By Fatmata Jengbe
Various human rights activists in the country have seriously condemned the unlawful and wrongful arrests of young people identified as the real perpetrators of various violent protests that have 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.
It was against such a backdrop that a resident of Lunsar, Port Loko District, Northern Sierra Leone, by the name of Sheik Umar Sesay, who is also a key member of “Luv Salone en Lef Bad Heart,” a non-political but influential group perceived as a politically charged group, with leaning to the main opposition All People’s Congress (APC) Party, by the Sierra Leonean Government and the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) party, was accused as being one of the leaders of the violent protest calling for President Julius Maada Bio’s resignation.
During our investigation it was revealed that Sheik Umar Sesay, having completed his schooling at the A.D. Wurie Junior and Secondary School, ventured into a small business dealing with cell phones as well as operating a phone charging station in Freetown, with his business kiosk becoming the hub where discussions took place among young people on sensitive political Sierra Leonean issues.
He became acquainted with the controversial and opposition labeled Adebayor, a Sierra Leonean residing in the Netherlands, who considers himself an activist, whose messages resonated strongly with many, transcending political affiliations.
Adebayor’s advocacy for social and political reform led to the formation of “Luv Salone en Lef Bad Heart,” a non-political but influential group perceived as politically charged by the Sierra Leonean Government and ruling SLPP party.
Sheik Umar Sesay’s involvement with the “Luv Salone” Movement overwhelmed him leading him to organizing meetings, protests, and educational campaigns to advocate for political transformation. However, this activism led to grave consequences, with the group facing targeted persecution. Some of its members were extrajudicial and clandestinely exterminated forcing other to secretly convene meetings.
In June 2022, planning a peaceful protest, Sesay anticipated police resistance and during the demonstration, law enforcement authorities violently attacked and arrested numerous participants. Sesay was among those detained and endured severe maltreatment at a facility called “Benghazi.”
He faced interrogations, torture, and months of confinement in appalling conditions, subjected to beatings and coerced confessions.
His ordeal reached a grim pinnacle, when an officer stabbed him during a routine beating. Escaping from the hospital amidst chaos following a motor accident, Sesay sought refuge in Conakry, Guinea with a warrant of arrest hanging over his head and widespread circulation of his photographs were made with calls for information that will lead to his arrest.
As at this material moment if seen and arrested there is the greater likelihood that he will either be arrested, charged to court for subversive activities with him being possibly sent to life imprisonment, solitary confinement or just disappear surreptitiously from the face of the earth in the hands of political mobs through slow poisoning or clandestine means.
As we go to Press it is not certain as to whether Sheik Umar Sesay is still in Conakry, Guinea or not as for now his whereabouts remains unknown.
