The All People’s Congress (APC) party has brought to the attention of President Julius Maada Bio, the Sierra Leone Police, the Political Parties Regulation Commission (PPRC), the Peace Commission, international development partners, the Inter-Religious Council, election observers and the general public about the continuous attacks on their supporters in the southern and eastern provinces, the vandalisation of their party offices in Kailahun, Bonthe and Pujehun, and the burning down of their party office in Bo on 19th June 2023.
According to the APC they have on numerous occasions written and reported the incessant attacks on their supporters, several of whom have sustained severe injuries and many others fleeing their homes.
The APC said their district chairman in Kailahun and his executives are presently in hiding with others nursing their injuries, while their supporters and executive members in Bonthe district are being pursued and forced to declare their support for the SLPP.
In the past two days, according to the APC, these attacks have heightened, particularly in Pujehun and Bo districts.
On Sunday, a day slated for APC campaign, they said the motorcade of their presidential candidate was attacked by supporters of the SLPP, while the police fired several teargas canisters at them (the presidential candidate and his entourage).
The APC hierarchy went further that the attacks continued today and many of their known supporters and executive members who are being pursued have fled, while others have been arrested and are in police custody.
Similarly, the APC stated that in Bo on a day slated for APC campaign, their supporters were attacked while they converged at their party office.
The APC pointed out that, one Abraham Joe Deoud, a known supporter and erstwhile local council aspirant of the APC party, was dragged off his motorbike, mercilessly beaten by SLPP thugs allegedly mobilised by Kobba Musa, the mayoral candidate of the SLPP, and thereafter carted away by the SLPP hoodlums to the police station where he is presently detained without any medical attention.
The APC party said their district office, which is also the residence of their Women’s Leader, Madam Cecilia Ngobeh, was burnt down by SLPP thugs allegedly acting under the instruction of Kobba Musa and in the full view of the police force.
They said four of her vehicles; a Volkswagen, a Land Rover Discovery, a Toyota Rogue, a Toyota Pathfinder, and two motorbikes were also burnt in the compound.
On that same day, according to the APC, the residence of Yusuf Sesay, alias Sefa, a known supporter of the APC, was also set on fire.
‘There is intention to attack and burn down more houses overnight. Recently, those SLPP operatives have now resorted to attacking civilians on ethnic and regional bases. These are early warning signs of genocide and crimes against humanity,’ the APC said.
According to the APC it is becoming quite apparent that the Sierra Leone Police cannot and will not protect their supporters. In fact they appear to be encouraging such attacks as it is mostly their supporters who are the victims and also the ones being arrested and taken into police custody, while not a single supporter of the SLPP, who are the reported perpetrators arrested or detained for all the heinous attacks, vandalism and arson committed against APC supporters, their families and their properties.
The APC party in their press release continued that in a recent video footage of President Bio’s captured while he was campaigning in the southeast, he said in his local language that he and his security forces would not be everywhere at all times, and called on his people to protect themselves.
Again, according to the APC, the president’s wife, Madam Fatima Bio, had similarly called on south-easterners not to allow the APC to exist in the southeast.
True to these calls, APC said the SLPP supporters have attacked them and disrupted their campaign activities.
At this juncture, the APC said, since the police cannot and would not protect their supporters, just like the president said, they are also calling on their supporters to protect themselves, their families and their properties against this wanton attacks by the SLPP.