, which we expect will be sooner than later.”
The Rainbow Alliance Standard Bearer further stated: “In order to ensure that President Weah and his surrogates do not continue this lie, I am today informing the Liberian people that I will file a lawsuit in the courts of Liberia against Mr. Weah for Libel, and Defamation of character; and I will be seeking a remedy of $27 million United States Dollars in damages. Make no mistake, we will not hesitate to bring legal charges and seek damages for $27 million United States Dollars, against any of Mr. Weah’s associates, any member of his family, and any member of the CDC who repeats the false allegations and blatant lies that Mr. Weah has leveled against me, whether in the media, in person or on any of the social media.”
Goodridge narrated that, “At about 3:00 PM on Tuesday, April 4, 2023, following the signing of the Revised Farmington River Declaration at the Farmington Hotel, I was approached in an aggressive manner by the President of Liberia, Mr. George Manneh Weah. He said to me, and I quote, ‘Goodridge, are you enjoying democracy in Liberia?’ I was surprised by the question and lost for words.
“I moved away from the President. He approached me again, and repeated the question several times, ‘Goodridge, I say, ehn you enjoying democracy in Liberia?’ Before I could find an answer, he said to me, “Look at you. You are a rogue. You stole my car and burned down my house.’ I responded to the President that what he had said was a lie, and there was an intense exchange of words between us.
“The President made these false allegations in an angry tone surrounded by his bodyguards, in the presence of his wife, Mrs. Clar Weah, Hon. Lusinee F. Kamara, Political Leader of the All Liberia Coalition Party (ALCOP), and Rev. David Kemue, Political Leader of the Democratic People’s Party of Liberia (DPPL).”
He reasoned that the President’s alleged verbal assault on him as a political leader in the opposition community, in the presence of his armed bodyguards, and other members of his government in the wake of speculations of extra-judicial killings of auditors and other persons in Liberia serves as a license for him to be killed.
“This is why President Weah’s false, stupid and malicious allegations against me personally, and the name of my family, cannot, and must not be taken lightly. My family name, the Goodridge name, has a long and unblemished reputation and legacy in Liberia. We have made major contributions to the progress and development of Liberia for many years, and continue to do so today.”
Background of Pres. Weah’s Allegation against Mr. Goodridge
In 1996 when former member of the Five-man Council of State, Charles Taylor demanded the arrest of former rebel United Liberation Movement of Liberia (ULIMO-J) leader, Roosevelt Johnson (deceased) on allegation that his bodyguard had murdered someone around his 16th Street Sinkor residence (beachside), the ULIMO-J leader supported by the rebel Liberia Peace Council (LPC) fighters joined in to resist the arrest of rebel General Johnson. The LPC was headed by Dr. George Boley (now Representative of Grand Gedeh County), a Krahn native like General Johnson, and together they resisted Johnson’s arrest, creating a deadly fracas in Monrovia.
As the fracas raged between the combined rebel forces of Charles Taylor’s National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) and Alhaji Kromah’s ULIMO-K on one side, to arrest Roosevelt Johnson, he managed to escape and took refuge in the Barclay Training Center (BTC), where remnants of the disbanded Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) joined in to resist the ULIMO-J leader’s arrest.
The combined Taylor-Alhaji Kromah forces pursued Roosevelt Johnson’s forces and that of the LPC and the AFL from two fronts – the Sinkor axis and the Bushrod Islands axis – with Gen. Johnson holding central Monrovia, mainly the BTC and its surrounding vicinity.
As the ‘Monrovia Madness’ fighting ensued, as usual there were rampant and massive looting of properties being carried out by the fighting forces who were at each other’s throats. At time of the fighting no one could determine who was actually looting what, as the city ran amok, but only after the fighting subsided due to the robust intervention of ECOMOG, the West African Peacekeeping forces, before it could be noticed what was actually looted.
It as this point that Liberian football icon, George Weah, who at the time was plying his football trade with AC Milan of Italy, agents on the ground in Liberia informed the Liberian media that Weah’s home on 9th Street in Sinkor had been looted and partially burnt by unknown persons though the Monrovia fighting did not reach the 9th Street, Sinkor area.
The media was informed by Weah’s agents on the ground, including one Mr. Adnan Hedrog, proprietor of the famous ‘Video Max’ Cinema Store on Carey Street slightly opposite the famous Holiday Inn Hotel, when he disclosed that two of Weah’s vehicles were looted by unknown men during the Monrovia April 6 fighting.
Weah, being the only positive news coming of out Liberia during the war years because of his football exploits in Europe at the time, the media took interest and ran series of articles as well as held several radio sports talk shows to put pressure on the Five-man Council of State, headed by the late Wilton Sankawolo, in efforts to retrieve the footballer’s looted vehicles – a blue Mercedes Benz (two-door sedan) and an Isuzu Trooper (Navy blue). It was later discovered that the two vehicles in question were reportedly taken by Mr. Reginald Goodridge, then Press Secretary to Mr. Taylor, and Abraham Kromah, then Deputy Police Director for CID Affairs for what they called ‘Safe-Keeping’ to avoid rebel fighters looting them.
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