—-President Boakai Gives Fromer Presidents Dignified Reburials
Last weekend President Joseph N. Boakai set the stage to gave a dignify reburial for former Liberian President Samuel K. DOE, Murdered in cold blood by former Rebel General Prince Y., Johnson.
At the historic funeral of the murdered Liberian president which coincided with the funeral of his wife former Fist Lady Nacy B. Doe, President Boakai called for national unity through constructive dialogue and never to return to the bitter past.
The funeral follows 35 years after the assassination former President Samuel Kanyon Doe (1986-1990).
The state funerals are part of the reconciliation process following its violent past.
The ceremony took place on , June 28, 2025, in the Town Hall of Zwedru, the capital of Grand Gedeh County (southeast), about 12.4 miles from Doe’s hometown Tuzon.
Two coffins wrapped in the national flag were transported by a truck through the streets of Zwedru: one symbolically for the former president, whose body is still missing, and the other contained the remains of his wife, Nancy, who died in May last year.
The President of Liberia, Joseph Boakai, attended the ceremony and declared a national mourning this week, from Tuesday to Friday.
“This is not just a burial; it is a moment of national reflection, a time to reconcile with our history, to heal from our wounds, and to remember with respect and purpose,” said Boakai, who served as Minister of Agriculture in Doe’s government.
“The civil conflict that followed his tragic death inflicted deep scars. But through God’s grace, we have enjoyed peace for over two decades,” the president emphasized.
Born on May 6, 1951, Doe was a politician and military leader who served as the 21st president of Liberia from 1986 until his assassination in 1990.
The leader led a coup d’état in 1980 that overthrew President William Tolbert, becoming the first non-American-Liberian leader of Liberia.
Doe suspended the Constitution, assumed the rank of general, and established a provisional military government, with himself as the de facto head of state.
He dissolved the Executive in 1984 and attempted to legitimize his regime with a new democratic Constitution and general elections held in 1985.
Doe won the elections with 51% of the votes, although proceedings were marred by widespread allegations of fraud.
The Doe government was characterized by authoritarianism, corruption, favoritism towards his ethnic group, Krahn, and the persecution of the Gio and Mano ethnicities, especially after surviving a coup attempt in 1985, which generated growing opposition to his regime from the population and the United States.
The First Liberian Civil War began in December 1989 when the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), opposed to Doe and led by Charles Taylor, invaded Liberia from Ivory Coast to overthrow him.
The following year, Doe was captured and executed by the Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia (INPFL), a splinter group of the NPFL led by warlord Prince Johnson.\
The came Tuesday, July 1, 2025, at the reburial ceremony of former president William Richard Tolbert, President Joseph Nyuma Boakai urged 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.
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.
So, on Tuesday, February 18, the Grand Lodge of Ancient Free & Accepted Masons 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.
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
In recent days, 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.
