Liberian lawyer and activist Moriah Yeakula has renewed calls for an investigation into statements allegedly made by businessman Sam Jackson, linking him to the killing of a prominent Liberian who disappeared during the 1980s.
In a public post circulating online, Yeakula referenced an old video from SpoonTV in which she confronted Jackson about advising former military leader Samuel K. Doe to execute officials during the 1980 military era. According to Yeakula, Jackson dismissed the claim at the time as “utter nonsense.”
However, Yeakula says a recent interaction captured during the ongoing police investigation into the death of Jackson’s wife appears to support what she alleged years ago.
“A video is circulating of me and Sam on SpoonTV in which I called him out for advising Doe to execute those men on the poles,” Yeakula wrote. “He said it was utter nonsense but to hear him tell that officer they killed his father just affirmed what I said four years ago.”
She claims Jackson made the statement while speaking to a police officer whose father, A.V. Sirleaf, disappeared in 1985 under the Doe administration.
According to Yeakula, Jackson allegedly said: “This one here, we killed his father. He’s a Sirleaf. We killed his father.”
A.V. Sirleaf was reportedly taken from his home at the Stephen Tolbert Estate in 1985 by government forces during the Doe regime and was never seen again. His disappearance has remained one of the many unresolved cases from Liberia’s turbulent past.
Sirleaf is said to be the father of Liberian musician Queen V, the godfather of Wadei Powell, and a relative to several other Liberians who, Yeakula noted, have lived for more than four decades without knowing what happened to their loved one.
While Jackson is currently being held and questioned by authorities in connection with the suspicious death of his wife, Yeakula argues that the alleged statement should also prompt a separate investigation.
“As we follow the police investigation into his wife’s death in which he has been named a suspect and detained, it is also very important that an investigation is launched into the open confession of Mr. Jackson admitting to ‘them’ killing Mr. Sirleaf,” she stated.
Yeakula emphasized that the Sirleaf family deserves answers about how A.V. Sirleaf was killed, where he may have been buried, and the opportunity to finally gain closure after 41 years.
