By: Ilyasa Baa
The attention of the Office of National Security (ONS) has been drawn to a faceless call on social media that Sierra Leoneans should demonstrate and take over the seating government between the 18th and 27th of April after the closure of Parliament.
ONS refers to the call as dangerous, deceitful and subversive noting that there is no vacuum in governance.
“This is a serious concern to us, we don’t want to be taken under surprise as they did on August 10”, said the Director of Communications of ONS, Abdul Karim Will.
He said the calls on social media are similar to those made that sparked the riot last August which led to the killing of civilians and police officers. “
We are appealing to the general public to disregard those calls coming from faceless people like Adebayo who is leading the trail”, he mentioned, stressing that the security sector applied a human face during the previous riot making officers vulnerable to attackers. He said they are making a conscious effort to sensitize members of the public not to allow ill-motivated people residing overseas to misguide them into unlawful demonstrations.
He said the reason advanced for the faceless demo is that there will be no government in power after the closure of Parliament does not apply in Sierra Leone. He noted that citizens have the right to demonstrate provided they inform and plan with the police on the demo pattern.
Less than two months before the elections, the Report on the August 10 riot was released recently naming one Adebayo as one of the master-minders of the previous demonstrations.
It could be recalled that the August upheavals brought the country to a standstill, and Military Aide to Civil Power (MACP) invoked; a situation most citizens would not want to see again.