Liberia: Police Charge 8 for Disrupting Polls in Nimba
Nimba County Police Headquarters
The Liberia National Police has charged eight men with 14 counts for their involvement in disrupting the Beo Lontuo precinct recently.
According to the Crime Services Department of LNP, Nimba Detachment, the eight men were charged with disorderly conduct, criminal mischief, hindering law enforcement, burglary, theft of property and five counts of electoral law violation ranging from section 6, 8, 9, 10 and 22, respectively.
The eight suspects are said to have been sent to court awaiting trial, the police had said.
On October 13, 2023, the LNP arrested eight men, including an Election Supervisor for the precinct for disrupting the two polling places in Beo Lontuo in Nimba County Electoral District 4, destroying 4 of the six ballots boxes immediately after polling closes in the two places on October 10, 2023.
What really led to the disruption is yet to be established, but sources at the scene of the incident told Daily Observer that after the polling closes at about 6pm, some group of men believed to have come from the camp of one representative candidate, identified as Orlando, violently entered the two polling places, seized the ballot boxes and dashed them down, leaving the entire ballot papers scattered.
The main perpetrator, who is yet to be identified, immediately fled the scene and crossed over to the Ivory Coast.
Due to the distance and condition of the road, the armed LNP Emergency Response Unit responded to the situation on October 11, 2023 at midnight, when most of the suspects had fled.
There have been claims and counterclaims from both the supporters of encumbers Rep. Gonpue Kargon and his main contender Mr. Ernest Manseah, who is running the MDR ticket of Senator Prince Johnson.
In an interview on the local radio, Rep. Kargon accused Senator Prince Johnson of ordering those obstructing the process so as to prevent him from being reelected, but Senator Johnson and Manseah rejected the claims.
In 2017, Kargon won the MDR ticket of Senator Johnson, but relations fell apart when Kargon refused to join Senator Johnson and Senator Koung to breakaway or go against the CDC led government.
Rep. Kargon was immediately expelled from the MDR, deepening the bitterness, which further deteriorated when Senator Johnson was allegedly stoned on his campaign tour in Kargon’s home village of Gbor Wehplay.