Student Zainab Lamin Kanu left for the residence of her grandmother, Isatu Sesay, in Yele town, Tonkolili District. Zainab Lamin Kanu was asked to answer a call for help and to take care of her sick grandmother, Isatu Sesay.
The grandmother had been ill for a very long period of time in the village. Upon the arrival of Zainab Lamin Kanu in Yele town and seeing the condition of her grandmother, Isatu Sesay, Zainab Kanu requested from her aunt that her grandmother be taken to Freetown for better medical attention.
Sources say, Zainab Kanu’s request was denied by the Soweis (senior members of the Bondo society) on the grounds that the members of the Bondo secret society will not let the sick grandmother go because she is the leader and head of the secret society (Sowie) in the community.
Other Soweis say that their leader Isatu Sesay was undergoing some traditional medical treatments.
After an anxious period of waiting for her recovery by Zainab Lamin Kanu, her grandmother finally passed away in the village.
Information furthered that after Zainab Kanu had lost her mother, who was supposed to have replaced her grandmother as the Sowei leader, she was imposed upon to take up the position.
Sources stated that after the death of the Sowei leader, Zainab Lamin Kanu was taken together with the remains of her grandmother to the Bondo society shrine for some secret ritual ceremony where she witnessed her late grandmother’s corpse decapitated in her presence as part of the ritual ceremony.
After the burial ceremony, the Soweis told Zainab Lamin Kanu’s aunt that she should replace her grandmother as the leader of the Bondo secret society.
Residents in the village intimated that this message was relayed to her by her aunt, to which Zainab Lamin Kanu declined, citing that her faith as a Muslim prevents her from such satanic practices.
One fateful night, when Zainab Kanu was waiting to observe her grandmother’s fortieth day funeral rites, in accordance with the usual practice of religions in the country, a huge group of people including Soweis, stormed their house in the village, entered Zainab’s room, abducted her, and took her to the secret society shrine in the forest for initiation.
Reports say the Soweis then commenced the initiation ceremony, which involved cuttings/markings of her body with an unsterilised knife. She was forced to drink some concoction said to be society medicine. During the process of initiation, she was reportedly tied up to a big stick in the middle of the society bush and tortured.
According to information gathered by this medium, the initiation of Zainab Lamin Kanu went on for quite some time.
Fortunately, sources said, in connivance with Zainab Lamin Kanu’s family member, a member of the society (name withheld) managed to escape with Zainab Kanu through the bush to a spot where Zainab’s family members were patiently waiting for her escape.
They said the Sowei who rescued Zainab Kanu left the society forest and fled to a neighbouring country.
Meanwhile, information said, Zainab Lamin Kanu is nowhere to be found. Rumours indicated that Zainab Lamin Kanu escaped from Sierra Leone on 25 January 2022 to save her life from the hands of the Soweis.