Hilton Fyle Rightly Found Out the True Two-Tongue and Crappy Politician Victor Foh 23 Years Ago
By Abu Shaw in London (03/05/2023)
Veteran journalist and broadcaster Hilton Ebenezer Fyle was spot on when he described Victor Foh as a butterfly, hypocrite, and two-tongue politician.
The description of one of Sierra Leone’s politicians Victor Bockarie Foh by Sierra Leone’s most famous broadcast journalist Hilton Fyle of the BBC Network Africa fame was made in 1998 during the country’s bloody civil war that claimed the lives of thousands of Sierra Leoneans and the destruction of countless properties worth millions of US dollars around the nation by different rebel factions and the Armed Forces of the Sierra Leone Military. Twenty-three years ago, inside Cell 4, Blyden House at the notorious Pademba Road Prisons was the scene where this correct description of Victor Foh was made by the fearless and visionary Hilton Fyle in the presence of Abu Shaw. I vividly remember that awful day in the dark and filthy room of Cell 4, on the ground floor of Blyden House where we were locked up by the autocratic SLPP regime of President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah for ridiculous charges ranging from Collaborator to Treason after my sojourn with the Expo Times newspaper as Production Manager. (Photo: The great broadcaster Hilton Fyle).
Both Hilton Fyle and Victor Foh were also on ridiculous Treason Charges while I was on a Collaborator charge. We were four in number housed in Cell 4, including a young Sierra Leone soldier called Stallone. We were the youngest in Cell 4. Frankly, I learned a lot from the two highly experienced elder statesmen in Hilton Fyle and Victor Foh whose daily brainstorming on local and national, and international issues served as the daily ‘Classroom Lecture’ in Cell 4. It was a privilege to be in their presence in those dark 10 months in 1998. Their brainstorming often lead to diverse views as each one believed he had superior knowledge on certain topics than the other. The educational rivalry was fierce at times between the two great men, a politician of long-standing experience and a journalist of long-standing national and international repute. As a journalist myself, I was playing neutral in the circumstances but I learned a lot from big brother Hilton Fyle telling me about his sojourn in the BBC Africa Service Bush House London. (Photo: In Kono, Victor Foh flanked by Fatima Jabbe Bio aka Mob Justice, and Dr Kandeh Yumkella, another selfish politician).
Hilton Fyle was always frank with his good and bad times as a BBC Network presenter for 22 years. He told me about the famous Robin Whyte, the BBC presenter of international reputation, and went further to describe him as a ‘Racist’. Hilton Fyle reminisced about his good times with the late Reggae star Bob Marley in an interview he had live on the Network Africa programme. Hilton also touched on his meeting with the late Nigerian tycoon Chief Mashood Abiola and his Chieftaincy award given to him in Nigeria. Hilton introduced me to the popular UK television show called East Enders, which I enjoyed in later years when I found myself in exile in the United Kingdom. But one significant occurrence in Cell 4, was the description of Victor Foh by Hilton Fyle as a ‘Crap’ and Two-Tongue politician’. “Bobor, nor menam, nar hypocrite,” Hilton Fyke would often tell me about Victor Foh. (In English interpretation, it means ‘Boy, do not mind him. He is a hypocrite). In those dark days, when my priority was to gain freedom from incarceration, I gave little thought to what Hilton Fyle was saying about Victor Foh. Victor Foh often prides himself as an expert in the Sierra Leone Constitution as he often bluffed that he had crammed the whole Constitution word for word. Victor Foh was very optimistic that one day we will take power. “I dreamt it Bakar,” he reassured me one morning.
Decades later, I have come to the conclusion that big brother Hilton Fyle was right about the chameleonic Victor Foh. From my own experience in Freedom, I interacted with big brother Victor Foh many times in 2011 when I visited Sierra Leone. It was the first time we met after our ordeal in Cell 4, Blyden House. As the National Secretary General of the APC party, we talked briefly about our incarceration behind bars, and he also reminded me about us taking power one day. I told him I vividly remember that reassurance in Cell 4. I told him I have returned to Sierra Leone to contribute in my own small to national development. Victor Foh asked: “Have you met HE? No, I’ve not met President Koroma yet. “I will take you to him,” Victor Foh promised. Victor Foh’s promise never materialised even though we kept in touch for nearly eight months in Sierra Leone. I only returned to the UK later in 2011 because of very pressing family issues in London. That was after a brief but remarkable sojourn as Editor of the awarding winning Awareness Times newspaper in Freetown. When Victor Foh was shipped to China as Sierra Leone’s Ambassador, we got in touch again, and as Vice President, we were in constant touch as well in London. Interestingly, since that promise, Victor Foh had not lived up to expectations until APC lost power in 2018. I cannot say big brother Victor Foh is a liar but frankly, he is very economical with the truth. (Photo: Victor Foh as Ambassador to China under President Koroma).
Fast forward, Mr Victor Foh’s latest alliance with President Bio’s SLPP regime, officially considered the most barbaric in Sierra Leone’s history, Hilton Fyle’s description of Victor Foh as a two-tongue has come to fruition. This week, Victor Foh ranted his mouth against the APC, the very party that made him an important politician in Sierra Leone. The APC helped Victor Foh enrich himself and became a household name for various reasons. Now, the hypocrite Victor Foh who told 98.1 FM radio a few months ago that he has resigned from active politics, has joined President Bio in Kono on Monday, May 1, 2023, for selfish reasons. Hear the hypocrisy of Victor Foh and what he said about the APC government and President Ernest Koroma when he was appointed as Vice President to succeed Alhaji Sam Sumana. Victor Foh praised the APC on the day he was offered the vice presidency job on a 98.1 radio interview: “I have humbled myself to say thank you, sir, Mr President, thank you for the All Peoples Congress. This appointment is not for me Victor Foh, it is for you the party, (Applause). The All Peoples Congress party is a party that appreciates service that appreciates loyalty and devotion. The All Peoples Congress party does not believe in tribalism, (Applause).
“The All Peoples Congress believes in national cohesion. I spoke to you as your Vice President today I am coming from Jimmy Gbagbo in the Bo District, (Applause). I am a full-blown Mende man. I am here enjoying the number two position in this part of national cohesion. This is a demonstration to all other political parties when you work for the APC you have your payback time. We are a mass party. We have a broad membership. I am sure not everybody has earned his or her pay, but please be patient. And continue to be loyal and give your best service to the President and the APC party,” Victor Foh noted. Victor Foh’s Kono declaration this week has not come as a surprise considering his double standard and hypocrisy in politics. For Victor Foh to say in Kono during his declaration to the SLPP this week that the APC party is tribalistic and corrupt, shows how big brother Hilton Fyle was spot on about Victor Foh’s character. Victor Foh has proved to be an ingrate and crook politician of the highest order. Victor Foh’s exploit in Kono has reminded me of the prophecy of the great media guru Hilton Fyle who saw the true colours of Victor Foh nearly twenty-three years ago inside Cell 4, Blyden House Pademba Road Prisons. Even for President Bio to accept the likes of traitorous Victor Foh explains why President Bio himself is a corrupt and bad leader. Well done Hilton Fyle for discovering the true deceptive Victor Foh decades ago. The great Hilton Fyle served the BBC for 22 years before he retired to set up his 123 newspaper and television in Sierra Leone.
