Senator Johnson was one of Liberia’s longest-serving senators, but he did not end his third nine-year term when he died last year.
By Lincoln G. Peters
Monrovia, January 15, 2025: The state funeral for Nimba County Senator Prince Yormie Johnson at the Capitol was married by a display of traditional practices.
The mourning crowd that escorted Senator Johnson’s coffin at the Capitol was mixed with a group attired in war-time paraphernalia.
Johnson lied in state at the Capitol Building on Tuesday, January 14, 2025.
During the state funeral, a group of women dressed in dominant red carried wooden toy guns as their way of symbolizing their late kinsman’s relationship and contribution to Liberia’s civil war.
The late Senator Johnson is notorious for leading the defunct Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia (INPFL) rebel faction under whose watch then sitting President Samuel Kanyon Doe was brutally murdered.
Meanwhile, the group of women carrying the wooden toy guns said they did so to remember the security and protection that PYJ provided them during the war.
They recalled that he used the gun to liberate Liberia, protect Nimba, and save the people of Peace Island Community in Congo Town, Montserrado County.
Additionally, another group was dressed in dominant black with a red cap and decorated with leaves over their bodies.
They were said to be supporters of the late Senator Johnson’s political party, the Movement for Democracy and Reconstruction (MDR).
A barefooted man dressed in white underwear and a short trouser with leaves in his mouth was seen performing some rituals at the state funeral.
Senator Johnson’s remains were taken from the Samuel A. Striker Funeral Home in Sinkor and paraded through the principal streets to the Capitol Building for the state funeral.
The occasion attracted a huge gathering at the Capitol on Tuesday.
Members of the Liberian Senate and the House of Representatives, sympathizers, well-wishers, and the people of Nimba County graced the occasion.
Senator Johnson was one of Liberia’s longest-serving senators, but he did not end his third nine-year term when he died last year.
While in the Senate, he served as Chair of Defense, National Security and Veteran Affairs, former Representative to ECOWAS Parliament, and former Nimba County Legislative Caucus chairperson.
The Ex-warlord was born July 6, 1952, and died November 28, 2024, following a brief period of illness.
Meanwhile, giving tribute on behalf of the Liberian Senate, the Chair on Rules, Order, and Administration and Maryland County Senator, J. Gbleh-bo Brown, said they want to leave the people of Nimba and their family at the cross of Jesus.
He noted that they can’t provide the answer they seek, but rather the cross of Jesus Christ.
According to him, they can find comfort at the cross of Jesus Christ.
Senator Brown described the gathering as a day of great sorrow and reflection, adding that Senator Johnson served the Senate in various capacities on several committees.
Speaking earlier on behalf of the Nimba County Legislative Caucus, Senator Nya D. Twayen, Jr., said that Senator Johnson’s legacy has taught them that county and country go beyond everything.
Twayen said it is that principle that will guide them.
‘’The Nimba County Legislative Caucus lost its arrowhead. Every one of us standing here besides being elected, we promised how to work with the Senator,” he noted.
“We have been peaceful; we understood what our leader wanted. Senator Johnson was someone who loved. Development and progress And so, he never joked with the interest of Nimba,’’ he concluded.
