President Bio

Abubakar Hashim/Freetown

Barely three days after his Information Minimise, Chernoh Bah revealed in a press conference that a coup was attempted, President Julius Maada Bio, in his speech last night, added a presidential weight to further confirm it was, indeed a coup d’tat.

He remarked that “gun shots heard around 3 am on Sunday 26, was to unleash anarchy by a group of ruthless hooligans, by violently breaking the armoury of Wilberforce Barracks. After long fights, loyal forces repelled the coupists, who then proceeded to diverse locations in Freetown causing untold loss of lives and property.

He revealed further that investigations conducted so far, by secure operatives and intelligence community strongly indicate that the November 26 infraction “was clearly and unambiguously an attempted coup d’tat”.

Their actions, he went on, was “premeditated to unseat the democratically elected government by violent and unlawful means, to reverse decades of investments in peace and security. Some arrests have been made and full investigations have been launched, with the Police, on November 28, two days after the coup, released a list of names wanted”.

The attempted coup is taking place exactly 5 months after the Presidential elections.

He concluded, “the coup was unsuccessful due to the resilience of loyal armed forces and the full force of the law will prevail, with no tribal, religious or political colouration”.

The President’s confirmation of a coup is the beginning of an investigation that might nail a lot of people and possibly put a stop on the country’s chequered coup history that started in 1967 till 1996 and only resurfaced on November 26,2023.