ELECTIONS 2018: WHY IS JULIUS MAADA BIO THREATNING VIOLENCE?
*Maada Bio condemned over inflammatory statements*
By Mina Jara (someone who eats Lions)
Barely less than 24 hours following the public condemnation of the misguided utterances of the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) presidential candidate Rtd. Brigadier Julius Maada Bio by threatening the peace and security of the state during his press conference held at Radisson Blu Hotel in Freetown, more condemnations keep pouring in.
Yesterday, it was the Russian Ambassador to Sierra Leone His Excellency Alexander Bregadze who described Maada Bio’s ill-fated threats as dangerous, saying that it threatens the liberty, democracy and national sovereignty of Sierra Leone.
Today, the National Election Watch (NEW) in what appears to be an afterthought issued a press release describing the SLPP presidential candidate Rtd. Brigadier Julius Maada Bio’s recent statements as inflammatory. The elections monitoring institution which has been linked to the opposition did not mince its words when it urged the SLPP presidential candidate, who was part of a murderous junta government that overthrew the legitimate government of Sierra Leone in 1992, to respect the ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance as stated in section 1: article 1 (b) “Every ascension to power must be through free, fair and transparent elections” and (c) “Zero tolerance for power obtained or maintained by unconstitutional means.”
NEW also publicly called out the SLPP Publicity Secretary Lahai Lawrence Leema for reckless statements on AYV TV program insinuating the possibility of a coup d’etat in the event that the Run-off election did not take place on 27th March 2018.
Even after declaring to support Bio in the run-off election, Lawyer Francis Margai of the People’s Movement for Democratic Change (PMDC) has described Julius Maada Bio as wolf in sheep’s clothing. According to Charles Francis Margai, Maada Bio and his men tied Strasser (former head of state) like an animal, placed him on board a helicopter and deposited him in Guinea. He also disclosed that Bio’s sister was the Mammy Queen in the RUF. “She was on the council with Foday Sankoh, when our brothers and sisters, relations and friends were being slaughtered, amputated and mutilated,” the PMDC presidential candidate said. He also revealed that when Maada Bio took over the chairmanship of NPRC, he instructed the military to fire randomly to scare people not to go and vote in 1996, an election which was won by Dr Karefa Smart.
The foregoing shows who the real Maada Bio is not the one being forced down the throats of the people of this country. He has shown himself over the course of this electioneering period by even publicly challenging the authority of the sitting president, saying that the SLPP will not obey any directives from the presidency after March 27th. That’s why top diplomats have called out his behavior because it’s dangerous for the peace and stability of this country. Civil society groups like NEW has also waded in. We call on more civil society organisations to call out the SLPP presidential candidate for threatening the peace and quiet of this country just because of political power at all cost (Pa O Pa).
Fellow Sierra Leoneans, we all now know what to do to robustly react to such reckless statements with the potential to divide and destroy us as a nation. March 31st nor far again. Nar Saturday.
We must STOP Maada Bio and his SLPP caboodle from taking us back to the dark days.
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