A Patriot’s Diary
With Ekena Nyankun Juagbe-Droh Wesley
Liberians should for no reason take for granted the beginning of a grand scheme of stratagems intended to keep the nation’s current looters in power. The current holders of political authority believe they have committed so many unpardonable sins that relinquishing power is a no-go option. They are confiding in confidantes that owing to the mess they have created, losing 2023 general and presidential would be like a death warrant. Well, if Samuel Doe was not a good lesson for history, they can experiment.
It all started with the drama at the National Elections Commission (NEC) amid a dubious bidding process for the so-called electronic voting system. The ding-dong affair seemingly pushed NEC’s timetable into 2023 in a country where access to remote areas remains a huge challenge.
Liberia’s aborted national census is precisely another chicanery in the grand scheme plots by the Weah-led administration to create an inventive pretext for the smooth conduct of free, fair, and transparent elections. Census remains indisputably critical to the 2023 general and presidential elections in the country.
Logically, let’s examine the compelling imperatives and trappings of the government’s latest arms and ammunition cache bust at the Freeport of Monrovia. Through the Small Arms Commission, Liberia is obliged to unreservedly adhere to international treaties on the proliferation of arms across borders. But the government of President Weah – in a press conference praised the Small Arms Commission for providing intelligence leading to the confiscation of the container of arms.
Wow! Congratulations to the Small Arms Commission! Hope they would be as vigilant as ever. Lest we forget, the ECOWAS, AU, and UN are scrupulously monitoring illegal arms shipment across the globe and would go to any length to safeguard the letter and spirit of the Arms Non-proliferation Treaty they are all signatories to as it were.
Connecting the puzzling Dots:
In November 2022, Police Inspector General, Patrick Sudue visited the US State of Minnesota purportedly to attend a training cum conference. Was there any specific or special training organized by the Americans? Was such training held? What was the duration? What kind of courses were offered?
In Minnesota, Patrick Sudue’s elder brother, Timothy Lawal Sudue, who is Head of Security at the Freeport of Monrovia was also in Minnesota. They all disappeared from Minnesota about the same time. Was he also there for similar training? Perhaps a coincidence if you may. Ironically, a Crisis cum Emergency Response refresher training that was arranged for Patrick Sudue could not be held because the Police Inspector General failed to show up.
Prior to IG, Patrick Sudue’s departure for Liberia, he left Minnesota for Texas; a so-called origin of the container of arms and ammunition. What was Patrick Sudue doing in Texas at the time? Perplexingly, the alleged suspect in police custody lives in Texas. Could the suspect be seen as both the consignee and consignor?
Something is not right in this puzzle! Following Patrick Sudue’s brief and hastily arranged visit to Texas, he returned to Minnesota and after a couple of days set off for Liberia. Theoretically, Sudue’s November visit to Minnesota cum Texas versus the arrival of the container in Liberia makes sense in terms of the duration required to ferry a container to the small West African nation.
Timothy Lawal Sudue’s factor is worth examining as it were. Timothy, with a long history with the then Special Special Security Service (SSS) and now Executive Protection Service (EPS), also has a counter-terrorism paramilitary orientation. Israeli-trained elite, Special Anti-Terrorist Unit (SATU) Under the late President Doe can relate.
But the same Timothy Sudue was in charge at the Freeport as Head of Security when US$100 million dollar worth of cocaine left the Freeport of Monrovia unnoticed for Topo Village along the Japan Free Way. Amid the container of arms, Timothy Lawal Sudue seems to be on top of things. The arms are not worth or nowhere near US$1 million.
Smoking Gun:
Since the inception of the Weah administration, the training of quasi-paramilitary groups has been widespread. Former Minister of State for Presidential Affairs and now sanctioned, Nathaniel McGill organized former rebel generals in a scheme of intimidation.
The former generals, with the backing of the government, organized random press conferences to castigate and threaten critics of the regime including Hon. Yekeh Kolubah, Senator Abe Darius Dillon among others. The former generals are still in the good graces of the regime. Surely, we cannot ignore or turn a blind eye to the mysterious murders of senior government auditors – whose grieving families to date continue to cry for justice.
Monrovia City Mayor commands a gang of marooning bandits called city police – body-guarding across the capital as stench and filth inundate the city. The recent senatorial by-elections in Lofa revealed another classic ploy to recruit, train, and arm militias. During the period leading to the Lofa County by-elections – uniformed but non-vetted men and women were seen all over the place.
Under the aegis of the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) former rebel generals have been drafted to a forested region in the name of rangers. This is a calculated attempt to position troublemakers with a view to raining havoc during a critical election year.
Analysis:
The arms and ammunition discovery cum confiscation is not only a farce but a diversionary ploy by the regime to invoke draconian and extra-judicial measures ahead of crucial elections under the pretext that state security is being threatened. The container of arms and ammunition strikes a connection between Patrick Sudue and Timothy Lawal Sudue’s November visit to the States at about the same time.
Coincidence is a non-starter! If indeed Patrick Sudue was in the US for training, we challenge him to release details about which agency of the US government invited him, where the training took place, the scope of training, and duration.
Why should Liberians trust a government that failed to conclude an investigation into the diplomatic passport racketeering? If arms were allegedly confiscated in Brewerville, Liberians are eager to know how they got there; how long has the joint security been monitoring the alleged crime scene, and what is suspiciously noticeable about where the arms were found?
Liberians cannot afford to allow this open act of state-sponsored gangsterism to become another norm. Our democracy is under threat! Standing tall to defeat political vagabonds and criminals cannot be avoided. NOBODY IS STUPID HERE!
