MONROVIA: Mike Jabateh has opened a can of worms, upsetting public disquiet at the portal of the nation’s 177th independence anniversary when political leaders were preparing to use the historic moment speak to their people on the need for harmony, peace and progress.
Many were awestruck when Jabateh, an assistant minister in the government institution responsible, amongst other things, to promote national cohesion and peace, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, was caught on tape bragging to be a Russian-trained assassin ready to eliminate a member of the National Legislature (the Parliament), Montserrado Representative Yekeh Kolubah.
On June 24, a leaked audio conversation between Representative Kolubah of Montserrado County District #10 and Assistant Minister Jabateh made rounds in the public media – recording that conveys the voice of Jabateh making threats to kill Kolubah for what the assistant minister considered Kolubah’s constant derogatory comments against President Boakai.
As recorded by in couple of media posts, Jabateh was heard saying: Honorable Yekeh Kolubah, this is Mike Jabateh. Let me not lie to you. I’m a trained man from Russia. I spent two years in Russia. If you continue to insult the President and call the President’s name, I swear to Allah, we will bring mercenaries to kill you.”
The audio with Jabateh’s apparent voice further stated: “If it does not happen, call me a Mandingo dog. If you continue to insult the President, we will kill you, I swear to God. Try it, I give you three weeks from now and see what will happen to you.”
He bragged being a Russian trained mercenaries amid fears of Russian expansion in West Africa.
From the Boakai government’s lukewarm or no response over such a dastardly threat by one of its senior officials has been receiving apprehensions and misgivings from the public, particularly the diplomatic quarters.
Russia has lately been spreading its tentacles on the African continent, with reports that it has already got a firm foothold on the Sahel regime and counting, creating uneasiness in the global geopolitical arena.
Those familiar with the President’s assistant minister at the Ministry of Internal Affairs say he has had radical uprising, often playing the religious cards to beat his way into prominence, since the days of the Liberia United for Reconciliation and Development (LURD), one of the brutal warring factions during the country’s war days.
Known for his critical stance against the Unity Party government, Kolubah urged his supporters to refrain from retaliating against Jabateh, emphasizing that the minister was not his main concern.
“I am calling on all my supporters to not attack Mike Jabateh,” Kolubah stressed, adding that they were not engaged in a religious war and that Jabateh was merely following orders.
Many consider Jabateh erratic, quick to switch political alliances, most times without clear motives and justifications.
In the last six years, a source close to him said Jabateh left a record of switching membership multiple times between the erstwhile ruling Coalition for Democratic Change and the then opposition-and-ruling Unity Party.
It has however been reported that the United Party’s assistant minister has withdrawn his threats and issued an apology, but not until he had got a vocal beating from the public who spoke their minds via multiple media outlets in the country.
“If I said anything that hurt him, let him forgive me,” Jabateh said during the popular Spoon Talk show. “He’s my lawmaker and I respect him. I am not against him.”
But Jabateh did not forget to warn citizens to desist from insulting President Boakai, though this time, he did not say what he would do if the citizens don’t stop insulting the president.
Meanwhile, Representative Kolubah has been playing down the threats from the UP’s Assistant Minister for Urban Affairs. Kolubah has called on his supporters to remain calm and peaceful and not get into retaliatory fray with Jabateh.
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