Zwedru residents learned with sadness that District #1 Tchien District Representative-elect Erol Madison Gwion had died early in the morning.
Hon. Gwion passed away in Ghana, where he had been receiving medical care for more than two months.
In 2021, Gwion was chosen to succeed Hon. Zoe Emmanuel Pennue as representative, following Pennon’s elections to the position of Senator for Grand Gedeh County.
According to a local radio station that Kukatonon News spoke with, enraged supporters of the late Representative Erol Madison Gwion of Grand Gedeh County set fire to Senator Zoe Emmanuel Pennoh’s residence and put up roadblocks in Zwedru, the county’s capital, with machetes.
On Tuesday afternoon in the city, witnesses reported hearing gunshots and saw smoke rising from a different residence that was thought to belong to the county’s traditional council.
The unrest started after Madison Gwion, Electoral District #1 representative for Grand Gedeh, passed away late on Monday night.
Protesting along Zwedru’s main streets, the enraged populace chanted, “No Erol, No Peace, No Business.”
The head of the Traditional Council and Beatrice Gwion, who is believed to be the person responsible for Hon. Gwion’s death, both had their residences set on fire by the mob in addition to moving.
In a related incident, Jenkins Banks, the accused, is either the brother or the cousin of Hon. Gwion and Beatrice Gwion. He is accused of hanging himself after he allegedly fled into the bush in silence and did so after learning that irate residents were evacuating the homes of suspected suspects and setting fire to buildings. Right now, the Joint Security and the Liberia National Police are keeping a close eye on the situation.
It is said that Jenkins Banks was dispatched to the customary bush to control the Sassy Wood (Trial by Ordeal) that was given to Beatrice. The Traditional Council discovered him and took him into custody.
Sassy Wood or trial by ordeal has been banned by the Liberian government since the administration of Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and upheld by the Weah government.
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