The question on the lips of Sierra Leoneans is why pick on the Fullahs alone whenever there is a fracas between Guinea and Sierra Leone? Are the Fullahs the only ethnic grouping supposedly link with neighbouring Guinea? Or is there an ulterior motive for picking on the Fullahs? Why Mr Bio, are you disgracing innocent Fullahs like this? (Photo: Fullah elders in Sierra Leone posed with SLPP VP Juldeh Jalloh, 3rd right).

Patriotic Sierra Leoneans want to know the answer. Why have the Mandingos, Kissis, the Yalonkas, the Korankos not bundled in the same bracket as origins of Guinea? Even the largest tribe, Temnes and the second largest Mendes, are not origins of Sierra Leone. Why not attack these other ethnic groupings? It’s abhorrent to see Sierra Leone Fullahs being molested at every turn of the clock.

It is true that not all Fullahs in Sierra Leone are real Sierra Leoneans. Many of them are not born and bred in the country. It is the same with the other tribes allegedly linked with Guinea, Conakry. In actual fact, the whole of West Africa, like other regions in Africa, are intrinsically intertwined culturally, dialect-wise and so on. It was the evil colonialists who divided us.

The Mane invasion of Sierra Leone took place in the mid-16th century. The Manes were a Mande people who carried Mande clans to the Liberian coast from the Beyla region and possibly from the hinterland of modern Ghana. It is suggested that the Mane invaders of Sierra Leone comprised two principal elements – a ruling élite originating in the southern section of the Mande world of the Western Sudan. Courtesy: Wikipedia. (Photo: Juldeh and Bio are illegal).

In a nutshell, all tribes in Sierra Leone, with the exception of the Limbas, are settlers. This is the bold fact. This week, the Fullahs were again subjected to a disgraceful incident where many were rounded up for simply being Fullahs. They were apprehended systematically in Freetown because of the political tension between Guinea and Sierra Leone. What was the intention of the unelected Presidency of Bio, to go on the rampage to Arrest Fullahs?

Picking on the Fullahs in this circumstance is totally wrong, tribalistically dangerous and unfair to the thousands of indigenous Fullahs whose arrival to Sierra Leone goes back many generations. The reality about the sixteen tribes in Sierra Leone today needs to be highlighted to re-educate some Sierra Leoneans who do not know how these tribes found themselves in the country.

The fact is all the 16 ethnic tribes, with the exception of the Limbas, are settlers in Sierra Leone. The Limbas are the real origins or, to be put succinctly, the only tribe that played host to all the others in Sierra Leone. That’s the historical facts. It is just the matter of who came first and who came second, or third, or fourth, etc. It is sad that most people do not know this honest history. When you believe that Christopher Columbus discovered America, then you are in the dark.

It is ironic that the Fullah Progressive Union, another stupid organisation that does speak for most Fullahs in Sierra Leone, rightly condemned the attacks on Fullahs. Yesterday, the Fullah traders protested by locking up their stores in Freetown, to warn the illegal Bio regime to stop the harassment! Sadly, the idiotic SLPP VP Juldeh Jalloh, Chernor Bah aka Chericoco, Minkailu Mansaray Jalloh, and other bad Fullahs are the ones embarrassing the real Fullahs.