Yormie Johnson
|
|
"Prince" Yormie Johnson is a Liberian political figure.
Johnson was born in Nimba County, in the east-central interior of the country. During the Liberian civil war of the early 1990s, Johnson's forces captured the capital, Monrovia, in 1990, and brutally executed Liberian President Samuel Doe on September 9 of that year. Subsequently, Johnson briefly claimed the presidency of Liberia for a few weeks in the fall of 1990. His claims ended following the consolidation of power by Charles Taylor, and he went into exile in Nigeria. He returned to Liberia in March 2004, stating his intention to return to politics by running for a senate seat in Nimba County; however, he left Liberia again on April 7, apparently due to death threats he had received from the country's dominant rebel group, the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD).
Johnson is a former warlord and tribal leader, and refers to himself as "Prince." Liberia has never had any sort of monarchy or royal family, so the title is entirely Johnson's own creation.