CoPPP Press Release

 PRESS RELEASE


 


                       5th July 2022

The leadership and members of the Consortium of Progressive Political Parties (CoPPP) view with consternation the wrongful detention of two of our members, Madam Femi Claudius-Cole; Leader and Chairman of Unity Party (UP) and Chairperson of CoPPP and Dr Dennis Bright; Chairman of National Grand Coalition (NGC) party and a member of CoPPP and ask for their immediate and unconditional release along with all the peaceful and harmless women the Sierra Leone Police have in their custody.

We stand in solidarity with the women of Sierra Leone in their peaceful pursuit of their inalienable rights to good governance and better living conditions. We also hereby demand that the Inspector General of Police (IGP) stops the infringement of their privacy based on lame reasons of searching for arms and ammunitions. 

There is no rationale for the detention of the two political party leaders except for the fact that the constitutional rights of political parties to shape the political will of the people, and civil liberties; the rights of association and assembly and the right to protest,  have all eroded under the leadership of President Julius Maada Bio.

We wish to draw the attention of the international community to the fact that, as a people and leaders of political parties, we are observing a very disturbing trend; a perpetual and cunning stratagem the Maada Bio administration utilizes to oppress, repress and violate the fundamental human rights of the people of Sierra Leone unnoticed to the rest of the world: 

While the Government of Sierra Leone plays to the gallery by passing some very important legislations of global interest only for the eye-seeing of unsuspecting international opinion leaders, the security sector and the judiciary are being utilized as tools of human rights violations and to commit other egregious crimes against humanity as well as to clampdown on influential politicians especially on the brink of 2023 elections. 

This pattern has greatly closed the political space and eroded our hard earned democracy and civil liberties in Sierra Leone. The arrest of Madam Femi Claudius-Cole and Dr Denis Bright, two highly placed citizens in good standing in society and leaders of their separate political parties is consistent with this stratagem since President Maada Bio’s fateful acclaim to power in 2018.

Notwithstanding, we are calling all our members and supporters to remain calm while we pursue their release. Once more, we are therefore asking for the immediate and unconditional release of both Madam Femi Claudius-Cole and Dr Dennis Bright.

Long Live Sierra Leone!

Long live CoPPP

CoPPP Secretariat

Comments

  1. AnonymousJuly 5, 2022 at 7:56 AM

    Why the international bodies like UN, EU, AU, British High Commission, US Embassy, etc..not copied in this release??

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJuly 6, 2022 at 5:16 AM

    Thank to coppp for there great work

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJuly 6, 2022 at 7:18 PM

    The intimidation, harassment and police brutality of our beloved Sierra Leonean men and women have to stopped. Release Dr. Femi Claudius Cole and Dr. Denis Bright. They did nothing wrong.

    ReplyDelete

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