News reaching the desk of CEOAFRICA.com is that the Liberia’s Defense Minister has raised a $500,000 libel charge against the youth league chairman of the Congress of Democratic Change party.

Mr. Brownie Samukai, sues Jefferson Koijee over the latter’s press conference where he accused the minister of planning to assassinate President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as she returned to the country from the 68^th UN General Assembly.

Mr.Koijee  has since been arrested by the Liberian Police on the orders of the civil law court  based on the complaint of Mr. Samukai.

Meanwhile, the lawyer representing Mr. Koijee, Sayma Syrenius Cephus, described the lawsuit as a serious political miscalculation, saying it would prevent his client from giving necessary information to the police regarding the assassination plot.

“We believe that the lawsuit was premature and more or less believe that it was meant to circumvent the cooperation that Mr. Koijee had promised to give to the police in respect to the plot to assassinate the president. We thought Samukai should have waited for a police clearance of no evidence to the assassination before filing a lawsuit.

“He had thought that Koijee would not have the temerity to stand and produce evidence, and on that basis he first took it for a bluff. But when he realized that Koijee was now willing to cooperate with the police, he became apprehensive. That’s when he decided to rush the court and decided to use the court to aid and abet his attempt to evade a possible police investigation,” Cephus said.

Cephus said even though his client had offered to cooperate with the police, he has advised to give deference to the court “since Mr. Samukai is trying to transform a treasonable charge into a civil action and the police seem quite adamant to proceed”.

He said when the matter is called at the court, his client will be able to give instances and compelling evidence in support of his accusations against the defense minister.