It has become clear now that government of President Julius Maada Bio is jittery and alarmed following the gross “security breach” of 26th November as a way to sway their fears have resorted to using former President Ernest Bai Koroma as a human shield.
This is in apparent fear of any provoked insurrection that may arise from what many citizens now see as a deliberate attempt to humiliate and demean the former President.
An observer of the ongoing situation in the country has maintained that government has decided to bring the former President to Freetown and subject him to conditions that include “can’t step out of his house without the expressed permission of the Inspector General of police…” according to the government’s youthful, in-experienced and exuberant Information Minister, Chernor Bah in order to avert any possible public reaction that might lead to a breakdown in law and order in the capital.
The former President indeed appealed for calm and encouraged the public to respect the rule of law.
As outgoing President in 2018, Ernest Koroma superintended an election whose outcome was controversial to warrant his refusal to give power to the opposition, but decided to hand over peacefully, so as to maintain the peace and stability he has ruled over throughout his two terms as President.
He is now being roped in on yet unsubstantiated allegations of his complicity in an egregious act of attempting to overthrow an elected government.
As of last Friday when he undeniably respected a police invitation to be questioned in relation to the said egregious act, he has been very compliant, but given an already premeditated plan to humiliate the former President, he has of late become an object of controversy as to whether he is under house arrest or not.
although his lead lawyer, Joseph Fitzgerald Kamara(JFK) insists that he is not aware of his client being placed under any such restriction, a post by the minister is being bandied around by government surrogates to give it authentic meaning.
The Sierra Leone Police that is handling the questioning of the former President remain tight lipped on the matter.
The former President’s lead lawyer in an interview with Voice of America said he was not aware of any restrictive conditions placed on his client to suggest a house arrest and dismissed claims that up to the last interview on Saturday no evidence had been put forward against the former president.
But, one cannot just shove aside this possibility of evidence against the former President which are largely likely to be circumstantial and the seeming yet unending questioning process could be aimed at establishing alibis from which former President Koroma could then be charged.
The President, Julius Maada Bio had already set the stage for such a possibility given his hasty conclusion on the opposition’s alleged involvement in the November 26th fiasco as he reported earlier to the visiting ECOWAS delegation the day after the incident, and by his indication during his last national broadcast on the incident when he asserted: “…Therefore, let all be rest assured that we will follow the evidence wherever it leads us, and all those found culpable, no matter their status, shall be held fully to account for their actions within the confines of the law whilst at the same time also recognising the wider demands of justice and freedom.”
But, the President has seemingly prejudiced the investigation and provided a clear roadmap for the Sierra Leone Police investigators as to who to target by openly implicating the opposition APC although in his recent national broadcast he appeared to be backtracking from that folly:
“The attempted coup will, therefore, be dealt with by my Government purely as a law-and-order issue, not a political, tribal or religious matter.” Interestingly, most of those declared wanted by the police are North-Weasterners and purported to be affiliates or associates of the opposition APC party and the former President.
ThE calculated political ploy is now being trumpeted by Fascist SLPPs on various social media handles aimed at skewing public and international opinion into believing that indeed the former President and his political party have a hand in this choreographed events that was first described as “a security breach” which a day later reframed as “an attempted coup.”.
For majority of Sierra Leoneans, his invitation and subsequent subjection to police interrogations is aimed at humiliating him and of course to ultimately get him out of President Bio’s nightmarish hallucinations about him.
Since 2018 following the rogue assumption of power by President Bio and his Paopaist elements in the SLPP, every aspect of their failure and ineptitude in governance has been blamed on Ernest Bai Koroma and the APC.
When there was fuel shortage and price hike sometime last year, his wife, Fatima Jabbie-Bio attributed it to APC party suggesting that they owned all the fuel stations in the country.
When traders closed down their shops because of high taxes, it was blamed on the opposition APC party; the one-sided investigation into the August 10, 2022 protest was skewed and blamed on the opposition APC party; and lots more.
President Julius Maada Bio and his government have focused more energy trying to silence the opposition than they have given to uplift the conditions of life of Sierra Leoneans.
This is what has nurtured the widespread disgruntlement and frustration across the board therby hieghtening social tension in the country.
Unfortunately for the President, he has been brainwashed since he controversially came to power in 2018 into believing that the former President’s popularity with the people of Sierra Leone and his activeness in the body politique of his APC party was undermining his status.
This is what has been hunting President Bio’s psyche causing him to lose focus on what he was said to have been elected to do for the people and country.
Because as a government, they are very uncertain about what could happen next following the attack on the state armoury and the alleged disappearance of unquantifiable arms and ammunition, the only step to forestall another security breach is to bring in this very popular and caring former President in the capital as shield.
However, the public remains concerned over the former President’s status as they look forward to a speedy conclusion of the investigation.