Freetown – The Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) has moved to decisively shut down mounting public speculation over the whereabouts of Umar Sheriff, a figure at the center of recent political controversy. However, the party’s official narrative, delivered by its National Public Relations Officer, Moses Mambu, appears to be in direct conflict with credible counter-evidence and fails to address glaring inconsistencies.
Speaking on Truth Media, Mambu presented a conclusion that seemed designed to draw a line under the affair. He asserted that the Sierra Leone Police have concluded their investigations and confirmed that Sheriff is no longer in Sierra Leone.
“The police have searched every possible area across the country but could not find him,” Mambu stated, framing the disappearance as a resolved matter.
The statement appears to be a direct response to a firestorm of online speculation fueled by a viral photograph/video. The images, which have been widely circulated, allegedly show (Jos Leijdekkers
Bolle Jos) Umar Sheriff standing directly behind President Julius Maada Bio during a Church Service. This visual evidence directly challenges the official position that Sheriff, the name affixed to him by the police, is a fugitive beyond the nation’s borders.
Mambu’s rebuttal was swift and absolute. “I have no personal knowledge of that man. I have only seen his picture on social media. Umar Sheriff is not in the country, and the police have confirmed this. That’s the end of the matter,” he concluded, in a tone that critics will likely label as dismissive.
A Narrative Under Scrutiny
However, to accept the SLPP’s “end of the matter” pronouncement requires ignoring significant countervailing evidence. If the police’s nationwide search was so “extensive,” as Mambu claims, how does one explain the precise timing and context of the viral photo/video? Political opponents and independent observers are now asking if the police investigation was a genuine search or a perfunctory exercise designed to validate a pre-determined conclusion.
The plot thickens considerably with evidence that connects the alleged Umar Sheriff directly to the President’s inner circle. In the church service, the same individual identified online as Umar Sheriff by the Police is seen not merely in the vicinity of the President, but seated alongside the President’s daughter, Agnes Bio. The two appear familiar and comfortable in each other’s company. It has also been alleged by Opposition politician Mohamed Kamarainba that she has a baby with him.
This raises a critical question that Mambu’s statement completely ignores: Is it plausible that a man who is the subject of a national manhunt, and who has supposedly fled the country, would be photographed in such a secure and intimate setting with the First Family? For many, this is not merely speculative; it constitutes iron-clad visual evidence that directly contradicts the SLPP’s official account.
The discrepancy between the government’s story and the photographic record is stark. It forces the public to choose between trusting the institutional word of the police and the SLPP, or trusting the evidence of their own eyes—evidence that suggests a deep and personal connection between the alleged fugitive and the President’s household.
Until the Sierra Leone Police or State House provides a credible explanation for these photographs—beyond a simple denial of personal knowledge—the SLPP’s attempt to declare this case “closed” will be seen by many as not just premature, but as a deliberate obfuscation of the truth.
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