Published: September 4, 2026
MONROVIA — Coalition for Democratic Change Secretary-General Jefferson Koijee accused President Joseph Nyuma Boakai on Thursday of ordering the arrest of former President George Weah and of dismissing his justice minister for refusing to carry out the order. Koijee offered no evidence, and the government has not responded.
Koijee made the claim in a Facebook post, congratulating N. Oswald Tweh, whom Boakai removed as justice minister and attorney general on Wednesday.
“I extend my revolutionary congratulations to my compatriot, Justice Minister Cllr. N. Oswald Tweh, for his outstanding and rare courage in refusing Mr. Boakai’s reported orders to arrest Comrade President George M. Weah and in risking taking the country down a dangerous road,” Koijee wrote.
Koijee’s own wording described the instruction as reported, and he did not say how he learned of it, name anyone who witnessed it or produce a document. Tweh has not publicly commented on the claim.
The Executive Mansion announced Wednesday that Tweh and Solicitor General Augustine Fayiah had been relieved of their posts, naming Betty M. Lamin-Blamo justice minister and Abraham Boimah Sillah Sr. solicitor general. It gave no reason for the removals, describing the changes as part of Boakai’s continuing effort to strengthen government institutions and improve public service delivery, and said both men would be reassigned elsewhere in government without saying where or when.
The two officials were leading the state’s prosecution of former Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor, who was arrested Aug. 19 at Roberts International Airport as she tried to leave the country and charged with drug trafficking, money laundering, criminal conspiracy and other counts tied to the seizure of about four tons of cocaine valued at US$317 million in Duazon in July. A court sent her to Monrovia Central Prison on Aug. 25 to await trial after refusing her lawyers’ request that she be allowed to remain in a hospital. Her lawyers have called the case politically motivated.
Koijee’s post also announced that Weah would visit Howard-Taylor in prison, which the former president did Thursday, and it accused Boakai of governing as a “cocaine regime” surrounded by a “gang of state criminals.”
“Mr. Boakai has arrogated on himself the arrogant garment of King Pharaoh, forgetting that Liberia’s hard-earned peace and democracy are far greater than the cocaine regime and the gang of state criminals,” Koijee wrote. He said Liberians would “fearlessly defend our democracy and resist any tyranny that attempts political revenge.”
Koijee is the second senior party figure to link Tweh’s removal to Weah. Montserrado County District 9 Rep. Frank Saah Foko said Wednesday that the party had received information before Weah’s return to Liberia that the president intended to have him arrested, and that Tweh advised against it because Weah faced no charge or indictment and an arrest could trigger unrest. Foko provided no evidence.
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