Nimba to provide Boakai’s running mate?

Report reaching the New Dawn indicates that Vice President Joseph NyumahBoakai is looking to Nimba County for a running mate ahead of the October elections.

Names gathered by this paper for a possible pick by the Vice President include Senator Thomas S.Grupee, Representative MatenokayTingble, Human Rights lawyer TiawanSayeGongloe, the chairman of the governing Unity Party, Wilmot J.M. Paye, and the President of the United Methodist University, Johnson Gwaikolo, also a representative aspirant for electoral district#9.

Some Nimbaians, who spoke with our correspondent in the county, say if V.P. Boakai picked his vice standard bearer from Nimba, he will get their total support in the first round, and there would be no runoff elections for the presidency.

“My brother, trust us, if the Vice President made that decision, he would be the happy man come October 10”, they said. When asked where will they leave Senator Prince Yormie Johnson, dubbed the father of politics in Nimba, they claim Nimbaians have enormous respect for Senator Johnson, who is leader of the Movement for Democracy and Reconstruction, but they can only elect him as senator for the county, not for the Presidency.

According to them, the senator is not stable, saying “When he tells you yes, few minutes after, he will say no to you.”  The northeastern Liberia vote-rich county has vowed to provide the running mate for the governing UP Standard Bearer.

The County, which has a population of 1.2 Million people, the largest next to Montserrado County, is an attraction for nearly all presidential aspirants in the race. The Liberty Party of Presidential hopeful, Cllr. Charles Walker Brumskine, has chosen a native of Nimba, Harrison Karnwea, as its Vice Standard Bearer for the impending elections.

By Franklin Doloquee, Nimba-Editing by Jonathan Browne