Editorial
August 10th 2022 will be engraved in the annals of history as the day when politically desperate scoundrels attempted to derail Sierra Leone`s hard won democracy.
An attempt to usurp a democratically elected government was in the making. It did not happen overnight. The rigmarole behind the incident is conspicuous for the ardent perceiver. There were collective human efforts in the form of organization. Resources were mobilized by the pulling together of capital, the inciting audios and videos are the mere seal of the planning process.
Obviously, persistent mischief makers take center stage. What is there to be gained by way of obstinately promoting disaffection against a democratically chosen government? The only inevitable answer is to replace it with a failed political experiment-the APC. Audio makers such as “Adebayor”, Comrade Koita and other social media rabble rousers are the overt villains proven by their open call for subversion. Any legitimate government around the world could be consciously concerned of such a brazen attempt to overthrow a legitimate political composition. An act that is in no way reducible to treason. To say it plainly, it is tantamount to sedition.
“Adebayor” being the most notorious instigator alongside others, are all paid up members of the APC- the main opposition party in Sierra Leone.
The primary targets of their audios are the blind APC supporters. Moreover, the carefully tailored concoction of misinformation and foully language are doses meant for other gullible non-APC Sierra Leoneans.
Having foreseen the destructive agenda of the “Adebayor” audios, even a pro -APC leaning tabloid becomes disenchanted with the mischief-maker.
The newspaper decided to publish the APC registration receipt of the Holland based asylum seeker.
In effect, “Adebayor should never be taken as a nationalist but a mere politician who is intent in stirring people`s emotions for cheap political gain.
It is discernible to the vast majority of Sierra Leoneans that “Adebayor” and other audio makers are playing the APC propagandists role. Therefore, the vast citizens in the south/eastern part of the country and the western part of Freetown did not fall for his sinister trap on August 10.
His nefarious call for action against the government only festered in the psyche of his equally embittered anti- Bio APC compatriots. In part, the lack of a unanimous national uprising rendered the venomous rants to unseat the Bio led government futile. Who would have predicted the outcome had the western part of the city joined the fray in closing in on State House and the House of Parliament? Chaos and anarchy would have unfolded, prompting the immediate capture of power by the military-all in the name of insecurity.
Even within the compartments of the APC party, the finger pointing has begun.
Sylvia Blyden could not mince her words as she overtly accused the former president Ernest Bai koroma of supporting “Adebayor” and discreetly causing the August 10th incident in her tweeter page.
Samura Kamara the APC party 2018 presidential candidate, and Yvonne Aki Sawyer the mayor of Freetown are the other culprits whose names has propped up.
Apart from their incendiary tribal sentiments, reports are making the rounds of these personalities sponsoring the People`s Power in Politics (PPP) entity that championed the protests.
What they failed to realize is that president Bio could have been very belligerent in his opposition days.
Even though he wielded the leverage to create chaos for the Koroma led government, he never contemplated such a dangerous move. He had always admonished his supporters to eschew violence and abide by the law. Therefore, it is advisable for the APC political legion to wait for the ballot box and not to use naked violence against the state to depose a democratically government.
We are living in an era of ballot and not the bullet.