The trial involving former House Speaker J. Fonati Koffa and several other defendants for the alleged burning of the Capitol intensified on Thursday, December 11, 2025, at the Criminal Court ‘A’ at the Temple of Justice after prosecution witness Rafael Wilson acknowledged that defendant John Nyanti was brought back to Liberia to testify as a state witness.
Inspector Wilson, on the witness stand, confirmed to the court that the arrangement later collapsed. Wilson revealed that Nyanti was arrested in Ghana with the support of the Ghanaian Police and extradited to Liberia under the expectation that he would cooperate with prosecutors.
He said authorities placed Nyanti in a hotel along the Roberts International Airport (RIA) road to prevent outside contact while the arrangement was being negotiated. However, when quizzed by defense lawyer Cllr. Arthur T. Johnson, Wilson struggled to explain key investigative steps. Inspector Wilson could not confirm whether Nyanti wrote or signed his own police statement, noting that another officer conducted the interrogation and signed the document, as he could not say whether he was present when the statement was taken.
On whether defendant Nyanti’s constitutional rights, including counsel, phone access, family contact, and the right to remain silent, were fully honored, the inspector answered in the affirmative, but he failed to clarify whether Nyanti was initially taken to the National Security Agency (NSA) before being turned over to the Liberia National Police (LNP). During Nyanti’s arrest, he claimed that he was offered US$200K to accuse former Speaker Koffa, making the case take a more contentious turn.
Escorted in handcuffs to the Criminal Court “A” on June 13, 2025, Nyanti shouted that senior officials had offered him US$200,000 to implicate the former speaker. “You say you have evidence, but you want to give me 200k to lie against Fonati Koffa,” he exclaimed as officers led him into the courtroom.
Nyanti claimed he had been in Liberia since June 6 and alleged being pressured by state actors to provide fabricated testimony. Cllr. Koffa, Abu Kamara, Dixon Seboe, Jacob Debee, and other defendants linked in the Capitol Building Arson trial were indicted by the Grand Jury of Montserrado County on multiple charges in relation to the December 18, 2024 fire that severely damaged the Legislature’s Joint Chambers. The matter continues today, December 12, 2025, as defense challenges the prosecution’s investigative methods and the credibility of its witnesses.
