By Amin Kef Sesay
It indeed came as a utter surprise and then a total shock to the Management and Staff of The Calabash Newspaper to learn that a notorious self-styled dissident living abroad, Gibril Bangura, owning the telephone number +1(614)6577666 is allegedly in the habit of using this newspaper to do photo-shop paste-ups portraying important personalities in an unglamorous manner on the alleged front page of our newspaper and share the defaming front page on different WhatsApp platforms.
He has allegedly done this thrice now with the first portraying the Commissioner of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), Francis Ben Kaifala in a very bad light as a front page lead “ACC Boss Defend Rogue Mendes”, secondly on the 18th January 2021 also changing our front page lead story from “CSOs Urge Parliament to Act Decisively on 2019 Audit Report” to “Abbas Bundu The Father of Corruption” maliciously portraying the Honourable Speaker of Parliament, Dr. Abass Bundu in a very bad light and thirdly the Vice President, Dr. Juldeh Jalloh changing our caption to his “Bio Accused Juldeh of Leaking His Family Corruption to the Press”.
We seriously want to make it abundantly and categorically clear that such malicious front page banner headlines are not coming from this reputable, respected public information medium that subscribes to the principle of respect for the privacy of others but as been mentioned a certain evil minded individual who is bent on a calculated ploy to bring the good name of The Calabash Newspaper to disrepute. As a matter of fact he will not succeed in achieving his aim as we are professionally savvy and determined to counter and expose their nefarious actions.
It is simple to know, the real and fake, as comparisons could be easily made from what we actually published and what is fake.
At this juncture The Calabash Management wants all and sundry to know that it is dissociating itself completely from such disgraceful gutter journalism which can only be interpreted as botched attempts to discredit this trustworthy news medium.
This medium has no axe to grind with the Honourable Speaker of Parliament, Dr. Abass Bundu, the ACC Commissioner Francis Ben Kaifala and the Vice President, Dr. Juldeh Jalloh.
As a matter of fact we do hold them in high esteem as important State figures which do not necessarily mean that if they err in the discharge of their official duties we will not report such as long as we have ascertained that our information is factual.
This individual who is engaged in this nefarious action of misrepresenting our real front page headlines is just exposing his nakedness as he is bent on sowing seeds of discord that could be inimical to national cohesion.
He is a mere coward who is using uncouth clandestine methods to promote his failed political agenda. He is not a real patriot but rather a disorganized mouthpiece of a political party using unconventional methods to push his propaganda and hidden agenda taking advantage of the gullibility of some of the citizenry.
Frankly, the actions of this saboteur has once more brought to the fore how certain people can manipulatively use technology and by extension the social media for all the wrong reasons. But doing so is uncalled for and totally out of context because it just shows how evil minded some people are who are always wishing doom for others and the nation as a whole.
It is the inalienable right of any citizen to pledge allegiance to any political party of his or her choice. But what is expected is to support one’s political party responsibly and refrain from using uncouth methods or channels to oppose.
Unfortunately, the new phenomenon has been for some, especially certain Sierra Leoneans living in the diaspora, to incessantly rain all sort of invectives and use all sort of lies against perceived political opponents.
In as much as we were shocked, however, we remain unperturbed as we are of the conviction that this news medium is a professional news entity that has etched its name in the sands of time. We will not be derailed from accurately informing, educating and entertaining the populace in and out of this country with factual news.
From what was understood, the Police have stated that it had long placed an international arrest warrant for these political miscreants, one of which is Gibril Bangura, who are using the social media to unsuccessfully assassinate the characters of important personalities in this country. For sure their days are numbered.
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