The decision by Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma to order the immediate rotation and re-deployment of police and military officers that the State had assigned to secure Vice-President Chief Alhaji Sam-Sumana, has been hailed by political and security observers as “very prudent and timely”. Many say  it is the most prudent and foresighted decisions of his entire presidency.

It is reliably understood by this newspaper that the Order to rotate the armed guards and assign fresh personnel follows dangerous utterances and writings of those in close employ of the Vice-President. According to Special Assistant to the Vice-President by the name of Chief Ambrose Aiah Tenmoidoh Barba, youths were currently being mobilized from Eastern part of the country and being moved into location in Kono. The Special Assistant to VP posted this alarming news on social media last week whilst he was reacting to the recent expulsion of the Vice-President from the ruling All Peoples Congress (APC).

Furthermore, the same Special Assistant to the Vice-President went on to post several threats on social media that “war” was imminent in Sierra Leone as a result of the expulsion of the Vice-President from the APC.

As if that was not enough, other close aides to the Vice-President as well as key figures that are known to be very close to him, were also seen all over social media making very alarming comments and threats that hinged on the security of the State.

The expulsion of the Vice-President from the APC was done at a meeting of the National Advisory Council (NAC) of the APC on the basis of a Special Investigative Committee set up to look into allegations of anti-party activities by certain APC members including the now-expelled Samuel Sam-Sumana. The NAC is made up of 40 members but two of them had since died whilst one was out of the country seeking medical care. Four NAC members including the now-expelled Vice-President had been unavoidably absent from the NAC meeting. The VP cited that he was unavoidably absent because he was under quarantine for Ebola.

All the remaining 33 members had attended the meeting which was chaired by President Koroma as Chairman and Leader of the APC. Every single NAC member including His Excellency the President, after listening to the Findings and Recommendations of the Investigation, voted unanimously to have the Vice-President expelled from the APC. This means the President voted that his Vice-President was no longer fit to be a member of the APC based on cited grounds of deceit, dishonesty and promoting violence especially against top members of the APC.

Many observers had believed that the Vice-President would honourably resign in the wake of such a public show of distrust for him by his superior, His Excellency the President. However, rather than do the honourable thing, the Vice-President not only insisted that he will continue to maintain the constitutional role of Vice-President but his close aides like his Special Assistant Aiah Tenmoidoh Barba, then threatened the country with war and youths violence. The decision of the President to therefore order an immediate rotation of the security men around the Vice-President has been widely acclaimed as prudent. Also, none of the personal staff of the Vice-President were affected. The State only decided to change the police and military officers the State had sent to provide security. This is why the decision of the Vice-President to make a huge fuss over the rotation of security personnel has left many people bewildered. Meanwhile, here are Facebook Updates filed by Dr. Sylvia Blyden as the development unfolded:

Saturday March 14th 2015 (Afternoon):

I just spoke to President Koroma and I can CONFIRM that His Excellency the President in his wisdom and in light of recent utterances and actions of certain close aides to the Vice-President and against backdrop of the ongoing quarantine, gave the instructions for the Vice President’s bodyguards to be rotated; the old guards be withdrawn and a fresh team of State Presidential Guards personnel be sent in to provide security duties for the VP. Take note that Presidential Guards for the last 8 years have always been composed of Joint Team of Police & Army officers. So making it appear as if military officers are a strange retinue around the VP is unfortunate.

A fresh team of police and army personnel were sent to replace the former team whom were no longer prudent to be kept in situ.  According to President Koroma, who spoke to me from Northern Province where he is currently on his presidential duties, that is all what happened. The Government Spokesman will soon be issuing a formal reaction but His Excellency has asked me to quote him.

So, the truth is that The VP’s life is not under threat. If the VP is running, na him know why ee day run. Make ee explain why make ee run.

Let him explain to the world why he RAN. His pro-SLPP Journalists can give him the usual air time to explain.

VP, why make you run pan you yone State security?

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Saturday March 14th 2015 (Evening):

UPDATE ON VP’s GIMMICKS: Police ADC to the Vice-President, Aiah Samadia assuring journalists at the gate of the VP’s residence that some securities were rotated but no cause for alarm. I can confirm that not a single one of the VP’s personal staff were changed. Only the State assigned armed security. It can be recalled aides to the VP, primarily his Special Assistant Ambrose Tenmoidoh, this week threatened that youths are being mobilized in Yawei Chiefdom and also touted that war was a possibility over expulsion of the VP from the APC.

A responsible Commander In Chief will take due steps to ensure war does not come to any part of Sierra Leone and if that includes the prudent move of immediately rotating armed guards around the VP, so be it. Reports of truckloads of soldiers storming the area and surrounding the VP’s house were all proven as UNTRUE. It is now clear that the VP spitefully stage managed all of this with help of SLPP’s Sorie Fofana and Umaru Fofana.

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Sunday March 15th 2015 (Afternoon):

The Vice-President’s Predicament is getting more and more amusing as the hours and days go by. The latest from his media script writers is that he will NOT return to his house until his 26 former bodyguards (Joint Police-Military Team) are returned back to guard him. Ha ha ha. This is now looking like a very entertaining movie.

Sorry Mr. Vice President Chief Alhaji Sam Sumana but those officers are not your personal property neither are they members of your personal staff. They are Police and Military Officers who are subjected to orders from their superiors.

We only have ONE Commander-in-Chief inside Sierra Leone right now and our Commander-in-Chief has given instructions for those 26 presidential guards to be disarmed and redeployed out of their former duties of guarding you. A fresh batch of State security to replace the military and police formerly guarding you, have now been assigned the duty of now guarding the Vice-President.

So unless the Vice-President is now afraid of the STATE, he needs to go back home and stop crying WOLF! WOLF! when nobody is chasing him. The Americans have told him his cries had no merit. All the various diplomatic missions have told him the same thing. He had no business running away from uniformed State security assigned to replace his former guards.

Why did the VP run from State Police and State Military? Is the VP afraid of the State? If the VP is so afraid of the State, why is he still the Vice-President of the State? Or is it that he is not really afraid but just wanted to embarrass the President and the ruling APC with his made-up lies that his life was threatened by trucks of soldiers surrounding his residence? ALL LIES!

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Sunday March 15th 2015:

THE INSISTENCE ON THOSE PARTICULAR 26 SECURITY OFFICERS - SOME DEEP THOUGHTS: Why should the Vice-President RUN from uniformed police and uniformed military officers sent to provide security at his residence and insist that he only wanted a particular 26 men to provide security? Is it really “security” that these 26 men can provide or what? Was he up to anti-State activities? Food for thought. Why will any lawful person run away from police or military officers when police or military did not chase him?

What is very prudent is that those particular 26 security men are NOT going back to “guarding” the Honourable Vice-President with arms in their possession.

We don’t want scenario where one of those 26 particular men will ‘mistakenly’ fire his loaded armed weapon at the President during a public function.