MONROVIA – President Joseph Nyuma Boakai is urging Liberians to do all to reject forces that try to divide them. The President further urged his compatriots that as they resist those evil forces, they should “choose peace over vengeance, unity over discord, and progress over stagnation. The Liberia we seek to build must be one where the legacy of our leaders is honored with truth, with respect, and with accountability.”
The President, who is the 24th President of Liberia, made his plead when he eulogized one of his compatriots and former colleagues—President William Richard Tolbert— for his visionary leadership, his bold reforms, Pan African Spirit, his enduring belief in the young people of Liberia, social justice, economic empowerment, and the unification of all Liberians. Former President Tolbert was the 20th President of Liberia.
President Tolbert and his Administration were violently overthrown in a bloody coup d’etat in April 1980.
Speaking further, the President reminded Liberians in the hall of the Centennial Pavillion and outside, that the ceremony was in “solemn remembrance to honor the life and legacy of a statesman, a patriot, and a servant of the people, the late President William Richard Tolbert, Jr. This moment is also one of reflection, reconciliation, and national renewal.”
“Today, we gather to memorialize, with full dignity and honor, a son of Liberia whose story is deeply connected to the history of our republic,” the President said among other things.
Read the President’s full statement here.
Background
Nearly 46 years ago, on April 12th and 22nd, 1980, under the auspices of the Peoples’ Redemption Council (PRC), headed by then Master Sergeant Samuel Kanyon Doe, President Tolbert and some senior officials of his Administration, were executed. The former President was murdered on the night of the coup—April 12 and on the 22nd— his officials were murdered by a firing squad on poles planted on South Beach behind the Barclay Training Center (BTC).
Earlier on Saturday, April 12, 1980, Doe along with 16 enlisted non-commissioned soldiers of the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL), staged a bloody coup d’atat that overthrew the Administration of President Tolbert, who was a Mason’s Past Grand Master. The President and some of his very close associates were murdered during the commission of the crime by the soldiers. Following the upheaval, some influential government officials, including the Presiding Grand Master, E. Reginald Townsend, Past Grand Master Frank E. Tolbert, Sr., President Pro Tempore of the Liberian Senate, Past Grand Master Richard A. Henries, Speaker of the House, and other prominent government officials, majority of whom were masons, were rounded up and executed few days later by a firing squad. It is believed that all the bodies of these men, including the President and others who were killed on April 12, were dumped in one mass grave.
President Tolbert Given Proper Burial Today
So, on Tuesday, February 18, the Masonic Grand Lodge headed by Most Worshipful Brother Willis J. Allen, Grand Master, joined the families of the slain men, and went to the Palm Grove Cemetery, where the remains of the executed men were exhumed so that the President could be given a proper burial. The remains of the men were not differentiated but were all properly buried back in one hole on Tuesday, July 1st, 2025.
Notification of Plans from the Families
On that day in February, Ms. Mai Bright-Urey, daughter of the late Honorable Dr. Cyril A. Bright, Sr., former Minister of Agriculture, who was one of the men slain, announced what would have happened to the remains of their fathers in few months’ time.
She informed everyone that on July 1st, 2025, the exhumed remains will be finally, properly interred at a site that the Baptist Seminary graciously gave to the families. The burial plot and every other thing associated with it were projected to cost a little over US$100,000, including what was done on Tuesday, February 18, 2025.
Who Were the Men Murdered/Executed:
1. His Excellency Dr. William R. Tolbert, Jr., President
2. Honorable C. Cecil Dennis, Foreign Minister
3. Honorable James A. A. Pierre, Chief Justice
4. Honorable Richard A. Henries, Sr., Speaker, HOR
5. Honorable Frank E. Tolbert, Sr., Pres. of the Senate and older brother of the President
6. Honorable Joseph J. F. Chesson, Sr., Minister of Justice
7. Honorable D. Franklin Neal, Min., Planning & Economic Affairs
8. Honorable E. Reginald Townsend, Chairman, True Whig Party
9. Honorable James T. Phillips, Former Min. of Finance before the coup
10. Honorable Cyril A. Bright, Sr., Minister of Agriculture
11. Honorable John W. E. Sherman, Min. of Commerce
12. Honorable Charles D. B. King, III, Representative, Nimba County
13. Honorable Frank J. Stewart, Sr., Director-Gen of the Bureau of Budget
14. Honorable P. Clarence Parker, III, Treasurer, True Whig Party
15. Brigadier General Charles E. Railey, Jr., Aide Camp to the President
16. Honorable A. Benedict Tolbert, Director of the Cabinet
17. Honorable Gabriel E. Moore, Mayor, Special Security Services (SSS)
18. Honorable Spurgeon Capehart, Commander, Post Stockade
What Does This Mean for Liberia
President Boakai has received many commendations from critics and allies for his initiative that leads the nation toward genuine reconciliation of the nation. The families of those men had longed for this day when their fathers would be given proper burial to close a very bad chapter in the history of Liberia.
The President was joined at the Centennial Pavillion by some of his able lieutenants including Finance and Development Minister Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan, Justice Minister and Attorney General of Liberia, Cllr. N. Oswald Tweh, Education Minister Dr. Jarso M. Jallah, etc.
