Given the spate of concerns raised at both local and international levels over the presence of Europe’s most wanted Drug Lord and Kingpin, Jos Leijdekkers within the jurisdiction of Sierra Leone and the acrid controversy of his presence around no less a person but His Excellency the President and Fountain of Honour, Julius Maada Wonie Bio at his home village of Tihun, while on a private visit during the past Yuletide holidays, is to every Sierra Leonean, a threat to our collective security.
Sierra Leoneans at home and abroad are feeling embarrassed by the trending developments around the presence of this Drug Lord, who, it is claimed, is a fugitive from Holland and a wanted man by various jurisdictions within the European Union.
Since the video posted by the First Lady of that Tihun Church congregation in which she and her husband, President Bio and other family members were in attendance was during the festive season captured and analysed by Intelligence Units of the various European nations and this Drug Lord and fugitive was identified, our beloved Sierra Leone is being popularized all over the world now, not for any good reason but for the wrong of providing sanctuary to an international criminal.
In it immediate response to this international embarrassment, the Government of Sierra Leone through the Ministry of Information and Civic Education (MoICE) on 26th January issued a press statement for immediate release that attempted to exonerate the President of having knowledge of the presence of this Kingpin either in the church where the fugitive was seating on the second pew after the President, nor of his being in the country. The MoICE release attempted to condition the minds and thinking of Sierra Leoneans and the wider world that during the festive season, “the President attended numerous family events and public gatherings, where photographs were taken with attendees” and that, “the President has no knowledge of the identity and the issues detailed in the reports about the individual in question”-that individual being, Jos Leijdekkers who was romantically seated with the daughter of the President, Agnes Bio.
The release further stated that “the Government of Sierra Leone has not received any communication from any country or institution regarding this Jos Leijdekkers” and informed that the Government has instituted “a thorough investigation” to establish the identity and the alleged activities of the said individual in the country.
Granted that the Government has instituted this “thorough investigation,” but the fear we as citizens are now nurturing is whether in the course of this “thorough investigation” Jos Leijdekkers will not disappear? The concern stems from the fact that Government happens to be still in doubt as to the identity and activities of this individual when it is an established fact, the very individual has an intimate relationship with one of the President’s daughters, Agnes Bio. How did Jos Leijdekkers escape from the Dutch authorities must be a factor of interest of the investigation, but to ascertain how he metamorphosed his being into Sierra Leone bypassing the country’s entire security and intelligence systems. We are made to understand that Leijdekkers has multiple passports with different identities that renders make him elusive to weak, corruptible and inefficient immigration intelligences like ours in Sierra Leone.
We have heard the Minister of Information and Civic Education, Chernor Bah at yesterday’s press conference emphasizing that the Government of Sierra Leone is ready to cooperate with any country or institution regarding the said individual on the proviso that the Government receives a formal communication from such country or institution for the extradition of the individual. He attempted to exorcise Sierra Leone’s sovereignty and territorial jurisdictional independence to suggest that if any such request for the extradition of Jos Leijdekkers is received, Sierra Leone will treat such a request in the face of her own laws as they relate to international jurisdictional best practices to determine the veracity of the extradition request.
By that sentiment expressed by the Government through the Minister of Information and Civic Education, Chernor Bah, we stand to be more apprehensive and indeed sceptical whether the Government will truly comply with any such extradition request.
Our belief is that the Government will try fight against what has now become a Cocaine-Wash of the country’s international image and integrity to attempt to either let go Jos Leijdekkers off the hook in some classic wild-west style escape from the country and kind of submit an alibi in the defence of the President and the country’s image.
Minister Bah said that on the advice of the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, he cited Sierra Leone’s Extradition Act of 1974, noting that any request for extradition of Leijdekkers would be treated in the context of Sierra Leone’s laws.
In the face of all these jigsaws, the Government should produce the man, the individual who was pictured in church in Tihun, where the President and the First Lady and other family members were in attendance so that when a request for extradition is formally made to the Government of Sierra Leone, it will not beat another dust of controversies and in-exactitudes.
We think that by now, Jos Leijdekkers should be in some confinement and his travel documents impounded, pending the completion of the Government sanctioned investigation. On behalf of the people of Sierra Leone, Nightwatch Newspaper is demanding total transparency and a full accountable report on this issue of Jos Leijdekkers, his relationship with Agnes Bio; how he came to be around the President during his festive family events; why did First Lady Fatima Jabbie Bio released that video and other related steel photos that depicted Jos Leijdekkers.
On behalf of the People of Sierra Leone, the Nightwatch Newspaper will like to ask whether the thorough investigation of the Government of Sierra Leone will include probing into how Jos Leijdekkers happened to be in the entourage of the President and his family members to Tihun in the first place and how he happened to be seated that closer to the President alongside the President’s daughter, Agnes Bio? The of Sierra Leone would like to know who may have given the Dutch guy the Special Status to be that close to the President and his wife, when it is clearly established by protocol that no ordinary person is allowed that closer to the Commander-in-Chief of the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces if he or she is not under special clearance. Jos Leijdekkers’ being where he is shown in those licked videos and photographs could not have been by magic, it must have had the acquiescence of the Commander of the Close Protection Security outfit to the President.
Sierra Leoneans are getting tired by the shame and disgrace these unfolding cocaine and related drug sagas are causing to their country’s image. So much of their taxpayer money have been spent in the name of rebranding the country’s image in the international scene since President came into power, But it now would appear as if those huge sums of money have just gone down the drain in the face of the cacophony of drug scandals that have so conspicuously overshadowed that image rebranding agenda.
Sierra Leoneans are therefore demanding: Where is Jos Leijdekkers?