The Security Sector of Sierra Leone has cautioned Sierra Leoneans to do all they can and avoid violence which he stressed has the propensity to undermine and affects the country peace.
Addressing a pess conference Wednesday, April 19, 2023, the National Security Coordinator, Abdulai Caulker pointed out that as a people, the country will be in total chaos if people do not have the courage to resist the incitements of bad citizens using the social media.
He also warned the citizens to be careful with those desperate and lust for political power that even if it means sinking the country and destroying all of its population to get political power, it would be a viable option.
Notwithstanding, the press conference which was mainly based on, “Threatening Social Media Posts & Messages Creating Fear & Panic in the Country” was graced by both the Print and Electronic Media as well as politicians, CSOs, moral guarantors of peace and actors in the security sector.
According to him, since 2018 when the present Government assumed office, the security sector has noted with dismay the countless numbers of anti-state activities which alarmed is tantamount to undermining the peace and security of the country.
He explained that whilst the security sector had wished such baits had not been thrown, it would not shy away from its constitutional responsibility of ensuring that citizens’ lives and properties are secure and the country remains stable.
He succinctly in a rhetorical manner asked that in case the security sector had failed to act during those incidents, what would Sierra Leone have become underscoring how those incidents could have potentially led to anarchy, capable of totally disrupting the hard-won peace of Sierra Leone, and possibly tearing her apart.
Abdulai Caulker further indicated that the latest incident of the brutal killing of the OSD Coordinator in Makeni, Mathew Banya alias Boyka and the accompanying social media utterances and provocations fashioned against the stability of the State and the security sector are worrisome and may put people in needless fear and panic.
He said all these are happening at a time when the country is less than two and a half months away from the general elections but was quick to state that the Security Sector is not jittery and cannot be intimidated as it alone has the constitutional right to exercise the monopoly of violence on behalf of the State, and no one else.
“We have decided to have an inclusive approach to ensuring Sierra Leone remains stable and peaceful, and the enabling environment created for peaceful and democratic elections.
“So, Sierra Leoneans please stay away from violence; do not take the law into your own hands and I urged you all to follow due process. Don’t allow another man to use your own hand to remove palm kernels from a burning furnace,” he added.
Meanwhile, Abdulai Caulker has at the same time disclosed plans by the country’s security sector to invited all political party leaders, moral guarantors, traditional and religious leaders, media houses, CSOs and the International Community among others to underscore the need for nonviolence elections and support efforts geared towards making Sierra Leone stable and peaceful.
According to him, as a security sector, they will not renege on their sacred responsibility to maintain law and order and ensure that there is peace and tranquility for everyone to go about their normal business.
He warned that any person or a group of persons who believe that for their own greed and selfishness they can make Sierra Leone unstable and ungovernable, they are big liars, thereby cited how the security sector will use all in its power to strongly resist and impel them.
