By Alex Yomah
A young-man believed to be one of the Pro-Poor Defenders or supporter of President George Weah, yesterday provided a clue as to what led to injury of the National Transit Authority (NTA) Driver Jessy Bartuah recently.
NTA authority has confirmed that one of its drivers was reportedly shot at the CDC party headquarters and was rushed to JFK but the doers of the act are yet to be known.
Police Spokesperson, Moses Carter confirmed on Ok Fm yesterday morning that the NTA driver is in critical condition and that the bus driver was reportedly at CDC headquarters but said the police is still investigating.
But a following the report, a male pro-poor defender who spoke on an account of anonymity in an exclusive interview confirmed that Bartuah was hit at the ruling party’s Headquarters but denied the CDC partisans link to the action.
He said the event started when they (supporters) of CDC were mobilized by higher-ups partisans to proceed to the Airport over the weekend with an objective to give the Party’s National Chairperson a rousing welcome as he was returning from the United States of America.
“To be frank, there was serious commotion between the bike riders and the NTA driver. Some of them claimed that some money was stolen and that they were demanding theirs before heading to form the queue to welcome Chairman Morlue,” he explained.
He further he observed that the very angry guys believed to be biker riders were seen chasing the very NTA bus even to the extent, they succeeded in ruining the Bus’ windshield or glasses before reaching at the Airport in Margibi.
“According to our leaders, we anticipated more bikes in our queue but due to the reported brawl between the NTA driver and them, we saw only fewer motorcycles accompanying us. I am sure, and if the driver wakes up as we all anticipate, he will explain the real issues,” he said.
Adding, “upon our return and while approaching our party’s headquarters, traffic was slow. I can’t confirm what injured Bartuah; if it was a gun or rock but I heard the driver yelled for help and we saw his bloody face bleeding profusely,” our source hinted.
Another source buttressed that first information adding that the CDC recently used two of NTA buses to transport some of its partisans at the RIA because Chairman Mulbah K. Morlu was arriving in the country and Jessy Bartuah was one of the drivers of those assigned buses.
The source explained that when the buses finally arrived at CDC Headquarters amid huge confusion/conflict between rivaled partisans over the struggle for control and cash, the conflict intensified and that someone in the crowd allegedly fired live bullets and one of the bullets hit the head of NTA driver, Bartuah.
It is rumored that the Government, including the police has been begging the family of Bartuah not to release the information to the public because the person identified to have allegedly shot Bartuah is a loyalist to some top officials.
“Jessy is currently being treated by Dr. Alvin Nah-Doe at the JFK Hospital and according to sources, Dr. Nah-Doe said, “His condition is really critical and that if he survives, he will not be okay in the head,” a relative confided.
Meanwhile, activist Martin K. N. Kollie’s concern is that Liberians are dying every day under the Weah-led Government emphasizing, “Wickedness has increased. The private parts of women and girls are being extracted for ritualistic purposes. Liberia has become a crime scene under a clueless and corrupt ex-footballer. The killing is too much.”
“If we, the people, do not rise up, no one might be alive by 2023. Guns are in the hands of thugs and ex-Rebels. Who gave them guns? Let this seek the attention of human rights groups and international organizations. I want to empathize with Bartuah and his family. The CDC-led Government is abusing power too much,” Martin stated.