Over APC Bye-Election… Police Unleash Terror
OSD officers are reported to have raided the village Rochen Kamandaao in the Tonkolili District terrorizing the residents and carting away items worth millions of Leones including Le30 million which they are said to have looted from the villagers.
Eyewitness accounts revealed that the ugly incident took place on Friday, June 7 when a team of desperate personnel from the Operations Support Division (OSD) breezed into the village to crack down on people suspected of planting and trafficking Marijuana.
The eyewitness reports disclosed that the OSD officers were arresting people at random and took away over twenty people whose whereabouts remain unknown.
The Mile 91 police division under which the village falls has denied knowledge of the arrests but said the apprehended people might have been detained in Freetown from where the OSD came and made the arrests.
Our investigation has revealed the police raid in the village has a political undertone as the raided village is the home of John Sallu Gbla, the independent candidate who recently defected from the All Peoples Congress (APC) after losing the party symbol and on whose behalf the party supporters in Mile 91 recently rioted and burnt down the portrait of President Ernest Bai Koroma.
Residents of the village accused the police of firing indiscriminately causing the people to flee helter skelter to save their precious lives. Gbla’s supporters are reported to have become victims of constant police harassment and suppression to deter them from voting for him during the upcoming bye-election for Constituency 62 slated for June 29 this year.
Meanwhile, this press has gathered that the APC government recently dispatched a high-powered delegation to persuade John Gbla to step down for the party’s candidate, Aaron Koroma, arguing that if he (Gbla) is fortunate to win the bye-election as an independent candidate, it will bring a big shame to the party and the opposition Sierra Leone Peoples Party may use that as trump card and an effective campaign tool.
By Dennis Jones
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