MONROVIA – Mr. Henry Pedro Costa, a talk show host and political commentator has finally broken his silence as to how and why his very good and strong relationship with the Unity Party (UP) standard bearer Joseph Nyumah Boakai (JNB) went sour.
Henry P. Costa delivering 17 pages press statement today at the headquarters of the All Liberian People Party (ALP) in Monrovia, discloses how Mr. Benoni Urey, Telia Urey, and he fought many battles publicly and privately for Amb. Joseph Boakai.
Below is Henry Costa’s press statement
Ladies and gentlemen of the press, fellow Liberians, We appreciate your presence here today as we break our months-long silence to address the concerns, misconceptions, and malicious rumors that have circulated unabated. We understand that our extended period of silence has raised questions among our supporters and the public at large. Today, we aim to provide you with a comprehensive understanding of our reasons for this silence and to debunk the diabolical lies and unrelenting skullduggery perpetrated by our detractors.
First and foremost, we want to emphasize that our commitment to real change and a better Liberia remains unwavering. We firmly believe that our period of silence enabled us to have a sober reflection, consultation, and healing as a necessary investment in our collective growth and success. It has allowed us to emerge stronger, more focused, and better equipped to tackle the challenges ahead. We extend our gratitude to all those who patiently stood by us, recognizing the significance of this process and the positive outcomes it will yield.
As we break our silence today, we do so with renewed determination and a clear sense of purpose. We stand ready to face the future, guided by the lessons learned, the wisdom shared, and the healing experienced during this period. Together, we shall forge a path of progress, unity, and prosperity for our party and our beloved nation.
It is very important for us to begin this statement by giving some background on the steps that we in the ALP have taken in support of Ambassador Boakai and for what we believed would be for the advancement of the Liberian people.
ALP’s relationship with and support for Ambassador Boakai and the UP began during the 2017 elections. After the first round of the general and presidential elections of 2017, the All Liberian Party, led by our dynamic leader, Hon. Benoni Urey, made a clear and what we believed to be a patriotic decision to rally our forces and stand firmly with the Unity Party and its Standard Bearer, Amb. Joseph N. Boakai, as they faced off against CDC’s then-Senator George Weah in a fiercely contested runoff election.
It must be stated that then-presidential candidate Weah personally reached out to us seeking our support, but we believed at the time that Amb. Joseph Boakai was the better man for the job, so we declined George Weah’s frantic appeal for our support and went with VP Joseph Boakai instead. Ever since then, the All Liberian Party (ALP) supported former Vice President Joseph Boakai in every way, shape, or form in the interest of our country. During this period of support, his friends became our friends and his enemies our enemies.
A few years ago, our Political Leader, Hon. Benoni Urey, set off some nerves in the camp of our former CPP partner, the ANC, when he publicly announced that he would not be vying for the presidency himself, and stated that Amb. Joseph Boakai should be crowned the Standard Bearer of the CPP because of his experience and seniority, amongst other reasons. That single pronouncement, which I must admit, wasn’t exactly a derived position of our party, caused a deep rift between us and the Alex Cummings camp.
However, we believed that there was a need for decisiveness to ensure a clear path for opposition victory. He made a clear decision to support Ambassador Boakai without any posturing or requests for anything for himself or the ALP- a decision which would eventually lead to the ALP being treated with great disregard, as other parties and individuals demanded that they would only support UP if they were told what they would get out of it.
The ALP was continuously mocked for “selling itself for nothing” while other parties held their support as bargaining chips. This did not deter us and we remained unflinching in our support for Amb. Boakai and the UP.
When the ALP established that the CPP framework document had been fraudulently tampered with by the ANC, our Political Leader raised the matter with Amb. Boakai. And both Amb. Boakai and Hon. Urey decided that we go to court. However, Amb. Boakai impressed upon our Political Leader that being the current CPP Chairman, which he Amb. Boakai was at the time, and an elderly statesman, it would not look good on him to be a direct party in the lawsuit, so he asked the ALP to singlehandedly file the lawsuit against Alex Cummings and his ANC, for forgery and other charges.
Had ALP not caught the forgery that had been done to the framework agreement, the Unity Party today would have been in trouble because the perpetrators of this forgery had targeted provisions that would make Ambassador Boakai ineligible. One of those provisions stated that anyone who was not in good health would not be able to contest for the CPP standard bearer position and that was directly put in place to stop Ambassador Boakai from contesting.
The ALP fought this battle singlehandedly to protect his candidacy. To our utmost surprise, elements in UP would be the ones branding the ALP as troublemakers in an effort to make ALP look bad to the public. Notwithstanding, the ever-loyal ALP did not backdown and saw the trial through despite the negative sentiments built against us because of the posturing of the UP. As for his part, Amb. Boakai testified during that trial as you all may recall.
Sometime last year, Amb. Joseph Boakai asked to meet with Hon. Urey, and in that meeting, he expressed a grave concern that he feared that Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf might be at work to undermine his leadership in the Unity Party which he believed could destroy his presidential ambition. Therefore, he asked Mr. Urey to initiate a fallback position strategy by forming a new political vehicle that he would run on in case of any possible threat to his candidacy.
Mr. Urey, a deeply loyal ally to Amb. Joseph Boakai, wasting no time, proceeded to recruit veteran Liberian political activist and politician, Professor Alaric Tokpa, who graciously accepted the task and swiftly began the formation effort. Thus, the idea of the Democratic Alliance of Liberia (DAL) was birthed. The DAL was made up of several political parties, all of whom who had pledged to support Amb. Boakai’s presidential bid. After months of negotiations, there was a collaboration agreement developed which was to be endorsed by all parties. The Unity Party then issues a memo to all parties that they did not need an alliance to win the election and they would run as Unity Party and only ask for other parties to endorse them.
We rejected this idea and insisted that to win this election, there was a need to bring together as many political parties as possible to strengthen our position- as we see the ruling CDC doing. We later discovered to our utmost shock that the likes of Brownie Samukai, Francis Nyumalin, Kofi Woods, and their ilk learned of this new move and persuaded Amb. Joseph Boakai to disengage from it and instead proposed their own vehicle to him, something they called the Grand Alliance.
We were not surprised at this considering these are the group of people who had previously convinced Ambassador Boakai to not attend an endorsement program that was organized by ALP in Gbarnga canceling only two days to the ceremony, after the ALP had spent tens of thousands of dollars to mobilize and plan for that program in support of JNB. We realized that there were certain individuals in Amb. Boakai’s circle that were bent on ostracizing ALP and creating very bad feelings amongst ALP leaders.
For reasons unbeknownst to us till today, Amb. Joseph Boakai accepted their proposal, and dropped the idea of the Democratic Alliance of Liberia which he had asked Mr. Urey to create. He then tried to convince Mr. Urey to come onboard the Alliance formed by Brownie Samukai, Francis Nyumalin and Kofi Woods. To this request, Hon. Benoni Urey vehemently refused on grounds that if Amb. Joseph Boakai felt that the idea of the Democratic Alliance of Liberia (DAL) was no longer necessary, then what was the point of forming the so-called Grand Alliance as proposed by Brownie Samuakai, Kofi Woods and others? Mr. Urey proceeded to tell Amb. Joseph Boakai that he did not believe that the decision of the Unity Party was right in abandoning the efforts of all the parties that were working to put the DAL together. Moreover, he could only work with Brownie Samukai and Kofi Woods if they would come out publicy and declare their support for Ambassador Boakai, something that has not been done up to date.
Lest I forget to mention that Professor Alaric Tokpa was deeply disappointed that his hard-fought effort had been wasted. We appealed to him to let it go for the sake of our “beloved JNB”.
Fellow Liberians, over the years, we fought many other battles publicly and privately for Amb. Joseph Boakai. And as for financial support, Hon. Urey, Telia Urey, and I, personally provided sustained and immense financial support to Amb. Boakai that we do not wish to disclose here today, but there are tons of witnesses to this fact!
The Running Mate Issue
On Friday, January 13, 2023, I had a very important meeting in Liberia at Royal Hotel in room 309, with representatives of some serious and powerful people. They offered me millions of dollars to run for the presidency of Liberia in this year’s general and presidential elections. Their proposition, though massive, was not a shocker to me as a powerful man of God that I trust had earlier prophesied it to me some three years ago in 2020.
They told me that they had conducted a nationwide survey on me that indicated that I have a strong favorability across the country. They promised to deploy the required expertise on top of the millions they were offering, to ensure success. I must admit, I was overwhelmed in no small measure, not just by the sheer enormity of their proposition or offer, but also that it was particularly happening to me, Henry Costa, instead of one of the many already-declared presidential candidates out there. Why me? I quietly asked myself.
When it was my turn to speak or give an answer to the proposition that had just been made to me, I nervously thanked them for their most generous offer, but firmly and respectfully declined it. I told them that I could not accept their money to run against Amb. Joseph Boakai for I was fully committed to his candidacy and I believed it would deeply devastate a man that I had come to love, admire, and enthusiastically support.
It would be a most painful act of betrayal, I believed at the time. The gentlemen were deeply disappointed by my answer, but ironically, they were also blown away and impressed by my loyalty to a man who is not even a remote relative of mine. Considering the serious money problems that Uncle Joe was facing, which I am very well familiar with, I then passionately pleaded with the gentlemen to convey my humble and fervent request to their superiors that I wanted them to kindly divert and give the entire 30-million-dollar package to Amb. Joseph Boakai for his presidential campaign, while I would then focus on my already-declared bid for the senate seat of Montserrado County.
After much hesitation, they reluctantly agreed to pass on my request to their superiors. I left that meeting feeling assured that I had done a most honorable and good thing, but little did I know the horrible nightmare that I was about to experience. I came downstairs where my people were waiting for me, got in the car, briefed my people who had accompanied me, and then called the prophet of God who had seen the revelation three years ago, and told him that his prophecy had finally come to pass, but that I had turned it down. He wasn’t happy at all that I had declined the offer, but I was convinced nonetheless that I had done the right thing.
I returned to the United States the next day to head up the preparation effort to receive former VP Joseph Boakai, a week after his discharge from ELWA Hospital where he had been receiving medical treatment. While in transit in Accra, Ghana, I called Mrs. Louise Tamba who is married to Amb. Joseph Boakai’s nephew and a very close confidante to the former VP, and told her about my meeting in Liberia and my decision and action taken.
Sis. Louise, as I affectionately and respectfully called her, and I, had developed a very strong and close bigsister and small-brother relationship. A relationship personally encouraged by Mr. Boakai himself. The three of us had built a strong bond and worked very closely together like a family. I specifically asked Mrs. Tamba not to inform Amb. Joseph Boakai about my meeting until I had received an answer, hopefully, a positive one, from the people regarding my request asking them to give Amb. Joseph Boakai the 30- million-dollar support package for his campaign.
But Sis Louise, being so worried about the terrible money problems facing former VP Boakai, and concerned about how much Amb. Boakai worries about his serious money problems, especially with the impending presidential campaign, she couldn’t hold back her excitement at the strong possibility that Amb. Joseph Boakai’s money problems could soon be over so she ignored my wishes and proceeded to inform VP Boakai who was already with us in the United States, literally seven minutes from my residence in Delaware.
The next morning when I arrived at the residence we had rented for Amb. Boakai, I went upstairs to greet him as I usually did, if he wasn’t already downstairs whenever I got there. Upon seeing me, he immediately, with much excitement, broke the word to me that Mrs. Tamba had told him what he believed was the best news in a long time about my meeting with the financial backers at Royal Hotel. He said he believed that it was God’s mysterious way of solving our money problems. He was so happy and thanked me profusely for what he believed was a great, uncommon sacrifice that I had made to turn down 30 million United States Dollars to run for president out of deep loyalty to him. I was very happy to see him happy.
For several weeks while we waited to hear good news from the financial backers, Uncle Joe put me under serious pressure and stress for updates, which sometimes I didn’t have to give him. He departed the United States on February 10 to return to Liberia, and the very next day, Saturday, February 11, I received the long-awaited answer from the people. They first expressed their disappointment in me for not accepting their offer to run for president, but thankfully, they had considered and accepted my request to support Amb. Boakai instead. But it came with one condition; they requested that in exchange for their 30 million dollars, Amb. Boakai must pick me, Henry Costa, as his running mate. When I delivered their terms or request to Amb. Boakai, he readily accepted and agreed. I was stunned. He went on to tell me how brilliant, loyal, patriotic I am, and what a godsend I have been to him over these past years and much more.
Now permit me to backtrack a little. A few weeks earlier, Amb. Joseph Boakai had told me during an hour-long phone call that he wasn’t going with Nyonblee Karngar-Lawrence as his running mate because of her weakened position due to the internal crisis in her party and because of the way she had treated Charles Brumskine’s party and people by mortgaging it to the likes of Musa Bility. He also decisively dismissed the idea of picking Jeremiah Koung, whom he said was very corrupt and a puppet of the notorious warlord, Prince Johnson. He further told me that the Americans in particular would be very unhappy and offended if he picked Jeremiah Koung as his running mate.
I used the opportunity of that call to tell Amb. Joseph Boakai very firmly that I would not continue to support him if he picked Jeremiah Koung, because I believe Jeremiah Koung stands for nothing, and has spent all his years in the House and Liberian Senate busy enriching himself, voting for every bad deal that came before him and never once stood up for the Liberian people’s interests.
I also told Amb. Boakai that picking Jeremiah Koung who is a political puppet of Prince Johnson’s, a very dangerous warlord who is under U.S. sanctions, would be deemed as a slap in the face to the United States, our oldest and most important partner. I went further to tell Uncle Joe that having a troubled man like Prince Johnson close to the presidency would be a grave threat to our national security and our fledgling democracy.
My fellow Liberians, Amb. Boakai agreed with me on all these counts and proceeded to promise me that he would never make the mistake of selecting Jeremiah Koung as his running mate as it would be devastating for the country and he had the responsibility to pick someone with shared ideals. But of course, he would ultimately break his promise a few weeks later.
After these conversations with Amb. Boakai, I reached out to my Political Leader, Chairman, and Ms. Telia Urey to let them know of all the developments and what Ambassador Boakai had committed to me. All of them agreed to support my selection should Amb. Boakai select me. Truthfully, none of them believed he would pick me, but they hoped he would. They also suggested that we recommend Mrs. Sara Beysolow Nyanti, who had been our preferred choice for running mate to Ambassador Boakai, considering her experience, position, and ability to mobilize support for his candidacy. We agreed to see things through with these options.
So, on Thursday, March 16, Amb. Joseph Boakai and a delegation of four persons boarded a Kenya Airways flight and landed in Accra, Ghana, an hour and a half later for his meeting with my financial backers. The trip was entirely paid for by the people.
In the meeting which took place at the Marriott Hotel near Kotoka International Airport, which had been requested by Amb. Boakai, he did something that would dramatically change the way I would see him forever. When he got into the meeting with the potential financiers, Amb. Joseph N. Boakai used the opportunity to bad-mouth me to these financiers, saying some of the most negative things about my character to them. After telling me that he would commit to them that he would make me his running mate, he broke his promise and went on a rampage of trying to damage my reputation to people who I had brought to support him.
He even went as far as blasting them for offering me such a deal rather than to him. He told them to dump me and give him the 30 million dollars so he could pick whoever he wanted for his running mate, in exchange he promised to give them anything they wanted in Liberia if he won. He specifically said he would give them the Wologizi mountain in Lofa County. Moreover, he also told them that he could never select Jeremiah Koung or Nyonblee as his Vice-giving them the same reasons as he had previously given me.
As you may expect, the people were very shocked by Amb. Boakai’s behavior, and when they asked him about his promise to name me as his running mate, Amb. Boakai vehemently denied ever promising to make me his running mate.
The people firmly rejected Amb. Boakai’s request to abandon me and give him the package, and expressed their disgust at his behavior. After the meeting, one of their representatives called and briefed me on how the meeting went, and, as you can imagine, I was deeply disgusted, disappointed, and felt betrayed by a man I had considered a father figure and done so much for. My whole body was shaking with sadness and anger coursing through my veins upon hearing of Amb. Boakai’s wicked betrayal.
When I had managed to calm down a bit, I placed a call to Amb. Boakai and added his son, Jojo Boakai, Mrs. Louise Tamba, and Mr. Sahr Johnny, and Ms. Telia Urey to the call. All family members of his. During that call which lasted for almost two hours, I vented and expressed my deep disappointment at Amb. Boakai’s painful betrayal toward me.
I was hoping that the news of Uncle Joe’s betrayal was not true. But sadly, he confessed on the call that he did indeed betray me. After confessing his cruel action, he went further to apologize. He said, “Henry, I am not too old to say sorry when I have wronged someone, and what I did to you was very wrong, I am sorry. Please forgive me.” After he uttered those words in a seemingly sorrowful tone, I instantly felt sorry for him and blamed his action on the desperate financial situation he was in. I accepted his apology and we moved on to discuss how we would salvage the mess and try to get the funds for the campaign. On that call, I even told him that he did not have to select me as his running mate, but that we needed to find a way to bring the people back on board as to not lose the golden opportunity. There were many other things we discussed on that call.
The call eventually ended with Amb. Boakai promising to hold consultations with his party officials and close advisers to inform them that he was now putting me under consideration for his running mate because he needed the resources and he believed I would serve him loyally.
To this date, we are still confused about his action and how he treated me. He did not have to promise me anything, because I was not entitled to it, so if he simply wanted the money without picking me as his running mate, he should have simply told me, and I would have fought hard to try to get the people to support him without making him pick me as his running mate because that is how much I used to believe in and care for Uncle Joe.
When Amb. Boakai returned to Liberia on Saturday, March 18, our nightmare began. He held a meeting with his closest advisers and party officials and told them that he was now adding me to the running mate shortlist. The very next day on Monday, March 19, he drove to Careysburg to consult with Hon. Urey. He asked Hon. Urey whether he was in support of me being considered for running mate, and Hon. Urey told him that he was fully in support, however it was up to Amb. Boakai to make his pick of whoever he felt was best-suited for him.
Fellow Liberians, what came next was extremely horrible and unbelievable. The same people that we had supported and worked very closely with for many years suddenly turned on us and began to fabricate wicked and crazy lies against us. It began with a nonsensical lie that the financial backers that Amb. Boakai had met with in Accra were fake and that they were agents of the CDC government.
Ambassador Boakai even went to the extent of talking to Saah Joseph on the phone, where Saah Joseph convinced him that it was the CDC government that was clandestinely putting up the 30 million dollars so that if he, Joe Boakai, were to pick me as his running mate, he would lose the election to the CDC. When I was told these things, with no denial from a man that I had loyally served, I was left disheartened, shocked, and with a strong feeling of betrayal.
Let the record show that the financial backers, because of everything that transpired, withdrew their offer and did not give me a cent.
Fellow Liberians, of all the wicked lies against us, let me tell you the worst of them all. When Uncle Joe went to the States in late January of this year, a week after he was discharged from ELWA Hospital, and upon his request as usual, I scheduled several medical appointments for him with his cardiologist (heart doctor) and an internal medicine doctor. All the medical examinations from ELWA Hospital and from the doctors in the United States concluded one thing; Amb. Joseph Nyuma Boakai needed to do a triple bypass open heart surgery within six months to have a weakening artery in his heart removed, and replaced by another artery from his thigh. The doctors advised that if he didn’t get the surgery done within six months, his heart could stop beating. The doctors also advised Uncle Joe against putting himself through unnecessary stress as they said it could only worsen his condition.
We were all very scared as you can imagine, with this diagnosis. We decided to keep this information a very tight secret and work very fast to get Uncle Joe back to the United States for the surgery. So, on March 2nd, after I had raised the money for the trip, we had a Zoom meeting to finalize plans for the very important trip back to the States. In that meeting were Louise Tamba, who lives in Minnesota, Jake Kabakole, Sahr Johnny, Jojo Boakai, Uncle Joe, and myself. I coordinated the meeting.
The next day, I bought two plane tickets, one business class for Uncle Joe and one economy for his nephew, Jacob Kabakole, to depart Liberia on March 23 via Accra on Delta Airlines to arrive in New York the next day and onward to Minnesota. I bought one ticket for myself to fly from Delaware to Minnesota on the same day of March 23 to receive them from the airport and drive them to the residence I had booked for them in Rochester, Minnesota. Everything was all set. But two weeks to their departure from Liberia, Jake Kabakole called me to say that Uncle Joe was canceling the trip.
I didn’t ask him why, but I was shocked that Uncle Joe would cancel such an important trip without speaking with me. It was very strange and unusual. But then days later, I started to hear yet the gravest rumor that Amb. Boakai believed (maybe influenced by his people) that President George Weah and his people had provided me with a huge amount of money to pay several American cardiothoracic doctors in an American hospital to kill Amb. Joseph Nyuma Boakai during the surgery, and so that was why Uncle Joe canceled the surgery. I couldn’t believe that they could go to that extent.
But on March 30th, the bombshell came from Amb. Joseph Boakai himself. He sent me a long WhatsApp message saying a lot of things and in the last paragraph, he said that he had received information that he would be killed in the surgery and would therefore not participate in the elections, so he wasn’t going for the surgery anymore. I was beyond shocked and deeply heartbroken when I read that message which validated all the rumors that I was hearing. I still have it in my phone.
Around this period (second week of April), Amb. Joseph Boakai had completely stopped talking to Mr. Urey, Ms. Telia Urey, our party chairman, Mr. Theodore Momo, and me. He no longer involved nor consulted us on political matters as he always did. Whenever we called him, he wouldn’t answer or if we were lucky, he would message us days later saying he was busy. But what struck us was that during this whole time, he was busily engaged in political discussions with Prince Johnson, Jeremiah Koung, Nyonblee Karngar-Lawrence, Alex Tyler, Wilmot Paye, and James Biney, to name a few. They held meetings during those weeks in Monrovia and at his farm in Bomi. None of those meetings where critical political decisions were made was ALP informed or invited.
In those political discussions and negotiations that they had without our involvement, they divided up the various representative and senatorial seats among Jeremiah Koung/Prince Johnson’s party, MDR, Nyonblee’s faction of the Liberty Party, Unity Party, and even the infamous Alex Tyler got the exclusive pass to contest the Bomi County senate seat unopposed.
Even though they all knew I had declared that I was running for the senate in Montserrado, my beloved Uncle Joe who used to call me his greatest ally and most dependable nephew, agreed for UP to put Wilmot Paye on the UP ticket in Monsterrado County against me. Our party, the All Liberian Party (ALP), which has stood with and fought fiercely for Amb. Joseph Boakai for many years when his new best friends and allies were nowhere around, was left in the cold.
The next thing we heard on social media was that Amb. Boakai would be announcing his running mate April 28. We were completely taken aback, because we believed that after strongly supporting Amb. Boakai over the years, surely ALP would be consulted and be an integral part of this key decision-making process. We were so sure that consideration would be given to our views on who would be selected. But we were very wrong and mistaken.
On April 26, two days to the day Amb. Joseph Boakai would name his running mate, he drove up to Careysburg to inform us that he had decided to name Jeremiah Koung as his running mate. He did not come to consult with us on what we thought was best, nor did he come to sincerely seek our support, he merely came to give us an “FYI- for your information” about the decision he had made- a decision which he vehemently said many weeks earlier that he would never make in the interest of the country. After he got through speaking, our Political Leader Hon. Urey then asked him a single question.
That question was: “Do you feel comfortable entrusting Liberia to the care of these new allies of yours”. This question was in consideration of the fact that we had first-hand information of his grave health issues, along with age not being in his favor. Amb. Joseph Boakai responded and said, “Ben, in the forest there are many animals, good and bad, but they all make up the forest”.
Our Political Leader wasn’t satisfied with Amb. Boakai’s vague response, so he pressed him further by repeating his question. And then Amb. Boakai said in a rather restorative tone, “If I have to dance with the devil to win this election, I am prepared to do that and even the devil has a role to play in my election. Moreover, we have to win before we can rescue and I have to do anything to win”. After that statement, the meeting came to an end. I did not say a single word in that meeting and Ambassador Boakai did not say a single word to me either. He never looked me in the eye once during the entire 10-minute meeting.
Then the whole issue of ALP attending the program came up. We made it very clear that ALP was never at any point invited to the program. In fact, even in the meeting on April 26, it was not mentioned. In fact, that meeting was not to solicit support, it was merely a meeting to inform us of his running mate decision. Interestingly, at 11:10 pm, almost midnight on April 27, the eve of his naming ceremony, Amb. Joseph Boakai sent me a WhatsApp message inviting me to the program. Of course, we didn’t attend a program that we were not involved with in any shape or form.
You do not treat your allies and supporters with the level of disdain and malice that the ALP has been treated with over the years. If we were true partners to Unity Party, such a critical decision as the selection of his running mate would have been done in consultation, considering there was no immediate rush for the April 28th announcement of Jeremiah Koung.
Amb. Boakai and the Unity Party have quickly forgotten the tremendous amount of sacrifice that ALP and its leaders, including myself, have made over the past decade standing against the ills in our society. Therefore, we will never compromise our values to support any and every thing just because we want power or to win an election. We shall continue to stand up for what we believe is right and only support a ticket we believe that has individuals with the same ideology as we do, to change the direction of our country for the betterment of all Liberians. We have not stood firmly all these years, only to dance with the “devil” today for the sake of power. We strongly reject that and feel very sorry that the old man would put himself through this out of desperation.
If this was a personal or selfish quest for us, we would not have fought against President Sirleaf, President Weah, and the wicked National Legislature that has done nothing for our people but themselves. We shall never see a bad leadership and support it. We also will not be a part of supporting the same bad group of people that has hijacked this “rescue mission” just because we want to win power.
Since the announcement, and during this period of our silence and consultation, the Unity Party has been antagonizing the ALP in ways that we would have never imagined after all of our sacrifices made and the support that we gave them. Firstly, UP executives have been engaging some ALP aspirants to abandon ALP and run on the UP ticket across many districts. They have engaged ALP executives to resign from ALP and join UP. All of which evil efforts have failed.
We have sent several words of caution asking them to desist, but have all fallen on deaf ears. They have also moved to field candidates in many areas against ALP candidates, something which we both previously agreed they would not do. Moreover, you all recently witnessed how Ms. Telia Urey was unceremoniously removed from the JNB Tact Team, an organization that she led with distinction and passion, sacrificing her time, energy, and resources to make it what it is today.
My fellow Liberians, the press, let me tell you all the truth, we did not abandon Amb. Joseph Boakai as they would have you believe, but rather it was Amb. Joseph Boakai who abandoned us. Even worse, he has also abandoned his own vision for the Liberian people.
My fellow Liberians, I have been designated by our party to announce and inform in categorical and unambiguous terms, that our party, the All Liberian Party (ALP) is no longer allies or partners with Amb. Joseph Boakai and his Unity Party. We no longer share the same ideals, vision, or values. In the coming days, our party will be meeting to determine our next course of action.
Thank you. And may God bless Liberia.
