Monrovia — Renowned Liberian human rights lawyer, Cllr. Taiwan Saye Gongloe has reflected on the bloody past and historical wounds of April, while urging Liberians that April must never bleed again.
Cllr. Gongloe, in a commentary posted on his official Facebook page on Monday, April 6, 2026, in tribute to the April Victim of the Month, described April as a sacred month, noting that it evokes sacrifice, suffering, and redemption.
Cllr. Gongloe's appeal comes at a time when the Vanguard Student Unification Party (SUP) on the University of Liberia campuses, through its chairman, Odacious Mulbah, has announced plans to lead a protest on April 14, 2026, to demand jobs and justice from the Joseph Boakai administration.
Speaking on the University of Liberia campus in Monrovia on Monday, Mulbah criticized the government's performance, citing a lack of development and progress at the university and nationwide.
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But Cllr. Gongloe stated that his plea to all Liberians is simple and urgent: April must no longer be a month of sorrow and savagery in Liberia, warning that if Liberians truly honor the past, they must learn from it.
"Yet for Liberia, April also carries a painful memory, one written not only in faith, but in blood. On April 14, 1979, unarmed citizens raised their voices in protest.
They were met with tear gas and bullets. Lives were lost, officially forty, though many believe the number was far greater. On April 12, 1980, a civilian President was brutally murdered by soldiers assigned to protect him at the Executive Mansion, men entrusted with his safety, including his own bodyguards," Cllr. Gongloe noted.
According to him, in the days that followed, thirteen cabinet ministers were lined up and executed by firing squad on April 22, 1980, and some government officials were detained at the Post Stockade and Camp Belleh Yallah, then dreaded maximum security prisons in Liberia.
"Many women, family members, and associates of government officials were subjected to rape, humiliation, and, in some cases, death. And on April 6, 1996, political disagreements among leaders of warring factions turned Monrovia into a battlefield, bringing death, destruction, and lasting trauma to innocent people," Cllr. Gongloe asserted.
The political leader of the Liberian People's Party said that these are not just dates but warnings, reminders that violence is not a solution and has never solved Liberia's problems. Rather, it only delays solutions, deepens wounds, and leaves generations to bear the consequences.
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"My own life bears testimony to the dangers of this path. On April 3, 1978, I was arrested and jailed as one of six student leaders for opposing the declaration of a national holiday for a one-hour visit of President Jimmy Carter to Monrovia, when no such holiday had been declared in Nigeria, where he had spent three days. On April 24, 2002, I was again arrested, detained, and severely tortured in police custody on the direct order of the President of Liberia," Cllr. Gongloe narrated.
He further indicated that these experiences have taught him never to forget the month of April, and never to accept violence as a means of resolving differences.
"We must remember the victims, those who lost their lives, those who were injured, and those who disappeared and remain missing to this day. Their silence speaks louder than words. Their absence is a call to conscience. Liberians must now choose a different path. Our disagreements, political or otherwise, must be resolved through dialogue, the rule of law, and mutual respect. The gun cannot build a nation. Violence cannot create justice. Only peace, guided by the rule of law, can move Liberia forward," he concluded.
