Recently, there have been reports in print and other media concerning a purported plan to divide our beloved county, Nimba. Upon monitoring and studying this news emanating from Liberia, which, if allowed, may affect our unity, we, the officers and members of the United Nimba Citizens Council, felt it was incumbent upon us, the citizens of Nimba within the diaspora, to send out a position statement against the purported discussion of dividing our county.

In coming up with this decision, we followed our normal process of deliberation to address this very grave issue after receiving many calls from concerned Nimbaians here in the United States and the diaspora at-large.

In preparation for our deliberation, UNICCO’s national leadership invited all members and Nimba’s superintendent, Dorr Cooper, to participate in a national conference call. Unfortunately, the superintendent could not attend due to an emergency he had to attend.

We, however, proceeded and heard the views of all members in the conference call. During the course of our deliberations, the views on our county remaining a single county was unanimous. The overwhelming majority of our membership believe that Nimba should remain “Nimba” with no divisions; and that we, the members of UNICCO, request that the cross-section of Nimbaians, including our county leaders, join our appeal and adhere to our call of not dividing our county.

We, the members and officers of the United Nimba Citizens Council believe that our county is not benefitting any less due to our political make-up than others who have divided their counties.

The question is: why would any group of Nimbaians join other outside lawmakers or forces from other counties to support the division of our county? Have they given any thoughts about the potential ramifications or consequences for their support? Have they considered the outside forces’ intent? We would think not; because a careful analysis will reveal that these outside forces do not have the best interest of our county—their mere goal is to make our county weak politically and to destroy the economic viability of the county.

We pray that our lawmakers will see reason not to support any plan that will divide our county, for they were elected and sworn under oath to represent the interest of only one county—Nimba.

Currently, Nimba is second only to Montserrado in Liberia’s political dispensation with its numerical and economic strength, which could be hampered by any divisions. Statistics shows that Nimba is the fastest developing county in Liberia. We also believe that Nimba is in a better position than many other counties in Liberia, in terms of development. Furthermore, Nimba’s political and economic standing is due to our rich cultural values and ethnic diversity which together, have united us as a county.

Therefore, we, the members and officers of the United Nimba Citizens Council are sending out this official position statement to our forefathers, mothers, Nimba County Student body and other stakeholders in Liberia that, your children in the United States and the diaspora at-large do not support the division of our beloved Nimba.

We also want to make it abundantly clear to the proponents or advocates of the “Nimba-divide” that we are against your proposal and are prepared to fight with all our might to ensure the failure of your proposal.

Thank you,

Abbaccus Nyan Dokie

UNICCO National President

Featured photo by Terry Sunderland/CIFOR