Published: May 15, 2026
MONROVIA — Dr. C. Nelson Oniyana, the chief executive of Monrovia Breweries Incorporated, testified Wednesday before Judge Nelson B. Chineh at the Sixth Judicial Circuit Civil Law Court Annex that Ebrima Varney Dempster, administrator of the intestate estate of the late Martha Stubblefield Bernard, accepted money from him to finance the Supreme Court litigation that ultimately stripped the Congress for Democratic Change of its national headquarters, and then, after prevailing in court, went silent on the property transfer agreements both men had signed.
“At times passed by, we read in several newspapers that Ebrima Dempster had won his case and was put in possession of the land,” Oniyana told the court. “I quickly informed my lawyer to write him to do the needful in regard to the MOU, but unfortunately, he did not respond.”
That silence forms the basis of the current action for specific performance, through which the plaintiff seeks a court order requiring Dempster to honor the terms of signed memorandums of understanding that Oniyana claims entitle him to multiple lots of land in exchange for the financial support he provided.
The Land and Its History
The disputed property, a 4.23-acre parcel in Congo Town that served as the CDC’s national headquarters for more than two decades, became the subject of litigation in 2014 when the Intestate Estate of Martha Stubblefield Bernard filed an action of ejectment against the Intestate Estate of William Thomas Bernard and the CDC, which was then a tenant on the property. In 2016, the Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling ordering the CDC and the second respondent’s estate to be evicted.
That ruling, however, did not immediately translate into possession. Enforcement stalled, allegedly due to political interference, including the appointment of the estate’s former counsel, Cllr. Frank Musah Dean, as Minister of Justice. The same Cllr. Dean, whom Oniyana testified, arranged the April 2016 meeting at Riverside Resort, where Dempster first approached him for financing.
The Supreme Court’s 2016 victory, in other words, was legally decisive but practically hollow. Dempster controlled the judgment but could not enforce it. It was in that gap, between winning in court and winning in fact, that he allegedly turned to Oniyana.
It wasn’t until 2024 that the estate hired new counsel and resumed efforts to enforce the 2016 judgment. By then, the CDC had shifted its strategy, engaging in negotiations with the estate to purchase the property outright. As part of those negotiations, the CDC paid a total of US$360,000 in rental arrears for 2018 to 2023 and also settled court costs.
The negotiations ultimately collapsed. The estate granted the CDC a right of first refusal in recognition of its long occupation of the property, but set an asking price of US$4.2 million payable in cash, while disclosing that two other interested buyers, both church institutions, were waiting, one of which had already signed an agreement to acquire the land for US$2.5 million should the CDC decline.
The CDC could not meet those terms. What followed was a series of unfavorable rulings. In its March Term sitting, the Supreme Court dismissed a Bill of Information filed by the CDC and called the party’s legal strategy to delay its eviction “preposterous,” “impermissible,” and a “legal charade,” and fined the CDC’s legal team US$500. A writ of possession issued by the Sixth Judicial Circuit Civil Law Court on August 13 instructed the Sheriff of Montserrado County to immediately remove the CDC from the property, based on a ruling by Judge George W. Smith that granted Dempster full possession of the disputed land.
The party that governed Liberia from 2018 to 2024 was expelled from its own headquarters. Dempster, after a decade of litigation, finally won everything.
What Oniyana Says He Was Promised
Oniyana told the court that his involvement with Dempster began around April 30, 2016, the same year the Supreme Court handed down its first ruling in Dempster’s favor, at a meeting at Riverside Resort allegedly arranged by Cllr. Dean. At that meeting, he testified, Dempster disclosed that his Supreme Court case was pending and proposed selling eight lots of land to raise funds to finance the litigation.
“He offered to sell eight lots of land to me in order to finance his case,” Oniyana testified. “He said if he won the case, he would issue deed to me and the amount paid to him would be deducted during the sale of the land.”
The parties signed a memorandum of understanding on April 30, 2016. Dempster later came back requesting more money and suggested expanding the package by two additional lots to cover further legal costs, the witness said. A second MOU was signed on August 5, 2016. Additional receipts and written confirmations were received afterward, with Dempster confirming each payment in writing.
Then Dempster won. And stopped responding.
Petitioner’s counsel introduced all three documents, the two MOUs and a receipt and confirmation agreement, as evidence. Oniyana identified each as the agreement he entered into with Dempster. The court was asked to mark them for identification as part of the evidentiary record.
The witness was discharged following his testimony. Judge Chineh adjourned the matter to Friday, May 16, at 10 a.m. for continuation of proceedings at the Temple of Justice Annex.
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