Published: August 1, 2025
MONROVIA – A Fulani woman, Zainab Bah, has been formally charged and sent to court following a violent confrontation with officers of the Liberia National Police and a power theft inspection team from the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC). She now faces prosecution for alleged disorderly conduct, simple assault, and obstructing law enforcement.
The charges stem from a July 22, 2025, altercation on Newport Street in central Monrovia when the LEC’s Anti-Power Theft Taskforce, accompanied by armed police officers, inspected a blue two-story building opposite the Liberia National Fire Service Headquarters. According to the police charge sheet, the team discovered that both LEC meters serving the building had been tampered with—evidence of illegal bypassing.
As the only person present at the time of the raid, Bah was identified by authorities as a key suspect. Police say she refused a lawful order to report for questioning at LEC’s Power Theft Division office in Paynesville.
“When invited to report to the Power Theft Office… the principal defendant, Zainab Bah, refused, resisted and failed to yield to the police’s lawful instruction,” reads the charge sheet.
According to the report, as officers attempted to de-escalate the situation, Bah allegedly turned aggressive, grabbing a wooden chair and striking Junior Ezekiel, the LEC technician who discovered the power theft.
The police also allege that Bah “deliberately… threw a pot of soup” at both technician Ezekiel and Patrolman Prince Chebo. The soup reportedly missed its targets and instead splashed on two unidentified children standing nearby.
In a further effort to resist arrest, the charge sheet notes that Bah grabbed a young male child from another woman and held him tightly to her chest “as a human shield… to prevent a public servant from lawfully effecting an arrest.”
As the officers continued efforts to remove her from the scene, Bah allegedly bit Patrolwoman Alice Tokpa on the hand, causing visible injury.
Despite being restrained in handcuffs, Bah continued to resist, according to the report. While being removed from the building, officers reportedly “yanked or pulled off her headscarf/hijab” during the struggle. Police say the scarf was later returned and allowed to be worn again.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) reviewed a viral Facebook video of the incident and corroborated the officers’ account. The video, cited in the police report, shows Bah “angrily picking up a bench and throwing it,” as well as throwing a pot of soup toward the officers. It also captures her using the child as a shield and being physically restrained.
The Monrovia City Court, under the authority of Stipendiary Magistrate L. Ben Barco, issued a formal writ of arrest following statements from LEC technician Junior Ezekiel and officers Alice Tokpa and Prince Chebo.
In its final recommendation, the police cleared Patrolman Prince Chebo of wrongdoing but handed Patrolwoman Tokpa a one-month suspension without pay for “removal of defendant Zainab Bah’s hijab”—a move the police admitted violated professional protocol.
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