Four years to the 2028 presidential election that is being promoted by the ruling party government of the Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP), it has been revealed by a ranking executive member of the party, Chief Abdul Kadiru Kaikai, that he along with some members of the party are planning another war.
The statement was made by Mr Kaikai in what has become a widely shared video over social media that the APC as a party will be “bloody” going into the 2028 election. The assumption is that the APC will be in a desperate mood to win the presidential election after having their hopes of either a rerun of the 2023 election or declaring Dr Samura Kamara as president dashed.
According to the SLPP executive Kadiru Kaikai, since the APC knows that if they lose the 2028 election the party will be finished, he is expecting for the party to unleash bloodshed in the country.
The ruling party executive told his supporters to keep their ears close to the ground as things are very hard across the country and that although president Bio is slow, he is sure (to act).
Therefore since the SLPP does not plan on losing the 2028 election, as they are not going into the election to lose, Kaikai said he is prepared and well-funded to start a war that will be more devastating in scale and magnitude than the 11 year civil war if he loses the election as SLPP flagbearer.
There is widespread speculation among political and civil society activists that since president Bio and the party chairman Prince Harding have severally said the SLPP will not hand power over to the APC, the men are referring to either president Bio seeking a third term or he will hand power over to the next SLPP executive that will be declared as president.
Concerned citizens that spoke to this medium said they fear that Mr Kaikai sees himself as the next SLPP politician to replace president Bio in the scramble for executive power in the ruling SLPP that has taken centre stage in the media. Because Kaikai didn’t mention starting another political party in his viral social media video, he will and plans on running under the banner, blessing and approval of the SLPP ticket.
In the video Kaikai said the SLPP is not going into the 2028 election to lose the office of the president. He warned Sierra Leoneans that if he does not become president in 2028 he will unleash the bloodshed he stated that will take place across the nation resulting from the APC losing the election. This boast he said he had said at the US Embassy, without mentioning the occasion.
The message the people of Sierra Leone are expected to get out of this threat is that the SLPP executive believes that Sierra Leone is definitely heading into a war in 2028 no matter who loses the election: the APC will start a war if they lose and Kaikai and his people will start a war if the SLPP loses.
As the only person in the SLPP that the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces respect because he has the “mind” (heart and courage) necessary to counter any plan of bloodshed by the APC, Kaikai boasted that he and his party supporters are prepared and well-funded to unleash another war in Sierra Leone.
Meanwhile the SLPP executive has distanced the party from the massive bombshell of a statement dropped by their party executive, who appeared calm, collected and jovial in the video. In an immediate press release signed by National Secretary General Umaru Napoleon Koroma, the SLPP executive said the party “strongly and unequivocally condemns such reckless and dangerous statements as it does not represent the views and aspirations of members of the SLPP. Threats of violence and war have no place in a civilised and democratic society and must be unequivocally denounced”.
The SLPP press release went on to say that “comments from individuals like Mr Kadiru Kaikai should have no space within our politics as a nation. In this regard, the leadership of the Sierra Leone People’s Party has resolved to SUSPEND the membership of Mr. Kadiru Kaikai with immediate effect pending the outcome of disciplinary hearing for further action”.
In another swift press statement on the threat from Abdul Kadiru Kaikai to bring war to Sierra Leone, the Independent Commission for Peace and National Cohesion (ICPNC) unequivocally condemned him saying, “Such incendiary rhetoric is entirely unacceptable and stands in stark opposition to the values of peace, unity, and democratic principles that we, as a nation, hold dear.”
The ICPNC said they are deeply troubled by the potential harmful effects that his statement can have on individuals, communities, and society as a whole and stand in solidarity as a commission to unequivocally condemn the statement.
Also commenting on Kaikai’s threat to the nation, the All People’s Congress (APC) Secretary General Lansana Dumbuya said the party will not tolerate or allow Mr Kaikai’s dream to materialise. Dumbuya called for Kaikai’s prosecution and for the Attorney General and law enforcement to prosecute and bring cyber bullying and cyber stalking charges against him.
Meanwhile, in a swift action by the Sierra Leone Police and the Criminal Investigations Department, Chief Abdul Kadiru Kaikai was apprehended and is reportedly going through a thorough investigation.