By Paul Musa Lamin and Tamba James reporting from Kissi Teng.
Hugely popular female politician Dr. Sylvia Olayinka Blyden OOR (aka Sia Kissi), was today Friday August 27th 2021, disqualified from contesting to be one of the 5 elected delegates from Constituency 002 for September 2021 APC National Delegates Conference even though she is a fully paid up APC member for the past 9 continuous years.
As Pa Francis Jimmy Fayia, the Chairman of APC Veterans here, who also doubles as the oldest APC member in Kailahun, stood up to nominate Dr. Sylvia Olayinka Blyden, a phone call from Freetown, ostensibly with the voice of Alhaji Osman Foday Yansaneh clearly heard on the line, called the 21-Man Committee representative Zainu Othman and the Presiding Officer Aloysius Tamba Jimmy.
This then resulted in quite dramatic scenes in Kailahun’s Constituency 002 today.
After the phone call and instructions from Pa Osman Foday Yansaneh from Freetown, the decision was shocking and left the APC Veterans Chairman, Pa Francis Jimmy Fayia, in bitter tears as he publicly wept like a baby saying he cannot understand why APC National Executive should send Orders to ban Dr. Sylvia Olayinka Blyden aka Sia Kissi from contesting.
Despite the Constituency 002 Executive acknowledging that they know Dr. Sylvia Olayinka Blyden as an Active Party member in the Constituency with fully paid up membership until January 2022, the Orders received from Freetown, according to Zainu Othman, is that Alhaji Osman Foday Yansaneh has informed them that the records of his APC National Secretariat show Dr. Sylvia Olayinka Blyden aka Sia Kissi, as being registered in Cockle Bay, Western Urban District and not registered in Kailahun District so Alhaji Osman Foday Yansaneh says the decision of the Ernest Bai Koroma led APC National Executive is that Dr. Sylvia Olayinka Blyden should not be allowed to contest and be voted for in Kailahun.
At this, Dr. Sylvia Blyden aka Sia Kissi, publicly corrected that she has NEVER been registered with APC in Western Urban District but with APC in Regent Village, in the Rural District. She produced all her original registration documents as well as a correspondence informing she was now asking for her address to be updated to Kailahun District.
However, with the clear indication from the gathered residents that their well-beloved, darling Sia Kissi (Sylvia Blyden) was all set to sweep the votes in Constituency 002 today, the embattled Ernest Bai Koroma APC leadership has ordered that she should not be allowed to contest in Kailahun.
This led to rather chaotic scenes of protest at which point Dr. Sylvia Blyden stood up, calmed the crowd and shouted OSAI OWAI, OSAI OWAI… UNA LEH WE ACCEPT. APC NA PARTY WAY BELIEVE IN THE LAW. NO VIOLENCE. NO ARGUMENT.
The show of Matured Leadership from Dr. Sylvia Olayinka Blyden in the face of such tremendous and unfair denial of her bonafide right to contest as a delegate, has won her even more fans than before.
Please watch the accompany video which speaks for itself as to how and why the Ernest Bai Koroma led APC National Leadership ordered for her to not contest in a free, fair, open and democratic election today in Kailahun.
Also denied the right to contest today was Former Honourable Sahr Patrick Tengbeh, who won the 2012 Parliamentary Elections for the APC in that Kissi Teng area. Although he has never resigned from the APC party, he had contested as an Independent Candidate in 2018. For this reason of once contesting as an independent candidate, even though he never resigned from APC and produced his APC membership card, he was denied the right to contest. Interesting, this same man produced evidence of being an official APC Polling Agent for the two recent Bye Elections held in Kailahun this very year of 2021. If the APC recognised him as a member to an extent of making him Polling Agent, why is he no longer a member? In answer, Zainu Othman of the 21-Man Committee said Alhaji Osman Yansaneh has ordered that Hon. Tengbeh is not a Member to be allowed to contest.
Noteworthy is that both Dr. Sylvia Olayinka Blyden and Hon. Sahr Patrick Tengbeh were openly endorsed as APC Constituency 002 Party Members by all the senior stakeholders in the Constituency. But to no avail, they were both denied their right to contest and be voted for.
The event later ended with chants of the following words:
“God bless Sylvia Olayinka Blyden OOR aka Sia Kissi.”
“God bless the APC.”
“God bless Sierra Leone.”
