Reports from our northern province correspondence state that one John Williams, a popular member of the main opposition party (APC), and an electrician working at the Electricity Distribution and Supply Authority (EDSA) in Sierra Leone, is said to have gone into hiding after much harassment and persecution by operatives of the ruling party, including death threats.
According to close sources, John Williams is known to have been a vocal critic of some of the activities of the ruling party, and this has been his mistake, as he became the target of ruling party operatives both at work and in the community. There has been altercations between him and known ruling party operatives over his views and stance on many matters, often landing him in police custody.
However, sources revealed that on April 27th, 2022, while John Williams reported for work, he was instructed by his boss to address an electrical issue on an electric pole in a village in Makeni. Mounted on the top of the electricity pole, he came face to face with a group of secret society members in a secret location in the bush, all being rival members of the dreaded Poro Secret Society from southern Sierra Leone, with strong affiliation to the ruling party (SLPP), but whose activities were exposed to him from the height that he was on the pole.
The said members, angered by what they described as intrusion by a non-initiate on their activities, quickly stormed the vicinity of the pole, where they met two other workers, but who had not seen what John saw while working at the top of the electricity pole. They were chased away, while John was ordered to descend from the pole.
Our sources furthered that the said members belonged to the dreaded Poro Male Secret Society, and were engaged in initiation activities of new members. John was whisked into the secret society shrine, where he was tortured and forcefully initiated.
After he escaped, some of the secret society members quickly spread message of his return to their colleagues and supporters, alleging that John Williams, a known and active member of the main opposition party (APC), was spying on the activities of their secret society. This news prompted the other members, including ruling party loyalists in both the military and police to go looking for him, threatening to kill him.
The angry members of the Poro Secret Society of mainly southern origin, then descended on John’s house chanting society war songs. Upon hearing the chant and incantations, John and some family members fled the house into a nearby bush, making good their escape. The members threatened to burn down his house, but were stopped by residents in the area, who told them that John was merely a tenant and not the owner of the house. The members then issued death threats against John.
This incident took place amidst tension in the northern city of Makeni, a stronghold of the main opposition party (APC), where there was indicator of a planned protest being incited by one Adebàyor living in the diaspora, calling for citizens to demonstrate against the government. The government saw this incessant call for demonstration by this diaspora individual as orchestrated by the main opposition party (APC), hence the deployment of huge security in the town.
Residents spoken to say that since John Williams left the house that fateful day, he has not returned and his whereabouts are unknown.