Senator Prince Yommie Johnson, the leader of the erstwhile Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia (INPFL), is dead.

Family sources confirmed that Senator Johnson collapsed in his bathroom during shower on Thursday morning and went into coma. He was later confirmed dead upon arrival at the Hope For Women Hospital in Paynesville.

He died at age 72.

The self-proclaimed Godfather of vote-rich Nimba County was instrumental in deciding the last few elections in Liberia.

Senator Johnson was last seen on November 25 when he honored the legacy of the late Gnassingbe Eyadema, former President of Togo, by naming his university’s auditorium after him.

AFP
Prince Johnson, seen here in 2008, had a key role in Liberia’s years of civil war

The event was attended by a diverse group of officials, including traditional leaders, legislators, and students, celebrating Eyadema’s contributions to goodwill and generosity.

In his remarks, Senator Johnson reflected on Eyadema’s significant role in fostering peace in Liberia and throughout West Africa, labeling him a “man of peace.”

Senator Johnson’s history with civil war

Johnson allied himself with Charles Taylor’s National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) rebel group when it launched the First Liberian Civil War in 1989 to overthrown President Samuel Doe. Due to a rift with Taylor, Johnson soon formed an NPFL splinter group, the Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia (INPFL), which captured, tortured and executed Doe in 1990.

Following continued clashes with Taylor and the pro-Doe ULIMO group, the INPFL was disbanded and Johnson was forced into exile in Nigeria in 1992, where he converted to Christianity and reconciled with the Doe family.

Prince Yommie Johnson dies at 72

Johnson returned to Liberia in 2004 following the end of the Second Liberian Civil War and was elected to the Senate of Liberia in the 2005 Liberian general election. He founded a political party, the National Union for Democratic Progress (NUDP) in 2010, before being expelled from it in 2014.

He founded a new party, Movement for Democracy and Reconstruction (MDR) in 2016. He has since been re-elected to the Senate in 2014 and 2023. He was also an unsuccessful candidate for President in 2011 and 2017, respectively finishing in third and fourth place in the first round.

Johnson was born in Tapeta, Nimba County, in the east-central interior of the country, and was brought up by an uncle in the capital city of Monrovia. In 1971, while living in Monrovia, he joined the Liberian National Guard (LNG), which was transformed into the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) in the aftermath of Samuel Doe’s 1980 overthrow of President William R. Tolbert.

He rose to the rank of Lieutenant, receiving military training in both Liberia and the United States, where he was instructed in military police duties in South Carolina.

A stern, often draconian, disciplinarian, he served as aide-de-camp to General Thomas Quiwonkpa, the Commanding General of the Armed Forces of Liberia and accompanied him into exile in 1983, after Quiwonkpa was accused of plotting a coup against Doe.

Johnson, the Liberian warlord-turned-politician became infamous for the 1990 footage of him sipping beer while the-then president was tortured nearby.

As one of the key figures in the two civil wars between 1989 and 2003, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission said he should be prosecuted for war crimes, though he was never brought to trial.

But as a senator since 2005, he was highly influential in Liberian politics, backing the last three successful presidential candidates.
While some have celebrated his political role, others viewed him as a symbol of the country’s struggles with accountability.

“We see his death as a blow to many victims who were awaiting to see the senator to face justice given his role in the civil war,” human rights activist and campaigner for a special war crimes court Adama Dempster told the BBC.

An estimated 250,000 people died in the conflicts and many survivors from sexual assault and other attacks were left permanently scarred.

In a condolence message to his family, President Joseph Boakai – who Johnson supported in his presidential campaign last year – described him as “a figure who played a pivotal role in Liberia’s complex historical evolution and contributed to national discourse through his service in the Senate”.
Back in 1990, rebel soldiers from Johnson’s Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia captured President Samuel Doe and were then, in front of their leader, filmed mutilating him – his ear was sliced off – before he was killed.

The warlord later expressed regret for what had happened, but, as quoted by the AFP news agency, justified his role in the war, saying he was defending “my country, my people, who were led to the slaughterhouse as if they were chickens and goats, by the Doe regime”.

He also said he had changed and had become a pastor in an evangelical church.

As a politician he was praised by his constituents in Nimba county for working to improve their lives.
But he also courted controversy.

In 2021 Johnson was sanctioned by the US for alleged involvement in so-called pay-for-play funding, where he would reportedly personally benefit from the distribution of government funding to various ministries.

He was also accused of selling votes for personal gain in several elections, leading to criticism from some of his allies.

But Wilfred Bangura, a former leading official in Johnson’s Movement for Democracy and Reconstruction, said “politically he was very weighty and strong” and that he only changed alliances once he saw people moving away from him.
While certainly revered and being mourned by many in his home county – where he was seen as a hero and liberator – elsewhere people feel he was not made to pay for the crimes committed during the civil war.