Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio has been dropped out of ECOWAS (Economic Community Of West African States) mission owing to an appeal made by Nigerian President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Tinubu is the Chairman of the Authority of Heads of States and Governments of ECOWAS, a sub-regional group that consists of 16 West African countries. The political situation in the West African country of Niger is not at ease at the moment as the army has seized power in a putsch rebuffing calls to return to barracks within 15 days.
The US and other members of the international community have issued threats that Niger will lose hundreds of millions of dollars in aid if the army remains in state command.
The army, despite threats, are in no mood to give up power, a situation that has become a source of worry for the West as Niger remains a transit point and landing place for jihadists.
Deeply concerned about the looming political crisis in Niger owing to the coup, the sub-regional bloc, alongside AU, is set to convene an extraordinary summit which President Bio should not attend because of the prevailing political situation back home.
President Bio has set up a de facto government since he does not win the June-24 elections. Like the coup leaders in Nigeria, President Bio too has refused to step aside despite calls by the international community. Bio, with his government, cares less whether Sierra Leone is sanctioned or not.
For this reason, Bio is widely seen unfit by college Heads of States to attend the summit on Niger since he maintains similar situation in his country.
The Nigerian President thus made no mistake for calling on member states and the West to continue to isolate the Sierra Leonean President. Dropping him out of the ECOWAS summit is a tough measure against Bio. “I called on AU, EU and the rest that Maada Bio should not be part of the ECOWAS mission in any shape or form because he does not win the election,” Tinubu appealed in a tweet seen by this press.
The Nigerian President further states that Bio is not a legitimate President until the commissioner releases the disaggregated results by polling stations.
As it stands, it is extremely difficult, almost impossible, for ECSL to release the much-needed genuine results. Its boss Mohamed Kenewui Konneh has always maintained that “it is not part of the law to release the result by polling stations and districts.” Konneh has always banked on Sierra Leone’s sovereignty although he used a good chunk of donor money to conduct the elections knowing little that until credible results are produced, Bio will remain an isolated President. Tinubu’s appeal has created another setback for President Bio who is struggling to garner international recognition.
Since his controversial re-election last month, Bio has been attending summits of inter-government organisations especially ECOWAS, a move that created a general feeling among SLPP supporters that President Bio has been approved by the international community. Quite recently, President Bio was among several Heads of States at an ECOWAS summit although, many said, he was not invited.
Few days back, he was in a food conference in Italy instead of allowing the Agriculture Minister to represent Sierra Leone. His warm handshakes with the heads of such international organisations portrays him as one that has been accepted by the community of nations although actions to isolate him have been taken Tinubu’s being the latest.
EU, Commonwealth, AU and ECOWAS parliaments have refused to recognise Sierra Leone after it was opened this month. In a related development, ECSL was also recently warned to produce the election results or face sanctions. The failure led to the strained relationship between Bio and the West, and it deepens every passing day. A news channel which share their findings with this press shows President’s accusations against the officials of the global community.
“Officials of the international community are agents of chaos and instability,” Bio reportedly accused the international community. The United States, UK, Germany and Ireland are Bio’s key targets at the moment. Like Alpha Kanu, Resident Minister and Presidential Spokesman, Bio sees the international community as people who have nothing to offer to the country.
“Where were they during the rebel war?” Bio asked albeit rhetorically. The question means the international community did nothing to save Sierra Leone when the country was in flames. The President also alluded to the undemocratic actions of former US President, Donald Trump to justify his in Sierra Leone, and urged the international community not to meddle with Sierra Leone’s politics.
President Bio who has never been at ease with diplomatic officials made the allegations after international observers condemned June-24 elections. The observers said the elections lacked transparency and inclusivity at all stages of the tally process, and Bio did not take these comments lightly fearing an APC’s resistance.
He believes that members of the international community are inciting civil unrest in the country. Bent on his second-term move, Bio never wanted to hear such critical comments from the diplomats. Bio’s bashing at the international community started on the eve of the June elections. Just few days to the election, SLPP attacked officials of the international community during a press conference held at SLPP headquarters.
Members of the ruling party attacked the international community for being silent over what they referred to as threats to peace by APC presidential candidate, Dr Samura Kamara.
On Wednesday 14th June, 2023, the APC candidate issued a 72-hour ultimatum for Konneh and other commissioners to resign because of sheer incompetence.
APC’s presidential candidate is not okay with the manner in which Konneh was appointed. Printing of sub-standard voter ID cards and failure to release the disaggregated voter registration data among others were most contentious electoral issues.
The SLPP Chairman, Dr Prince Harding however wanted the the diplomatic community (the EU, US, UK, AU, ECOWAS) to condemn Dr Samura Kamara’s statement which they saw as one that threatened the country’s peace and security.
“SLPP is surprised by the silence of members of the diplomatic community and civil society organisations to condemn APC’s systematic pattern of inciting violence and threats to undo our democracy, peace and national security. At the very least, we expect the international election monitoring bodies to issue a statement on the validity or otherwise accuracy of the claims made by the APC Presidential Candidate. Failure to do so would undermine their role as moral guarantors of our democratic governance,” a press release of 15th June, 2023 reads in part.
SLPP considers Kamara’s press statement as nothing more than what they call a compendium of unsubstantiated claims, conjectures and blatant inaccuracies.
Abdul Will Kamara popularly known as Adebayor is singled out in the SLPP press release as APC’s mouthpiece allegedly sponsored by ex-President Ernest Bai Koroma and Dr Samura Kamara.
In most of his campaigns, President Julius Maada Bio was blunt in referring Adebayor as “a mere idiot” taken care of by Koroma and Kamara although evidence to support such claim is non-existent.
A tweet that recently went viral on social media platforms shows President Bio’s readiness to issue marching orders to the diplomats.
“If the international community meddles into our politics, I will ask them out of the country,” the tweet reads.
President Bio however has reportedly denied the text saying it does not come from him. Before the elections,
Honourable Emmerson Lamina of Coalition For Change and Dr Sylvia Blyden took on the EU Ambassador and the British High Commissioner, Emmanuel Muller and Lisa Chesney respectively.
They accused the diplomatic officials of political interference by siding with APC.
The statement uttered by the EU Ambassador that more crowds showed up in the North-West regions than in the South-East for registration became a thorn in SLPP’s.
Although he formerly belonged to a different political party, Emmerson Lamina went at great lengths in urging the Speaker of Parliament to summon the EU Ambassador to parliament paying little or no attention to the official’s diplomatic immunities and privileges.
Not long after Lamina and Blyden went at loggerheads with the diplomats, threats of protests against the diplomatic community in Sierra Leone was heard almost everywhere in the South-East.
Despite the euphoria generated in the initial stage, the move for protest has been buried in the waters.
Blyden and Lamina’s actions on the ambassadors as well as rumblings of the protest ceased after the visit of the British Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly. During Cleverly’s visit, he spoke only to President Maada Bio, Dr Samura Kamara and the UK High Commissioner, and it was after the meeting that events took a sudden twist.
Honourable Lamina and Blyden seemed to have retired to their trenches and took the back seat. However, Bio still continues his fight with the west as he indirectly incited the civil society organisations to protest against the international community. For many Sierra Leoneans, Bio will fail in his attempt at retaining power against the popular will. It is now clear that unless he gives up power, he will never be at ease with African and Western leaders.