By Olando Testimony Zeongar
MONROVIA – Pro-government protesters under the banner Concerned Liberians Network, have declared that they are resolved seeing the names of Monrovia City Mayor, Jeff Koijee and an officer of the Monrovia City Police, Varlee Telleh, who were both accused of being accomplices in the murder of Charloe Musu, cleared, where applicable.
On 22 February 2023, young Charloe met her demise, as an unidentified assailant allegedly stormed her family’s Brewerville residence and fatally stabbed her to death, according to former Chief Justice Gloria Musu-Scott, who is considered the mother of the deceased.
Following the tragic incident, the former chairman of Liberia’s erstwhile Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), Cllr. Jerome Verdier, went on live radio and TV, alleging that Mayor Koijee was the mastermind behind Charloe’s murder, indicating at the time that the Monrovia City Mayor hired officer Telleh to have sodomized ex-Justice Musu-Scott before assassinating her, inferring that the alleged assassin failed on the mission and instead gruesomely took away the life of the young lady – these allegations have however, since been rebutted by both men.
But earlier this week, on Monday, pro-government protesters with the Concerned Liberians Network, which has as its Chairman, Mr. Y. Michael Gilman, a protege of President George Weah and an avowed supporter of the lead party, Congress for Democratic Change, in the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change, and his Co-chair, Journalist Abraham Wheon, who works for a pro-government radio station, took to the streets, demanding justice for Charloe Musu, among others insisting that Mayor Koijee’s name be cleared, since indeed, the Mayor and Officer Telleh were called in by the Police, questioned, and the pair were allowed to leave the Headquarters of the LNP without any charges even though, the actual murderer of Charloe Musu is yet unknown.
Multiple sources hinted Smart News Liberia that the pro-government protesters’ action, was triggered by insider’s information regarding an investigative report reportedly conducted and concluded by the Liberian National Police (LNP), which our sources divulged, allegedly linked former Justice Musu-Scott to the murder of her daughter, and that Justice Minister Dean, said to be a longtime friend to the former Justice, is allegedly refusing for the police report to be made public.
According to our sources, the pro-government protesters’ protest action, as planned, was intended to bring pressure to bear on Justice Minister Dean, to make public the LNP report, which Journalist Wheon, who served as spokesperson for the group on the day of the Concerned Liberians Network’s street protest, claimed is in the possession of the Liberian minister of justice.
The pro-government protesters, without mincing words, asserted in a five-page petition statement presented first, to the Legislature and then to Minister Dean on the day of the protest that they are resolved that the Ministry of Justice makes a public declaration clearing the names of Mayor Jefferson Koijee and Varlee Telleh, where applicable.
The pro-government protesters are also calling on the Ministry of Justice to declare Mr. Jerome Verdier, who currently resides in the United States, a person of interest in the Charloe Musu murder case, and seek his extradition from the US, according to them, for the former boss of the disbanded TRC to answer in a Court of Competent Jurisdiction in Liberia.
The Gilman, Wheon group, the Concerned Liberians Network, says it is resolved that the Ministry of Justice releases unconditionally, the LNP’s findings into the Charloe’s murder case; and that the Ministry issues an official press release indicating findings, recommendations, and final names of persons of interest suspected of being involved in the murder of Charloe.
In the same vein, Gilman, Wheon and their droves of pro-government protesters are demanding that the Legislature takes a vote of “No Confidence” in Justice Minister Dean and compels him to resign.
The Concerned Liberians Network also wants the Liberian government through the Ministry of Justice, to appoint a Special Independent Counsel to investigate Charloe’s bloody murder.
Receiving the petition, Justice Minister Dean, in a brief remark, thanked the petitioners, indicating, “You are citizens of this country and you deserve to be heard – that is why we came down to interact with you people.”
He informed the pro0government protesters that they have raised many issues in their petition, disclosing that the issue of Charloe Musu is on the Justice Ministry’s radar.
Minister Dean divulged that the Ministry of Justice has not forgotten Charloe’s murder case, stating, “We are investigating day and night, considering every aspect of it and sooner or later, you will be hearing findings from the investigation.”
He vowed that sooner or later, the Ministry of Justice would engage with the Concerned Liberians Network in a bid to continue interacting with them.
