On December 22, 2011 Cocorioko left the door open that unpredictable U.S. could still offer Maada Bio a visa, though he was banned from entering the country
Unless they are men and women who do not understand what they read, Sierra Leone People’s Party ( SLPP ) zealots were never told by this newspaper that their presidential candidate, Maada Bio will never be granted a visa to enter the U.S. What we said was that Mr. Bio was banned from entering the country BUT we then said that it was possible that the U.S. authorities would still grant Bio a visa to avoid being perceived as interferring in the internal affairs of Sierra Leone. Wehowever then said that whether he was granted visa or not, it will not matter because Sierra Leone’s politics is in Sierra Leone, not in the U.S. The voters are in Sierra Leone, not in America. This posture is consistent with our editorial yesterday, titled : Maada Bio to bring his lies, false promises and spirit of impunity to the U.S, but why should anybody care ?.
We are a consistent newspaper and do not flip-flop with our beliefs. You may not like our beliefs but we are always consistent . The thrust of our articles on December 22 and yesterday was that it would not matter if the unpredictable U.S. gave Bio a visa. President Koroma will still win the 2012 elections. So SLPP supporters can even declare a one-month holiday to celebrate the U.S. visa for Maada Bio. To us, that has never been the issue .Our point has always been that whether Bio comes to the U.S. or not, President Koroma will defeat him in the November elections.
READ WHAT WE SAID ON DECEMBER 22, 2011. WATCH THE HIGHLIGHTED PARAGRAPHS : AND ALSO READ WHAT WE SAID YESTERDAY FURTHER BELOW :
SLPP newspapers make lying a creative art in Sierra Leone
Hold on tightly to your seat. This may blow you off your seat and cast you to the ground. The Sierra Leone People’s Party ( SLPP ) newspapers have done it again . In this day and age of advanced communication technology,when nothing under the sun is hidden any longer and when you could be resting in your living room watching TV or surfing the net with your laptop or IPAD and somebody thousands of miles away could horn in on your privacy and capture your photo live by satellite , SLPP presidential candidates are visiting the UK and the U.S without one soul on earth knowing about it.
Last week, it was the GLOBAL TIMES lying through its teeth that the UN had warned the All People’s Congress ( APC ) Government for the media attacks on the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative, Mr. Michael Von Schullenberg, as if the UN man is a sacred cow in a democratic country with some impudent newspapers that heap obscenities even on the Head of State and Fountain of Honour , President Ernest Koroma —-a UN that should in fact be upholding press freedom, one of its guiding principles ! ! The SLPP journalists who publish these stories really underrate the intelligence and thinking faculties of the Sierra Leonean .They must think that Sierra Leoneans are really, really dumb. How can the UN warn a sovereign country like Sierra Leone for an internal matter when Mr. Schullenberg serves in the country at the pleasure of the government and people of a sovereign nation ?
AKPALAJIBO ! ! ! THESE UNITY NEWSPAPER HEADLINES ARE BOLD-FACED LIES
The dust over that lie had hardly settled when, as if not to be outdone, another SLPP newspaper, UNITY , surfaced with its own lie ! ! ! In a front page report yesterday, UNITY was not even ashamed to lie that their presidential candidate Maada Bio had made APC Propagandists bow their head in shame as he and his running mate , Kadi Sesay, had just visited the UK and the USA. The question that anybody living in the UK and the USA would definitely ask is : “Which UK ? Which USA ? ” . Since this newspaper is not published in the UK, we will give them the benefit of the doubt about the UK. It is not possible that Maada Bio and Kadi Sesay visited the land of Her Majesty The Queen , except they transformed themselves into spirits and sneaked in and out without anyone–not even the zealots waiting to gloat on APC propagandists –seeing them . The SLPP is an occultist and juju party, as their own former member, ex-Ambassador John Leigh exposed . .May be, their witch -doctors can transform members into unseen spirits . On the UK, we will crack the window of possibility slightly open . But the U.S ? It just cannot be true.
Our reason that it cannot be true is not based on any belief that Bio is banned from entering the U.S . With U.S. Immigration , the Department of State and Home Security unpredictable on political matters in the Third World , even as they are not disposed to discuss Bio’s immigration status and the fact that the granting of entry visas is purely at the discretion of the consular officers appointed by the U.S. Government, we will leave the possibility open that the U.S. could allow Bio to enter the U.S., against all expectations, at the discretion of the consular office in Freetown, IN ORDER NOT TO GIVE THE IMPRESSION THAT THEY ARE INTERFERRING IN OUR POLITICS.
Our reason, rather, is based on the impossibility of Maada Bio entering the U.S. and not triggering off the showboating, drama, gloating and grandstanding characteristic of the SLPP zealots in this country and their newspapers. So desperate are SLPP supporters to prove a point that they will lose their heads in jubilation and gloating if Bio as much as steps foot just on the U.S. Boundary. To say that even our “noisy neighbours ” ( sorry, Sir Alex Fergusson ) at the NEW PEOPLE ONLINE had their best opportunity yet to gloat on us that Bio could enter the U.S.after all and became sooooooo modest that they passed by the opportunity is just not possible. They are so desperate to publish phantom news items to discredit the APC that it is inconceivable that when the BIG, BIG ONE came, they did not even publish it. That their much-heralded idol entered the U.S. and yapping SLPP fanatics did not even know about it ( Trust me, if they did, the whole world would have known ) is not naturally possible. Who are the party supporters Bio met in the U.S ? Given all the bruahaha that Bio is banned from entering the U.S, which is fiercely being disputed by fanatics, who are these party supporters who did not only know that Bio had entered the dreamland but held meetings with him and yet did not betray their joy and emotions one mite to break the story to the listening world ? Nobody said a word that Bio had entered the country .Did their own occult devils cast a spell on their mouths ? What airport did Mr. Bio land in America ? Who received him at the airport ? Where did he live ? What states did he visit ? How did he leave America ? Could the press be furnishedwith photos ? Where could one get these pictures ? If his return to Freetown was well photographed , where are the pictures of Bio’s stay in the UK and the U.S ?
UNITY must tell their readers the truth.
It does not matter though if Bio comes to the U.S. The real Sierra Leone politics is practised in Sierra Leone, not here. Besides, President Koroma will defeat him even if he comes to the U.S a trillion times. The voters are in Sierra Leone, not the U.S. However lying that their presidential candidate came to America , when he did not, betrays a wish that he did– which tends to support the belief that Bio may be having problems after all entering the U.S.
What about Kadi Sesay ? Where were all her supporters ? Why didn’t they see the need to showcase her at last to the American world ? The elections are only months away now. Lango Deen, are you there ?
One Sierra Leonean who says he is apolitical and does not belong to the SLPP, PMDC, UDM , NDA or APC when asked to comment just chucked cynically and said : “Bo lef me yah with una Salone lie-lie politics . Ooose Maada Bio cam America ? If Maada bin cam America, then mesef bin go Jupiter.Ah just dey return. ”
Unless we are braced for the biggest upset and surprise ever in our lives, which we will acknowledge if it turns out to be so , WE ARE CERTAIN that the report in UNITY newspaper is just another cock-and-bull story, SLPP -style ! ! ! Maada Bio may have visited Alice in Wonderland but he did not step foot in the U.S.
OUR EDITORIAL YESTERDAY
Maada Bio to bring his lies, false promises and spirit of impunity to the U.S, but why should anybody care ?
We live in a geopolitical world of shocks and unexpected happenstances , so why are Sierra Leoneans surprised that Maada Bio, the man who butchered 29 innocent Sierra Leoneans and was part of a junta that committed grave humanitarian crimes, has been granted a visa to come to the United States to continue spreading his campaign of lies against President Ernest Bai Koroma and the ruling All People’s Congress ( APC ) Government, his false promises to the vulnerable people of Sierra Leone and his spirit of impunity ? The only good thing is that whatever Maada Bio says in the U.S. will make no difference to the people of Sierra Leone whose votes on November 17 will decide who becomes President of Sierra Leone from 2012 to 2017.
MAADA BIO
Maada Bio made heavy weather of selling his lies , false promises and spirit of impunity in Britain, but what did he achieve ?
Few weeks after he spewed all manners of lies against President Koroma and the APC Government , the United Nations Security Council sent a high-powered delegation to West Africa and Sierra Leone ( made up of the UN ambassadors of all the stakeholders of the country’s destiny ) to assess the situation on the ground.
Some of the terms of reference of the UN team were an evaluation of preparations for the 2012 elections and the situation on the ground in terms of the performance of the government in meeting the expectations of the people and in promoting fundamental human rights and other ideals of good governance that impact on peace and security in the country. In Sierra Leone, they met with members of the ruling government, the opposition parties, civil society , women’s groups and the press. After all the meetings , the team put together all the views received and their own observations and what was the result ? ANOTHER MONUMENTAL ACHIEVEMENT FOR PRESIDENT ERNEST KOROMA. The UN Security Council had nothing but praise for the President and the government for their outstanding performance in delivering socio-economic and political developments and respect for fundamental human rights. . Last week, the team reported its findings to the UN in a specially-convened Security Council session and what they said about Sierra Leone was encouraging and heart-warming. This is a stark demonstration of the fact that Bio’s campaign of lies and falsehood against President Koroma is not working . This is the most important fact that Sierra Leoneans have to consider in this issue. Nothing Bio and his team have done has changed the picture that President Koroma is doing a great job and the the international community respect and commend him for that.
Whether Bio holds a town meeting at the Ukranian Center in New Jersey or not or a huge dance and meeting in a masonic temple in California or not, it will not make a difference with respect to REALITY , the dynamics among members of the international community and the situation on the ground. This was probably why the U.S. granted Bio a visa to insulate themselves from suspicion of interferring in the internal matters of Sierra Leone. They know that Bio will not make a difference . President Koroma’s popularity with the people and his respect with the international community are too entrenched. Therefore , they may have argued, why risk a bad name for something that will not make a difference ? Many people are blaming the U.S. for giving Bio a visa. But this is what I think. I may be wrong. Our stakeholders are doing everything to help stave off unnecessary tension in our nation and to promote peace and stability. None of them wants to be perceived as the barrier to peace and stability in Sierra Leone. Bio did not deserve the visa , but the U.S. had to avoid anything that would create the perception that they are interferring in our country. They also may have concluded that Bio’s trip to the U.S. will have no effect on the elections.
In fact, many Sierra Leoneans are accusing the media of being the real ones bloating and over-hyping Maada Bio’s relevance and impact. They complain that the media is making Maada Bio look more important than he really is. Left to them, the press should say nothing about Bio’s overseas trip, lest it be given some importance. Some people even believe that Bio is actually coming to the U.S. for nothing else but to generate funds for his electioneering campaign. The lukewarm reception he received in Britain and the chastisement and re-education he got from a BBC reporter that interviewed him must have taught Maada Bio the lesson that he is just wasting his time in the diaspora.
Therefore, let Bio bring his lies, false promises and spirit of impunity in the U.S. It will not make any difference on the ground in Sierra Leone. President Koroma will still win in November.
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