IN VIEW OF FORMER CHIEF JUSTICE Cllr. Scott’s life sentence for the death of her niece Charloe Musu, can Cllr. Jerome Verdier be trusted? How does his failure to have supported the defense of Cllr. Scott with evidence and witnesses he claimed he had, undermines his reputation and integrity going forward? These are pressing questions that can’t and shouldn’t be ignored. How will the tarnished credibility of Cllr. Verdier impact Liberians that his lies helped place on U.S. sanctions?
IT CAN BE RECALLED that on 23 February 2023, Cllr Verdier, serving as a guest on the Spoon Talk, accused Monrovia City Mayor Jefferson Korjie of hiring Varlee Tellah, one of his security guards within the Monrovia City Police Department to kill the former Chief Justice Cllr. Gloria Musu Scott. According to Cllr. Verdier, Tellah instead murdered Cllr. Scott’s niece Charloe Musu, one of the children living in the house of the former Chief Justice. He, however, did not provide the motive behind Koijee’s alleged plot against the former Chief Justice. Pressed whether he had evidence to substantiate the allegations, Cllr. Verdier said he did, and that he also had witnesses.
THERE ARE ALSO records of Cllr. Verdier accuses Mayor Koijee of hiring 200 men from Ivory Coast to disrupt a popular opposition June 7, 2019 protest after initially announcing that the Mayor had an affair with his wife. Mrs. Verdier denounced the claim that she was having an affair with Mr. Koijee. She clarified during an interview in August 2022 saying, “I never met Jefferson Koijee before and don’t know him.” She also used the interview to inform the public that she had filed for divorce. Mayor Koijee denied both allegations.
TRYING TO MAKE SENSE of the series of allegations, Mayor Koijee said that the attacks and allegations came to him as a shock and that he sometimes wonders why he was the center of Cllr. Verdier attacks is. Mayor Koijee surmised that Cllr. Verdier actions were being driven by personal vendetta, claiming that Cllr. Verdier believes that a common, ordinary, or native Liberian should not be in national leadership, and it was for that reason that Cllr. Verdier made him a target.
ADDITIONALLY, Cllr. Verdier is on record for writing the Black Caucus of the United States Congress, for decisive action against Mayor Koijee, allegedly linking him to the commission of heinous crimes in Liberia. It was reported in a local daily that In a communication to the members of the Democratic Black Caucus, United States Congress, and the U.S. State Department, Cllr. Jerome Verdier labeled the action of Jefferson Koijee and other regime collaborators as reckless and abhorrent which warrant a comprehensive call for targeted sanctions.
“RECKLESS AND ABHORRENT A CALL FOR SANCTIONS, COMPREHENSIVE AND TARGETED, AGAINST THE REGIME OF PRESIDENT GEORGE M WEAH OF LIBERIA, HIS CLOSE ASSOCIATES AND KEY MEMBERS OF HIS GOVERNMENT, INCLUDING OTHERS WITHOUT GOVERNMENT WITH INFLUENCE, DECISION- AND – POLICY –MAKING AUTHORITY. AN IJG REPORT ON HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN LIBERIA, PURSUANT TO THE GLOBAL MAGNITSKY HUMAN RIGHTS ACCOUNTABILITY ACT AS IMPLEMENTED BY EXECUTIVE ORDER 13818 OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT WASHINGTON DC OCTOBER 26, 2019”
HOWEVER, after a thorough investigation, in August 2023, the Liberia National Police (LNP) charged Cllr. Scott and three other family members with murder, criminal conspiracy, and false statement to law enforcement in connection to the death of her niece, Charloe Musu. Neither Mayor Koijee nor Tellah were charged alongside the former Chief Justice. A Special Grand Jury for Montserrado County indicted Cllr. Scott and the three other family members, in December 2023, were found guilty as charged. Today, 9th January 2024, Cllr. Scott received the life sentence along with all three members of her family – guilty of murder, criminal conspiracy, and raising a false alarm to police.
ONE IS LEFT WONDERING that since Cllr. Scott told VOA in March that she was concerned the police were trying to make her a scapegoat for a purported attack by armed men on her home and the killing of her foster daughter, and that the assault was an attempt to assassinate her, legal pundits are left to wonder why Cllr. Verdier pieces of evidence and witnesses did not serve as a cardinal legal factor to have helped the case of the Cllr. Scott and co-defendants.
SIMILARLY, since it appears also that Cllr. Verdier language as expressed in his sweeping allegations against Mayor Koijee found its way into the designation on Friday 8th December 2023, when the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Department of Treasury in a release placed Mayor Koijee on sanctions, will the tarnished reputation of Cllr. Verdier as associated with the guilty verdict related to the Charloe Musu murder trial, which indirectly exonerated Major Koijee provides a reason for the U.S. to rethink the sanctions. Can Cllr. Verdier and his plethora of so-called evidence be trusted? A valid question that must be asked is, “What will become of Liberians, including Mayor Koijee, who seems to have been victims of Cllr. Verdier misleading reports against them?”
Dr. Clarence R. Pearson, Sr. is a Liberian clergy and social scientist with strong interest in advancing global peace, human rights, a safe planet, and social equity. He holds a BA in Theology, and MA with distinction from the Kofi Annan Institute for Conflict Transformation, University of Liberia. He also graduated with honor from the Louisiana Baptist University and Seminary, Shreveport, Louisiana, USA with A PhD in Psychology and Counseling. Dr. Pearson is a social researcher, an educator, and an author. He has over 29 years of practical professional experience in post-conflict peace-building, recovery, and development with emphasis in both the public and private sector.