By Foday Moriba Conteh
During a well-attended press conference held on Friday 3rd December, 2021 at the Tabital Pulaaku International Sierra Leone Chapter Head Office on Adelaide Street in Freetown, where members raised concerns over the cancellation of its Kenema branch launching by the Sierra Leone Police on allegation of orders from above.
Speaking at the press conference, the Strategic Adviser to the President of the organization, Alhaji Tanue Jalloh said that on the 28th November, 2021, Tabital Pulaaku International-Sierra Leone Chapter, Kenema branch decided to officially launch its branch in that part of the country after officially receiving Police Clearance on the 23rdNovember 2021.
He added that it was a shock for their members to be told on the eve of the event, 27th November 2021, that their Police Clearance had been revoked and that the event can no longer hold, noting that upon further questioning by their group, Civil Society activists and journalists in Kenema, it was further mentioned that it was orders from above because their gathering was tagged as APC in nature of which he maintained that 16 of their 18 Executive members in Kenema district are SLPP members, and some are members of the party’s Executive in Kenema.
“Upon hearing that, the Police further alleged that the meeting was cancelled on the directive of the Fula Tribal Authority in Freetown and the Fula Progressive Union (FPU) on the allegations that the gathering is bent on dividing the Fulas in the country,” he revealed.
Alhaji Tanue Jalloh went further to intimate that this is not the first time that an activity organized by Tabital Pulaaku has been disrupted by the State security apparatus in the name of “orders from above”, as same was done few months back in Makeni.
He stated that Tabital Pulaaku International/SL Chapter firmly believes in the unity and progress of the Fulas and it is in this regard that the organization has as its motto “Education, Animal Husbandry and Agriculture.”
“In furtherance of this objective, Tabital Pulaaku International/SL Chapter during the last academic year dished out 78 undergraduate scholarships to underprivileged and deserving students in Kailahun, Bo, Bombali and Western area. This year, we are in the process of giving 10 scholarships each to Kenema, Kono, Tonkolili, Kambia, Port Loko and further paying again for the successful 78 undergraduates last year. Is this the hallmarks of an organization that is bent on dividing the Fulas?” he rhetorically asked.
The Strategic Adviser pointed out that Tabital Pulaaku International/SL Chapter is a legally registered charitable organization operating within the territorial boundaries of Sierra Leone and it is apolitical and anti-discriminatory, and is therefore at loss as to why in a country governed by law and where the constitution is the supreme law of the land, people who decided to assemble freely in a meeting to discuss mundane everyday issues could be stopped by law enforcement officers on the say so of nameless individuals under the pretext of orders from above?
Earlier, the Information/Communication Secretary of the Tabital Pulaaku International Sierra Leone Chapter, Abdulai Lama Jalloh, gave a brief synopsis of the organization stating how it was formed by like-minded Fula stakeholders like the Lamido of Adamawa State in Nigeria, Alhaji Dr. Mohammed Barkindo, the wife of the then Malian President Alpha Oumar Konare and Fula figures in Cameroun and Senegal.
Abdulai Lama Jalloh said that Fulas, the world over, are known for their pastoral life stating that it is a way of life for the Fulas and all other things in life revolve around that.
He continued by stating that their culture, traditions, norms and values are interwoven around a pastoral life style disclosing that their way of life is collectively referred to as Pulaaku which refers to their religious beliefs, honesty, humility and steadfastness and perseverance.
“In order to preserve these values and in order for our valued culture and traditions not to be swept under the carpet by the relentless drive of western culture and modernism, the founders thought it fit to start Tabital Pulaaku which literally means, “sustaining our cherished culture and traditions.”
“Tabital Pulaaku International is all over West Africa and beyond in Sudan, Algeria, Europe, North America and parts of Asia. It came to Sierra Leone few years ago,” he disclosed.
