By Foday Moriba Conteh
Various human rights activists in the country have seriously condemned the unlawful and wrongful arrests of young people identified as the real perpetrators of the August 10, 2022 violent protests that erupted in some parts of the country including Freetown, the capital city, as some social media posts have indicated.
However, when this medium decided to undertake a serious investigation into the issue it came out glaringly that in actual fact such false identifications are mainly politically motivated and perpetrated by supporters of the ruling SLPP Government against those considered to be against the political establishment.
What has made the situation become very alarming is the fact that there are certain vigilante groups, said to be made up of supporters of the ruling SLPP Government, going around and clandestinely killing those considered to be diehard supporters of the opposition APC Party.
These frightful extra-judicial killings have even become very fearful and dreadful to an extent that it has created panic in some communities especially when news break out that a fanatic supporter of the APC in the Northern Provincial City of Makeni was identified and shot dead amidst other unconfirmed incidences of similar nature.
The aforementioned Evangelist Samson was a well known, vociferous and ardent supporter of the opposition All People’s Congress (APC) Party, whose members were deemed and accused of being behind the violent protests that claimed the lives of Police Officers and civilians, some said to be innocent.
Evangelist Samson was known for his incisive and acidic criticisms against the governance policies of the ruling SLPP Government and has called on Sierra Leoneans to vote out the SLPP from power simply because of ineptitude and corruption.
Prior to the killing of Evangelist Samson Young people were seen violently protesting as they believe that the economic hardship has become really unbearable and therefore a political change must take place.
Mounting roadblocks, burning tyres and throwing various missiles against the Police, who in return retaliated by firing teargas to disperse the sporadic crowds that were converging or building up from time to time, the situation really got out of hand as the Police started firing live bullets with some fatalities taking place.
An investigation conducted by this medium asserted that one of the ardent supporters of the APC Party, a resident of the Willington City Road community by the name of Alhaji Lansana S. Turay Son was shot dead during the protest. Sources further revealed that the shot was as a result of his father name being linked by some irate youths, believed to belong to the ruling SLPP, as one of the ring leaders of the violent protest that called for the resignation of President Julius Maada Bio.
The desperate group of young irate SLPP supporters was seen violently moving towards Mr. Turay’s house, with some dress in full military uniform holding guns, sticks, machetes with the objective of physically manhandling him in order to teach him a lesson that he should learn to respect the President and Government of the day.
A reliable source intimated to this medium on the condition of anonymity, emphasized how strong the accused person Alhaji Lansana S. Turay is within the Willington City Road community when comes to politics especially within his party and at large.
He said that Alhaji Lansana S. Turay who lost his son and her daughter Mariama Sandra Turay got missing and up till date her whereabout is unknown due to the shock also pass away few days later.
He continued that Mariama Sandra Turay is lucky as she should have been dead by now because, it was stated that on three occasions strange voices have been heard, late at night, close to their family house where they were residing, speaking in low tones but upon thorough investigation in the morning hours the owners could not be identified. However, it has been speculated that the voices belong to those who are on the search for Mariama Sandra Turay who is the only family members that believed to have been alive even though her way about remains unknown.
Although some of those identified, arrested and charged to court for taking part in the August 10th violent protests have been tried in various Magistrate courts, heavily sentenced, there are, however, reports that some people have gone missing for days now.
