According to our northern correspondent, Alhaji Lamin BAH a popular youth leader of the main opposition party APC, in its northern stronghold town of Makeni, narrowly escaped death at the hands of ruling party operatives in the company of armed security forces.
Sources say that Alhaji Lamin BAH is a well-known activist of the APC, and his quest for equal treatment and justice against the illegal acts of the government in support of the main opposition party from the government had landed him in trouble with the security forces. It was disclosed that he was among those arrested over the protest of August 10 2022, as he was seen in the crowd calling for justice against the government’s illegal acts of the government such as extrajudicial killings and illegal detentions of members of the APC and also to the address of the prevailing unbearable cost of living of the ordinary citizens.
Alhaji Lamin BAH was accused of being among the ring leaders of that protest by his involvement through community engagements and sensitization, of which it was quelled by the security forces, resulting in the deaths over 13 Sierra Leoneans and 65 Members of the APC were arrested across the country. With police intelligence on the 14th of August he was captured and detained at the Makeni Correctional Centre for about two months.
According to family sources, BAH’s affiliation with the main opposition party is his only crime. It was disclosed that on several occasions security forces had raided his house. They also confirmed that after his detention, Alhaji Lamin BAH had intimated them that he had been tortured and given no access to justice of which after his detention he sorted for medical care.
Alhaji Lamin BAH is said to have participated in the demonstrations of July 18 2020 in Makeni and that of April 30th 2020 in Lunsar, where several youths were gunned down by security forces. Things reached boiling water after the August 10 protest, where he and several of his colleagues were arrested and subjected to the most inhumane treatment. Since then, the government has been clamping down on critical voices, which makes top opposition members arrested and detained on trumped up charges.
Even After his release, family members say that they had come under regular harassment from ruling party youths and security forces, who have turned raiding of their home a routine, backed by death threats.
According to police sources,Alhaji Lamin BAH is being sought after on allegations of mobilizing youths against the government and being a middle man between dissidents and the youths. They declared that he is wanted in connection with his role in the violent protests that have taken place, and described as dangerous.
However, as we go to press the whereabouts of Alhaji Lamin BAH are still unknown since fleeing the Country in February 2023.
