Did Ellen's Convoy Injure Prince Johnson's Man?

Heritage (Monrovia)

29 August 2011

Non of our vehicles ran into a convoy of partisans of the National Union for Democratic Progress (NUDP) of Nimba County Senior Senator Prince Y. Johnson over the weekend, Presidential Spokesman, Cyrus Wleh Badio, quotes authorities of the Special Security Service (SSS) as saying. Over the weekend, the NUDP claimed that President Ellen Johnson- Sirleaf's motorcade ran into a convoy of its partisans, badly injuring a partisan. According to the NUDP's Spokesman, Eric Gbemie, the incident occurred in the vicinity of the Monrovia City Hall when the convoy of Senator Johnson and supporters packed off the road to give way to the motorcade of the President. He explained that it was at this time, a SSS vehicle marked SSS-12, allegedly ran in the convoy of Senator Johnson and supporters, injuring one of its partisans. The NUDP, Gbemie asserted, was returning from the launch of its national campaign when the incident happened.

Gbemie, who identified the victim as Laurence Jarbo, said he was standing close to the vehicle of Senator Johnson when the SSS vehicle supposedly knocked him down. The victim, the NUDP's spokesman further asserted, is lying in critical condition at the John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital undergoing medical attention. Among other things, the NUDP's spokesman added that the NUDP's standard bearer, including local and international Journalists were allegedly denied access to the injured victim by hospital authorities. But his claim could not be independently verified by this paper.

However, Badio further quotes SSS authorities as saying that the NUDP's claims are untrue.

Meanwhile, the NUDP has called on the International Community to investigate the incident on grounds that the incident is provocative.

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