By Lamina Sankoh
The whereabouts of fifty-year old Abubakar Sidique Bah since he reportedly escaped from police custody on 30th May, 2016 following his arrest by security agents at his home in central Freetown is still a worry to his family and friends.
They have not concluded yet as to whether the worse has happened to him, but the police are saying that he mysteriously escaped from their custody in one of their detention centers in the capital. No further statement or prove of his escape has been clearly explained to his family who remain very apprehensive and worried that he has disappeared for good.
In the 1990s when the rebel war was ravaging Sierra Leone, Abubakar was captured by elements of the RUF rebels and was in their fold until the war ended in 2002 when he was able to return to his family following a general amnesty declared by the Government.
The RUF was a rebel outfit mostly comprised of Sierra Leoneans and some mercenaries from the West Africa subregion.
Abubakar Sidique Bah must have been radicalized during his operations with the RUF and so years after when he appeared to have been rehabilitated by a Government Disarmament and Rehabilitation Programme, Abubakar took up to civil rights activism and was an active member of a Movement with the acronym RUFP.
He took up campaigns to raise awareness across the country especially in rural communities on why the war broke out in the country. They raised the consciousness of citizens about their fundamental and constitutional rights, their obligations and the social responsibility of Government to ensure the free, fair and equitable dispensation of these rights.
They educated the masses about the Social Contract Theory, which empowered his compatriots with the knowledge of the obligations of their Government in ensuring the actualization of their rights for example, rights to education, medical care, water, freedom of speech, a free and fair justice system and equal rights, among several human rights issues including their freedom from arbitrary arrests, which is a common phenomenon in Sierra Leone especially of citizens perceived by Government and its agencies as non-conformists.
As he advocated and conscientized the grassroots from 2000 to 2016, Abubakar gained popularity among the common people, mostly uneducated citizens.
But he began to also fall out with some senior police officers who started accusing him of brewing another rebellion because of his activities in these vulnerable communities which gave an indication that he was mobilizing the people to rise up against the Government.
He was arrested and detained a couple of times and would be released without charge. But the situation about his safety reached a crushing point in May 2016. His unfriendly encounters with the police became frequent and very threatening to his wellbeing. He was arrested in January of that year and detained for a month without charge. His colleagues, fearing the increased tension and reprisals directed at their Movement, abandoned the program and when Abubakar was released later on, he had no one to work with.
But he didn’t give up. He continued his one-man campaign. He was again arrested for causing a group of youths in a village about 25 miles from Freetown to obstruct the police from arresting their colleague without an arrest warrant, thanks to Abubakar’s basic education and awareness raising on their basic rights.
Abubakar was arrested in connection with that incident and threatened with a charge of plotting an insurrection for which, if convicted, he would have gone down for life imprisonment. He was under police lock and key awaiting to be be charged when on 30th May, 2016 his family was informed by the police that Abubakar Sidique Bah has mysteriously disappeared from their custody.
The family are still worried and concerned about Abubakar’s safety if he should surface again in Sierra Leone giving that he already has a pending police charge against him. He is bound to face further serious charges in addition to the initial police charge against him.
Media investigations have indicated that the police is still on the lookout for Abubakar and according to anonymous family sources, known family members and associates of Abubakar are under constant surveillance by secret service personnel, all aimed at getting information that can lead to his arrest.
In May 2020, the police reportedly raided the house in the east end of the capital where Abubakar’s family had gone to seek refuge since he disappeared. Indications are that the action of the police was instigated by intelligence report that Abubakar was refuging in the house. The shock from that midnight raid and other previous acts of intimidation and harassments had since sent his wife and children parking away from the city to some remote settlements in the countryside.
This reporter notes with concern that Abubakar is still a highly wanted person by the police because of the manner of his escape which the institution is still grappling with how it was possible.