Political Analyst Michael Rubin has claimed that “Josephine Nkrumah, Ambassador of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), has sent out a communication accusing a Jefferson Koijee associate for calling for Mr. Koijee to have her murdered for allegedly objecting to plans to rig the 2023 election”.
There is no evidence to sustain that Ms. Nkrumah ever reported a communication about a threat made by an associate of Mayor Koijee calling for her murder because she allegedly objected to plans to rig the election.
But instead, she reported a Facebook user who called for her murder by Mayor Koijee as a way of calling on the international community’s attention to the occurrences of crimes in Liberia.
Local Voices Liberia iVerify Team verified the claim made by Mr. Rubin by reviewing the complaint made by Josephine Nkrumah as published in several local and international news outlets including the FrontPage Africa, Women’s TV Liberia and The Independent Ghana.
We gathered that in a letter to the Ministry of Justice of Liberia dated March 3, 2023, Madam Nkrumah informed the Minister of of the threat against her life.
On March 7, 2023, FrontPage Africa reported that ‘Ms. Nkrumah’s communication was influenced by a Facebook comment made on March 2, 2022 during an edition of the Costa show when the death of former Chief Justice Gloria Musu- Scott’s daughter was being discussed. During the discussion which was being livestream on Facebook , a follower of the show named Bill Carson called for Madam Nkrumah’s death as a means of drawing the attention of the international community to the insecurity issues in Liberia. The commenter alleged that Mayor Koijee is responsible for several crimes in Liberia including the death of former Chief Justice Counselor Gloria Scott daughter.
LVL iVerify team also checked the Costa Show’s Facebook page to review the comment but it had been deleted.
However, we found on Women TV in Liberia a copy of the letter sent to the Ministry of Justice by the ECOWAS Representative about the threat on her life by the comment made by Bill Carson.
On March 7, 2023, the Independent Ghana, an online Ghanaian news outlet, also quoted a BBC report about the threat posed to Madam Nkrumah.
The report: “BBC reports that in a letter to Liberia justice ministry, Ms. Nkrumah said a Facebook user, identified as Carson, urged the mayor to “send her down six feet” [kill her].
Based on the evidence we reviewed concerning this claim, we conclude that this claim is misleading.
Evidence
DESCRIPTION ECOWAS Resident Representative Complains Threat on LINK https://www.bing.com/search?q=Liberia%3A+ECOWAS+Resident+Representative
DESCRIPTION ECOWAS ambassador raises alarm of threat on her life LINK https://womentvlib.com/ecowas-ambassador-raises-alarm-of-threats-on-her-life/?amp=1&fbclid=IwAR2oDLr_WQOe_w3sD1cqFPAhS8LnoYSTNuTVrX7dpImjbH9W6seTEfGQ1Ps
DESCRIPTION Ex-NCCE boss, Josephine Nkrumah, threatened with death on LINK www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Ex-NCCE-boss-Josephine-Nkrumah-threatened-with-death-on-Liberia-duty-tour-1726187
Local Voices Liberia, in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme, has implemented the iVerify Liberia system with the objective of strengthening capacities to address threats to information integrity, especially in view of the upcoming 2023 elections, to ensure all Liberian citizens have access to credible, reliable and verified information, everywhere and at all times.
This initiative is funded by Irish Aid, Embassy of Sweden in Monrovia, European Union Delegation in Liberia and the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund. The donors have no say in the production of this fact check report.
