Forcefully Undergoing Initiation… Samura Narrowly Escapes Death From Secret Society Members

Alusine Samura

By Abdulrahman Kamara

Reports reaching this medium revealed that a 25 year old young man, Alusine Samura, living in Wellington, Eastern Freetown, narrowly escaped death from members of a secret society in his father’s village at Kasassie, Kamakwie in the northern part of Sierra Leone, whilst attending to his father, who was gravely sick in the village.

According to our source and family members, Alusine’s father was gravely sick and he was alerted about his condition in September 2019. He was advised by his uncle to take his father for medical treatment in Freetown. It was also disclosed that this venture had a bottleneck, as the father was being given traditional treatment by members of the secret society (Gbangbani Secret Society-a male secret society mainly in Northern Sierra Leone), especially as the father occupied the Leadership position in the society. The society refused to allow Alusine to take his father to Freetown, on the grounds that he is a very senior man in the society and that the said ailment is traditional and not contemporary medicine (Western Medicine). This was communicated to the family and an agreement reached.

Unfortunately, the father died during the said traditional treatment. The problems of Alusine then began. He was made to witness the traditional burial and all the rituals involved, after which, he was then told that he will have to take his father’s place in the society, as tradition  demands, much to his dislike. As there were indications that Alusine will flee the village, especially as he had made his displeasure known, members of the secret society then came to the house of his uncle, where he was staying and forcefully took him to the society shrine for initiation.

Fate was on his side, as his uncle, who was also a member of the same secret society, was opposed to his membership and supportive of Alusine’s stance. Sources further disclosed that whilst in the society bush, the poor young man was subjected to the most inhuman treatment, all in the name of initiation. It was also revealed that on one fateful day, his uncle and Alusine were on a mission to hunt animals in the near-by forest and they both used the opportunity to escape, when they discovered that the attention of the other hunters were focused on an animal that they had shot. Making their escape, they were chased and both Alusine and his uncle managed to escape from the forest and arrived at a village after two days in the forest running for their lives. They then boarded a taxi and left for the Liberian capital, Monrovia in November 2019.

According to our source, Alusine and his uncle spent two days in the Liberian capital and heard of frantic moves being made, including the presence of some society members at the border crossing point, attempting to cross the border in hot pursuit of both men. It was also disclosed that both men then disappeared and their whereabouts are not known.

Family sources say that the penalty of disobeying the demands of the society, was death, especially as Alusine had been taken to the society bush and had seen what is going on there. Family members further explained that they are constantly under threat from the secret society members to show where their son and uncle are. They could not go to the police, because this is a secret society matter and many are members of secret societies in the country. They could not complain to even the Paramount Chief, who is also a staunch member of the society.

The Gbangbani Secret Society is one of the most feared male secret society in Sierra Leone and some of the country’s leaders are also part of the society. They are believed to practice rigorous traditional rituals and there are reports, undocumented, of death of initiates in the society bush. Human Rights activists dare not venture into such matters for fear of their lives.

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