Telling Tales is in DNA of President Bio & Holding the Key to Leone Stars’ Successes is a Lie
By Abu Shaw in London (18/06/2021)
Making fabricated statements to impress the ignorant has now become the hallmark of President Julius Maada Bio and his failed SLPP government.
Sierra Leone’s national football team, the Leone Stars, is the latest target of fabrication and cheap politics being bandied around by the Head of State. President Bio dressed in borrowed robes in the aftermath of Leone Stars’ recent historic qualification for the African Cup of Nations to be held in Cameroon in January 2022, boastfully said he has the key to Leone Stars’ success. True, credit should be given to the government of the day but when the current president says he has always been the key holder for Leone Stars success, then the citizens would call out his empty bluff. (Photo: President Bio must be a celebrated truth sayer).
This statement has obviously infuriated the majority of Sierra Leoneans who are not only religious football lovers but are also very conversant with the history of football in Sierra Leone. Not many though are aware of this history. Citizens are visibly disappointed in President Bio’s misinformation this week about Leone Stars past glory and this has ostensibly spoiled and dampened the spirited celebrations seen everywhere that greeted Sierra Leone’s victorious display against the Squirrels of Benin in Conakry on Tuesday, June 15.
Jubilant Sierra Leoneans now believe the Sierra Leone President’s distortionist attitude is alarming and disgraceful. It signifies one unique characteristic i.e. telling lies with confidence is in the DNA of the Sierra Leone President. Football fans in and outside the country were in a celebrative mood in the aftermath of the win but were cut short thanks to the white lie about ‘unlocking the door for the success of the national team Leone Stars’ as uttered by President Bio. Yet, most of the blindingly obvious SLPP supporters continue to propagate and spread President Bio’s fibs on social media littered with a post showing a picture of Maada Bio shaking hands with Leone Stars players during the Zone 2 football tournament in 1993 in Freetown.
As Sierra Leoneans vented their fury on social media and other media outlets regarding the fake trajectory presented by President Bio about Leone Stars’ success, the whole truth has emerged. The fact is President Bio has never been the key that unlocks the success of Leone Stars and football in general in Sierra Leone. History is the best judge. The Zone 2 Football Tournament in 1993 in Freetown, when Leone Stars won the first trophy, Captain Valentine Strasser was the military Head of State in power and not Maada Bio. (Photos: Fans at the State House in Freetown this week to celebrate Leone Stars’ victory. And Captain Strasser in his hay days).
Under the NPRC military government of Valentine Strasser, Sierra Leone won the first major trophy in 1993, the Amilcar Cabral Cup, widely known as Zone 2 tournament. Senegal was beaten by the Leone Stars in the finals. And third place was won by the Gambia. This soccer tourney between November 16 and December 5, 1993, happened under President Strasser’s regime and not Maada Bio. This is the first lie by Maada Bio’s claim that he is and was the key to Leone Stars’ success.
Also, in the 1994 African Nations Cup finals held in Tunisia, Sierra Leone qualified for the first time. Zaire was originally chosen to host the final tournament before it was replaced by Tunisia. Ivory Coast and Tunisia qualified automatically as defending champions and hosts respectively. Qualification began on 14 June 1992 and ended on 24 October 1993, which clearly showed that Strasser was in charge and not Maada Bio. Sierra Leone was hammered 0-4 by the Elephants of Ivory Coast, notwithstanding and an early exit beckoned
Sierra Leone also qualified for the 1996 African Cup of Nations in South Africa after replacing Kenya. The 90s was the golden era for Leone Stars, qualifying for the 1994 and 1996 African Cup of Nations. But the bloody civil war forced Sierra Leone to withdraw from the next two editions. The time frame for Leone Stars’ qualifications in 1996 occurred during the presidency of Valentine Strasser and not Maada Bio as is widely misrepresented. Maada Bio was the Vice President at the time. However, bad luck struck after Leone Stars’ first match with Burkina Faso which Leone Stars won. A day later, Maada Bio overthrew his boss Valentine Strasser in a bloodless coup. And from then on Sierra Leone performed so poorly that Leone Stars were eliminated sooner rather than later. Maada Bio brought real bad luck to Leone Stars in South Africa in 1996 and will never be forgiven and forgotten.
This is Wikipedia’s account: “In August 2014, the Sierra Leone FA cancelled all football matches in an effort to stop the spread of the 2014 Ebola virus epidemic in Sierra Leone, a week after the Liberian FA did the same. Sierra Leonean players playing outside Sierra Leone, such as Michael Lahoud playing in the United States, were discriminated against, with opposition players refusing to swap shirts, shake hands and allow them to certain places of the stadium just because they fear that they could be carrying the disease. (Photos: Leone Stars and Ernest Koroma).
“The Sierra Leonean national team wasn’t allowed to play home games and all players had to be foreign-based. In October 2015, Sierra Leone suffered a surprise defeat to Chad in the 2018 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, with their home game having to be played in Nigeria. One year later, Sierra Leone very nearly qualified for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations, finishing just one point behind Group 1 winners Ivory Coast. On 5 October 2018, the Sierra Leone Football Association was suspended by FIFA and the Leone Stars were excluded from the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualification.” In actual fact, all praises go to the indefatigable Leone Stars players and Coach John Keister, Director of Football Mohamed Kallon, Obi Metzger, and other FA officials. President Bio could not even fly the players to Conakry. They traveled in a bus instead for the Benin match which was dotted with delays and sufferings at the Guinea border due to the lack of COVID test results on time from the incompetent SLPP government NACOVERC Freetown. More details on the Maada Bio’s lies in the report below –
