By Elijah Gbani
The story of Abdulai Kalokoh, a 20-year-old Sierra Leonean, is one of desperation, misfortune, and survival. His troubled journey—from a tragic car accident to an unjust entanglement in Sierra Leone’s security crisis—now leaves him facing grave risks should he be forced to return to his country.
On 14th February, 2020, Abdulai was involved in a fatal car accident in Freetown while driving an unregistered vehicle. The accident claimed lives, and though he was a young, inexperienced driver, he was swiftly arrested, charged, and sentenced to a long prison term at the Pademba Road Maximum Correctional Centre.
His fate took a darker turn on 29th April, 2020, during Sierra Leone’s infamous prison break triggered by coup plotters. Amid the chaos, hundreds of inmates fled, and Abdulai was among them. Reports suggest that, in his frantic bid for freedom, he was temporarily caught in the orbit of the marauding coupists but later broke away from them.
When calm returned and many inmates surrendered themselves back into custody, Abdulai remained missing. Police sources later revealed he had been spotted in hiding by security officers. Since then, the Sierra Leone Police have declared him a fugitive—a label that carries life-threatening consequences in a country where fugitives are often subjected to harsh reprisals, arbitrary detention, and even extrajudicial treatment.
Abdulai’s situation places him in extreme danger. Branded both as an escapee and an alleged collaborator with coupists, he risks persecution and violence if returned. In Sierra Leone’s highly charged political climate, such accusations often override due process, leaving young men like Abdulai vulnerable to state retribution, mob justice, and indefinite detention without fair trial guarantees.
Friends and advocates of Abdulai stress that he is not a hardened criminal but a victim of circumstance—a young man who made mistakes and was trapped by events far larger than himself. Today, he lives in constant fear, unable to return to his homeland without risking his life.
Wherever Abdulai may be at the moment, family members and friends are appealing for his survival and protection from being returned to his native Sierra Leone on fear that he will be subjected to inhuman treatment without due regard to his fundamental rights and that he could even face death in the hands of his prisoners for haven first escaped from their custody.
This is what makes Abdulai Kalokoh’s case very precarious.
For Abdulai to return to Sierra Leone surely will expose him to persecution, inhumane treatment, and possibly death.
At just 20 years old, Abdulai deserves the chance to rebuild his life in safety, away from the shadows of political instability and repressive policing.