In October 1977 Bennie Dee Warner succeeded Vice
President Greene. The selection of Bennie Warner shocked the nation – for
three reasons. Bennie Warner, a bishop of the United Methodist Church in
Liberia, was politically unknown. According to his own statements he had never
participated, not even witnessed, a meeting of the True Whig Party. Moreover,
never before in the nation’s history had the country been led by two religious
leaders. But maybe what shocked the nation’s political class most was Bishop
Warner’s tribal background. His father, Charlie Zeonbartaye, was a member of the Bassa
tribe, his mother, Eli Nboramba, a Namibian woman. It was
the second time in Liberia’s history that the country had a Vice President of
tribal descent, the first one being Henry Too Wesley (1924-28) who was born from
Grebo parents in Maryland County. |
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