The cauldron of Political drama in Sierra Leone, which had got the nation transfixed, spellbound and tension-packed for over a month , bubbled yesterday as the National Elections Commission ( NEC ) declaring the Sierra Leone People’s Party ( SLPP ) candidate, Retired Brigadier Maada Bio, winner, under a dark cloud of intense controversies surrounding accusations from the ruling All People’s Congress ( APC ) of diplomatic interference in the national affairs of Sierra Leone by Britain and international observer missions .
Also being accused of interfering in the elections on behalf of Maada Bio is the former President of Ghana, Mr. John Dramani Mahama, but in a rebuttal, he defended himself on his Facebook page, by saying among other things : “International Observers have no capacity to change the will of the people, in any election. I, John Dramani Mahama, have no interest in who governs the people of Sierra Leone. The long nights, early mornings, long meetings, diplomatic shuttles were all aimed at helping Sierra Leone choose their leader freely, maintain the peace and consolidate their democracy. ”
NEC declared Bio winner also under heated allegations of glaring malpractices by the NEC, who were under pressure from the APC to annul results from the SLPP strongholds of Kailahun, Bo and Kenema for over voting.
According to the result announced by the Sierra Leone’s National Electoral Commission (NEC) on Wednesday in Freetown, Julius Madaa Bio received 1,319,406 votes representing 51.81 per cent of the total valid votes cast, 2,546,577, to defeat the candidate of the ruling party.
According to the result Kamara Wilson of the ruling All Peoples Congress (APC) polled 1,227,171 votes, representing 48.19 per cent of the valid votes cast.
SHORTLY AFTER HE WAS DECLARED WINNER, Maada Bio was sworn in as President of Sierra Leone at the Radison Blue Hotel by the Chief Justice, His Honor Abdulai Cham.
The newly elected president of Sierra Leone has called on all political parties and the people to Join him in the development of the country.
Breaking news
Dr Samura Matthew Wilson Kamara the Presidential candidate for the All Peoples Congress party at SLBC on today’s morning coffee program made a brief statements that the will of the people does not reflect to the results announced by the National Electoral Commissioner Mohamed Nfai Alie Conteh. He furthered says he will not accept the outcome of the results and they are going to challenge the results to the Supreme Court of Sierra Leone.
He alleged of over voting and ballot stuffing in the South-East of Sierra Leone of which nothing was done by NEC even though petition was made prior to the announcement of the results.
“As you are aware the National Electoral Commission has announced the result of the presidential runoff election. As party and in your interest, we firmly hold the view, that those results do not reflect the many observations made by the party over massive ballot stuffing, over voting, fraudulent voter registers and other electoral irregularities for which the attention of NEC had been drawn for appropriate remedial measures prior to the finalisation of the announcement of these results …
“As a responsible party and in your interest, we are challenging the results and we’ll be taking the appropriate legal actions to get redress and have the results overturned”. -Dr Samura Wilson Matthew Kamara, the All People’s Congress presidential candidate that lost the March 31 presidential runoff election.
