Story compiled and written by Fatmata Morseray
A journey of a young passionate Pastor from 2020 to 2024 has abruptly ended due to threats from a particular Islamic extremist group in Sierra Leone popularly referred to as “Tabliqs”. Wherever this young Pastor may be now or was his life actually cut short by members of this extremist group is readily not known. What is an established fact that this news medium can authoritatively state is that the young enterprising Pastor has stopped his popular Christian evangelism and he has not been seen for the past eight to ten months. The group he has steadfastly built, the Fire Multimedia Empire (FME) has also disappeared and its ardent members all gone either in hiding or have decided to abandon ship in fear of their lives.
Evangelist Michael David Kabia was a popular Christian evangelist with a huge following from his youth peers across the country. Thorough his FME, Pastor Kabia has been moving from community to community and from one District headquarter town to another using youthful voices to preach and spread the Word of God.
Pastor Kabia was admired by young Christians and non-Christians for his frank and bold commentaries with quotes from the Bible on socioeconomic issues affecting their lives and communities. He was seen as “a voice of hope” for the youth because of his admonitions and firing motivational uplifting Biblical commentaries.
These apparent demonstrations of the rights to freedom of speech and to association that were guiding constitutional provisions for the young Pastor and his team, were considered an infringement of those very rights and a surreptitious way of pushing one religion against another religion. The Tabliqs therefore saw Pastor Kabia popularity and strength to attract young men and woman as a threat to the Muslim population here in Sierra Leone. These Tabliqs were now all over the country radicalizing their own group members to consider all forms of preaching by a Christian Pastor, a Church or a group of persons as ‘Haram” which means forbidden. In late 2019, a kind of “Fatwa” similar to the one declared by the former Religious Leader of the Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Koumeni in the 1980s against Sir Salman Rushdi for his book “The satanic verses” was declared against Pastor Kabia and his FME. Even though this declaration was stoutly condemned by the United Council of Imams in Sierra Leone, the Tabliqs were bent on ensuring that their fatwa was strictly adhered to and executed when the opportunity arises for any member against Pastor Kabia or any member of his FME.
Things started becoming sour and life threatening for Pastor Kabia and his FME members when they started getting frequent obstructions of their outreach programs by unknown persons. The FME uses loudspeakers in open spaces to preach and evangelize the Word of God.
The first signal of such obstructions and threats came at the Aberdeen Roundabout where sometime in February 2019 they had assembled to evangelize. Reports state that no sooner had the FME choir started singing praises of the Lord Jesus Christ as the God and Saviour were they rudely obstructed by some unidentified young men and women saying in Krio, the popularly spoken local language in the country, “Wunnu komot na ya. We tire for yeri bot dis wunnu God. For we, na one God we get way na Allah,”-which when loosely translated means-: “All of you get out of here. We are tired of hearing about this your God. For us, there is only one God and that is Allah.” According to eyewitness reports, the scene on that day was not just chaotic but life-threatening because when the police later intervened, the fired teargas and blind bullets indiscriminately such that it was difficult to differentiate the FME members and their assailants.
Pastor Kabia and his evangelist team were also in Koidu City in March 2019, the headquarter town of Kono District on similar mission but again, they met an even stiffer obstruction and the destruction of most of theiur equipment. There, it was the chiefs who met with the FME Team and warned them against what they described as “any form of noise-making without our collective consents.” Through to their words, Pastor Kabia and his team were attacked on the second day just for barely raising the volume of their speakers. Reports state that the Pastor and his scrambled for safety and that they only found a place to assembly when most of them meandered their way through bushes and rough roads to find.
The security and safety of Pastor Kabia and his team reached a frightening peak after the visit of a Muslim Cleric from Tanzania, called Mufti Menk in May 2020. During a popularly advertised public preaching at the National Stadium in Freetown, Mufti Menk used the moment to remind his fellow Muslims about the sanctity in the belief of the Oneness of Allah (God), and denounced any attribute of him that suggests to there are three Gods: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
He told his audience who had overflowed the capacity of the 35 thousand Leones that Allah is one; He has no Parents; and he has no siblings and that they should denounce any religious preaching that attempts to such the trinity of Allah.
It was as if this message of the Mufti was a clarion call for resistance against Pastor Kabia and his team. The Pastor’s wife who he had married legitimately even though she was a Muslim now became confrontational to the Pastor challenging his belief in the trinity and almost showing un compromising stance in whatever that used to be calm and easy-going. The ended up divorcing and the wife’s parents who had earlier acquiesced the relationship support their child adamant behavior to her husband with unprecedented arguments as to which of the two religions: Christianity and Islam, which is right in the sight of Allah (God)
Because of these developments, the erudite and enigmatic young Preacher became schizophrenic and paranoia. He lost his love of his life; he was receiving constant messages of threats to his life from everywhere. He at one point reported the case of threatening remarks to the Central Police Station in Freetown, but because he couldn’t provide tangible evidence and witnesses, the matter was dismissed as a hoax.
This situation continued until when sometime in April 2024, the apartment Pastor Kabia was living was ransacked and partly set ablaze by unidentified persons. Had it not been for his stroke of luck, Pastor Kabia would have caught in the blaze. Some eyewitnesses say he was in the apartment when it went ablaze, while some say he was not. But the question tormenting his now quiet followers is: where is Pastor Kabia?
People are concerned that even the police charged with the responsibility to protect lives and properties cannot afford his protection even though he had made complaints of threats to life to them. However, what is now clear to his huge quiet supporters is that the Pastor’s persecution may have been stepped aside because of political exigency and not for the protection and preservation of his fundamental rights and freedoms. Essentially therefore, even if he remains in hiding in Sierra Leone, the day he surfaces and he is directly targeted by his assailants, it will just be described as another unfortunate incident. Pastor Kabia’s life is by all indications no longer safe in Sierra Leone nor can he be ably protected by the Sierra Leone Police who appear compromised in this situation that has engulfed and almost swallowed up a promising young man who was using the word of God to change youth delinquency and motivate them to righteousness and prosperity through his inspiring and motivational preaching.
We hope and pray that Pastor Michael David Kabia is well and safe somewhere where the dignity of his mind is respected and his life protected.