*75 Year Old Patriach Detained: ten APC supporters may not vote in Const 056*
The harrassment & intimidation of the main opposition All Peoples Cingress (APC) supporters in Bendugu town has continued unabated. Following the violent attacks on APC supporters on 7 June 2022 by known supporters of the ruling Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP), the newly crowned Paramount Chief (P.C), Musa Bamba Foray Jalloh, has continued to abuse his powers and influence within the ruling SLPP by trying to cower down supporters and sympathisers of the APC.
P.C Musa Jalloh was the SLPP Member of Parliament for the embattled constituency 056 in Sambaia chiefdom. The bye -election was necessitated by his shift from being an elected MP to becoming a P.C. Given that his 2018 electoral victory for the MP seat was decided on a slim margin of 120 votes, and considering the widespread disaffection his crowing has caused for his party, the P.C. and of course the SLPP, have realized how impossible it is for them to retain that seat under normal circumstances. Therefore, they have resorted to violence, intimidation and even unlawful arrests and detention of APC supporters and leaders in the Constituency.
The latest victim of this SLPP tactic is *75 years old Sereh Kebeh Jalloh who was arrested & detained on the orders of Paramount Chief Musa Bamba Foray Jalloh of Bendugu.* The Senior citizen is the Patriach of the Jalloh chieftaincy Family *which recently declared support for the APC* ahead of the Constittuency 056 bye-election in Sambaia Chiefdom.
Meanwhile *the APC campaign manager, Rtd Lt. Col. Joseph Sheku Jalloh and nine others are still being unlawfully detained without bail or any charges, fifteen (15) days after their arrest.* The SLPP supporters boasted that the campaign manager will be detained *until after the bye- election which is slated for Saturday 24 June 2022.*
From all indications, and *despite frantic efforts by Lawyer Ady Macauley for them to be released, at least on bail,* it looks like the *ten APC supporters would be denied their right to vote in that election*.
