Boakai collapses in Lofa?

Information reaching the NewDawn indicates that ruling Unity Party (UP) presidential candidate Vice President Joseph Nyumah Boakai allegedly collapsed in Lofa County on Saturday morning, 26 August following several hours of night travel, which deprived him of enough time to rest on a campaign trail.

The NewDawn is informed that the UP campaign team drove all night to Lofa County, and headed to the county’s capital Voinjama where key campaign events were due to take place. He was accompanied to the county by his running mate House Speaker Emmanuel Nuquay, and other UP officials.

Ahead of the main event, sources say Mr. Boakai woke up as early as 7a.m. on Saturday, 26 August with the intent of meeting elders, chiefs and traditional leaders in the county.

But while leaving his room to join the rest of the team outside, the NewDawn’s sources say Mr. Boakai was seen falling suddenly to the ground. It took the effort of an assigned agent of the elite guards protecting the VIP only identified as Michael to rescue Liberia’s second -in – command from falling flat to the ground.

As a result the Voinjama meeting which had been earmarked for 11a.m. was rescheduled to allow assigned doctors carry out some medical work to revive the falling vice president.

Sources say the doctors assigned with the vice president were at their best to subdue the unfortunate situation. After several hours of medical attention, doctors requested Veep Boakai to take hours of rest, which caused the program to be rescheduled from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The reported collapse of Mr. Boakai generated serious reactions among senior members of the UP, with some expressing fear that it might have been the hands of the traditional leaders.

Circumstances leading to his collapse could not easily be revealed, as everything was kept secret. However, the latest incident with Mr. Boakai could bring back to memory the case of one of his key ally, Grand Cape Mount County Senator Cllr. H. Varney H. Sherman who went in coma after collapsing in public when 19 Senators were endorsing the vice president’s candidacy at the Capitol months ago.

Some sources are claiming that the vice president’s health condition may be worsening due to his alleged failure to go for regular medical attention due to his focus on party activities.

Mr. Boakai is said to be heavily engaged with campaign activities, though it is alleged to somehow be against medical advice. Executives of the UP are said to have been coercing the Vice President to remain in the country and campaign.

When contacted on Sunday, 27 August via mobile phone, UP National Chairman Wilmont Paye broke flames, accusing NewDawn’s publisher Othello Garblah of being an alleged paid – agent working for Mrs. Medina Wesseh and her husband who are bend on destroying the ruling party.

Instead of responding to the issue at bar, Mr. Paye claims that the NewDawn has been reduced to practicing yellow journalism. Mr. Paye and Publisher Garblah then engaged in heated verbal exchanges, with the latter telling the UP official that he is an independent Publisher and that if Paye has issues with the Wessehs, he should rather go after them instead of dogging the issues.

Mr. Garblah says he is tired of hearing such gossips about him and his business entity, encouraging Mr. Paye to confront Mrs. Wesseh if he has issues with her personally, rather than trying to insinuate that every negative story on UP is been planted by Mrs. Wesseh in the New Daswn because of the closeness of the two.

Mr. Garblah says he cannot deny his close relationship with the Wessehs because they have come a long way from Ghana.

He says Mr. Paye should be man enough to engage Mrs. Wesseh and not to draw the NewDawn into the picture.–Edited by Winston W. Parley