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Monrovia – One of President George Weah’s fiercest critics, controversial talk radio presenter Henry Pedro Costa, has referred to the Liberian leader as a “joker of a president”, thus rebuking Librarians for voting the retired footballer into power, a decision for which the vocal talk show host declares that the people of Liberia deserve to suffer.
“You chose this joker to be your president – and this is what you have, and you deserve it – you deserve to suffer, you deserve to struggle…” Costa said Monday, on his widely listened-to talk show aired on Roots 102.7 FM, as he attempted drawing parallelism between the popular people uprising in Sudan that forced dictator Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir out of power, to what is unfolding in Liberia, with ex-soccer star Weah, according to him (Costa), being on his way to stepping in the shoes of the deposed Sudanese leader al-Bashir, as a ruthless dictator.
Sounding more like a preacher man, the loquacious talk show host, who linked the country’s leadership brouhaha to biblical days, intimated that although President Weah has got all of the qualities of what he calls a very classic textbook example of a brutal dictator, the former soccer icon is never going to be allowed to become a ruthless dictator in Liberia.
Unsophisticated
Suggesting that Weah is an ignoramus, Costa averred that often times, it is leaders who are ignorant and greedy that become dictators, noting that although President Weah has all of the qualities of a brutal dictator, but he’s very unsophisticated.
“What distinguishes him from many of the other dictators is that often times, many of them are smart people – for you to become a ruthless dictator you have to be smart, you’ve got to have qualities that would appeal to people. But he’s got none of those. He’s very unsophisticated. He doesn’t know his left from his right, and unfortunately, he is president of the country,” Costa slammed Weah.
Bible lesson
“Sometimes I sit down, I say to myself, the people deserve it, the people deserve to suffer. You deserve the misery you have. You deserve the suffering; the high exchange rate, the high prices, the things you are going through while the president is still flying [a] private jet – you all deserve it. You brought this thing upon yourselves,” added Costa, who reminded Liberians that similar misstep on the part of Liberians in choosing their leader, happened many times in the Holy Bible.
Sitting behind his elongated microphone and engrossed in a presentation style of The Costa Show as in the form of a preacher man mounting his pulpit and delivering an expository sermon, Costa narrated that back in the day in the Bible, when God’s children proved stubborn, when God would tell them what was good for them, and they would rebel against God’s guidance, He would allow them to have their way, even though being God, He always knew what the ultimate outcome would be.
Like Liberians, in the case of voting Weah in the country’s highest office, Costa said God always knew that His children, during Bible days, would have misery and be faced with all sorts of unpleasant challenges for choosing the wrong leader, citing the case of the Israelite and their yearning for a human king in place of God, as recorded in 1 Samuel Chapters 8, 9, and 10.
Costa said he thought to take Liberians through the pages of the Bible, to remind them of their decision to have elected Weah president because “sometimes when the people are stubborn, when the people do not listen and they choose for themselves what he termed evil, they shall be held responsible because they made a bad choice.
Not completely certain whether to link God with democracy or theocracy, a form of government He’s really identified by, Costa said God is a democrat, by the mere fact that He gives mankind the will to choose what they want.
“You see, God is a democrat – the Bible is replete with accounts of God letting the people choose for themselves. That’s why you see, God gives us the ability to know between right, good and evil – wrong and right, and we choose for ourselves.”
“He (God) gives us the conscience, the ability to discern and know good from evil – and so, when we choose evil, we are responsible, because we chose it,” said Costa, who maintained that this was exactly what Liberians did when they went to the polls in 2017 and elected Weah.
“You looked at the man, who didn’t go to any debate, he didn’t say what he would do, he had no plan for the country, and you looked at him and you said we love him – “he looks like he has the country at heart, he looks like he is going to change the country, he looks the messiah – today, you have the messiah; he’s a false prophet, he’s a greedy narcissist, egotistical, petite, vindictive, vainglorious human being, that is what you have, and you are suffering because you brought this upon yourself,” Costa further said.
Costa chided Liberians that after electing Weah they are suffering, and are now crying onto God, but he informed the Liberian people that God was not the one who gave Weah to Liberians, saying, “God gives you the wisdom. God gives you the mindset. God gives you the ability, to choose who you want, and you chose this man.”
Not too sure where exactly in the Holy Bible to find the verse which talks about Jesus Christ a just man suffering for the unjust or Christ, the righteous one suffering for the unrighteous, which can be found in the Bible book of 1 Peter 3:18-20, Costa classified Liberians who did not vote for Weah, as the righteous ones, while he referred to the thousands of others that voted the former footballer, as the unrighteous, stating that both groups of Liberians will now have to suffer together under the gloomy rule of Weah because of the decision of the latter group of Liberians.
Hear Costa: “I think there is somewhere in the Bible where it says the righteous suffer with the unrighteous – the righteous, they suffer with the unrighteous, and so, you need to suffer.”
The country has gone so low
He called Weah demeaning names, including a monster, further scolding Liberians that “This George Weah thing you needed to get it out of your system. Some of you, if you had died without voting this man, without seeing this man become president, you wouldn’t have felt good. You needed to see this monster become the president of the country – because you love him more than you love your children, you love him more than you love yourselves – and now, here you have him.”
“This egotistical, narcissist, greedy [man] – this man, his bigger than the whole country. He wants to fly [a] private jet while you are suffering. He wants to do mop-up exercises and siphon off millions of dollars while you all are suffering. He increased his budget from 21 million dollars to 24 million dollars while you all are suffering. He’s building condominiums everywhere that nobody wants to rent – and this man is the one you wanted, and this is the man you’ve got, and you deserve to suffer.
In the tone of voice resembling that of a cleric, Costa said “O yes, I bring you this news today, you the people of this country, you deserve to suffer – you brought this national embarrassment onto us, you brought this humiliation to us. No other leader respects our country. They don’t come here because they don’t respect the leader. There is nothing they have to talk with George Weah – what can they talk with George Weah – we’ve gone so low. We have gone so low as a country.”
Costa emphasized that although Liberia has a longstanding, powerful traditional relationship with the United States of America, which allows for every time a Liberia president comes to power, he/she has to visit their US counterpart, citing slain President Samuel K. Doe, whom he called a dictator and military leader, even paying a visit at the White House to meet with then American President Ronald Reagan, Weah has not been able to do so, since his one year and four months stay in power.
“Doe, went to see Ronald Reagan at the White House … and Reagan received Doe, and Reagan gave Doe half of billion dollars – that just goes to show what a relationship we have we the Americans.”
But since this man came to power, nobody respects us. He’s never been to see Trump. He’s never been to see any senior US government officials – nobody wants to see him, nobody respects the country, a whole country that would vote for a footballer – we’re being ridiculed, we’re being mocked on the BBC, the world stage, and everybody is making mockery of us – our Nigerian brothers are making these clips in Nigeria, videos of us, making mockery of our president.”
Costa continued: “Look how low the country fell, that a man like Oppong can be president of the country. Look, every country in the world, in every civilized democracy, they vote for their best and brightest – the smartest people, people with the best ideas, best plans. But look at what we did in this country, we call ourselves civilized people; we took a joker, a complete blind man, a “fia-mo-mo”, complete “Charlie-Gbugor” and made him president of the whole country.
In Liberia, the word “fia-mo-mo” is a pidgin, which suggests being unfit or unqualified, while “Charlie-Gbugor”, another pidgin, means a fool.
Costa, who believes Weah is intellectually limited and has a very low argue, said “we deserve it – those of us who voted for this man and those of us that did not vote in the second round because your candidate of choice was not on the ballot, we deserve it, all of us. The righteous and the unrighteous, we will suffer alike.”
However, Costa noted, “But we must not suffer in silence, we must not suffer in submission, in cowardice. We must suffer in persistence and resistance.”
Next time
Costa, again blamed Liberians that voted for Weah, saying, “You brought this upon yourselves! You will suffer, you the people! “The man loves the country”. Next time when you go to vote, you will not vote for somebody who you think loves the country. You will vote for somebody who clearly has the ability to do what he can do as president – somebody who has the track record of actually accomplishing something.”
Costa said the Liberian people first elected Weah as senator for Montserrado County, as what he quoted them as terming a pilot project, in anticipation of figuring out whether he could serve well or whether he has leadership ability, but according to the strong-willed talk show host, when the former World Best footballer was in the Senate, if he was not the most insignificant senator, then he was among one of the insignificant ones.
He didn’t put any bill on the floor, he didn’t push anything that made any sense, we never heard him say… Every time he opened his mouth to talk, his colleagues in the Senate, they laughed at him, they made [a] mockery of him because he had nothing good to say. Then you elevated him from senator to president. The problem is not with George Weah, the problem is with you the people, and that’s why you deserve what you get!” Said Costa, who at this point sounded more like a preacher, adding, “That is the message I bring to you this morning.”
Howbeit, Costa rallied Liberians, stating that now that many of them have realized that they made a terrible mistake by electing Weah as president, the opportunity is now theirs to stand up to ensure that Weah gets a payback for what Costa calls the president’s ingratitude, wickedness, greediness, vindictiveness, petiteness, vaingloriousness.
“You need to stand up to him and challenge him and do two things; continue to protest against him in every way shape or form – one of which is to get out there when [the] Elections Commission calls the elections, go and vote against his candidates,” Costa further told Liberians, informing them that President Weah is arrogant.
“You know it’s one thing to have someone who knows what he’s doing, to be arrogant. It’s understandable. Even though not necessarily acceptable, but understandable – but it’s another thing to have someone who doesn’t know his left from his right to be cocky and arrogant, and stuck in his ways,” Costa jibed Weah.
Another protest
Costa, the lead organizer for the 7 June 2019 peaceful street protest, Liberia’s largest since its formation in 1822, is also unhappy with how President Weah has so far ignored a petition statement that grew out of the protest and presented to the president two days later.
Therefore, Costa says his group, the Council of Patriots (CoP), under which banner the 7 June protest was staged, will be announcing the date for the commencement of another round of protest, which will this time last indefinitely, as long as the Weah’s administration fails to implement the counts in their petition.
“We came out in our thousands on June the 7th, the largest peaceful protest in the history of this country. We presented a petition statement to this president on June the 9th, he has ignored us. Tomorrow makes it exactly one month since we did the protest – and what must we do? Should we sit down and allow this joker of a president think that we are lazy – no, we have to protest again – and so the CoP on Wednesday of this week, the day after tomorrow, will hold a very big press conference to announce the next protest date.”
“We are going to protest, and when we come out again, we’re not stopping. We will protest day after day. We will be there from the day that we will announce. I want you to save the date… we will inform the country and inform the international community that we are coming out again – and this time, it will be different, we are going to compel George Weah to deliver on our demands. If George Weah cannot deliver on our demands, if he cannot govern this country well, if he cannot stop living like a pop star, George Weah must step down. It is as simple as that.”
A curse to Liberia
Costa said pressure has to be continually kept on President Weah, whom he said all of a sudden, thinks he owns the country.
He referred to President Weah as an under-performing president, whom he further described as a disaster, and a curse onto Liberia – “that’s what you are. A scourge is what you are George Weah, a disgrace of a president. Look at you.”
Joker
“On Friday, the man was at the YMCA playing basketball in the afternoon… Friday in the afternoon, he blocked traffic. He was playing basketball – what a joker? Who does that? What kind of president would go to play basketball on a Friday, in a terribly bad economy where people are suffering – who does that? Quipped Costa, who insists that by the retired footballer playing basketball on a Friday afternoon, when his country’s economy is experiencing a torturing free fall, is a terrible shame especially so while he has those Costa describes as his sycophants lining up and cheering him.
“You brought this upon us, you the people, and you have the responsibility to stand up to make this right – and to do that, we must keep protesting,” Costa said.
As at the time of publishing this story, presidential press secretary Isaac Solo Kelgbeh declined to respond to a Punch FM/TV online service’s request for response sent to him, for his reaction to Costa’s assertions.
