At the height of the military topsy-turvy in 1996, Maada Bio, the then short-lived head of the junta deceived his military comrades by lying to them in the eleventh hour. Sly Bio, a young man then, failed to tell his military boys the whole truth about the Elections before Peace campaign. (Photo: UNOWAS Chief Leonardo Santos Simao of Mozambique and African Union Chairperson Mr Moussa Faki of Chad).

What did the deceptive Maada Bio do then? He lied to his junta comrades that there will be PEACE before ELECTION. Knowing full well that he had signed for ELECTIONS before PEACE, after already been granted full amnesty to step down for democracy, Bio woefully deceived his comrades. Remember, Bio had said this before: “I will deceive everyone.”

Rather than having two balls to say he had agreed and signed for ELECTIONS before PEACE, Bio kept this secret from the military junta and instead gave them the wrong impression that the NPRC junta regime will pursue the war until peace returns before general elections are held. (Photo: Betrayal Bio and his VP Juldeh Jalloh, left, under fire).

That was a monumental lie that cost the lives of so many NPRC soldiers who subsequently embarked on unleashing the deadly “Short Hand” “Long Hand” tactics which resulted in many innocent citizens losing their hands in the RUF/Sobel war. The culprits who cut voters’ hands ended either dead or jailed in faraway Rwanda.

Eventually, after three months in power in 1996, Maada Bio conducted bogus elections and handed power to his SLPP godfathers headed by President Tejan Kabbah. And Bio went in to exile to enjoy his amnesty with the whooping 18 million dollars loot from the national treasury.

Decades later, Maada Bio is today playing his deceptive games all over again. Sierra Leone has stagnated today because of international sanctions imposed on Bio’s illegal regime for stealing the June 24, 2023 elections. And now, Tripartite has successfully squeezed the Bio presidency. (Photo: Dr Samura Kamara, the legitimate President-Elect).

Maada Bio is caged today, no way out for his beleaguered SLPP/Paopa regime to function normally. Bankrupted to the neck, Bio has secretly negotiated a new amnesty to quit. Impeccable sources say, the development partners had agreed for a partial amnesty for Bio and his immediate family.

The limited amnesty is linked to the condition for Bio to hand over power peacefully to the legitimate leader Dr Samura Kamara of the APC party. This latest development is kept secret and Bio is pretending all is bright and beautiful by giving the wrong impression that his handicapped regime will complete another five-year term.

Bio is playing his deceptive games close to his chest again. The recent government appointments are all mind games to divert focus from the reality on the ground. Bio has been granted a partial amnesty in exchange for leaving State House peacefully rather than by forceful means. (Photo: ECOWAS Chair President Ahmed Tinubu greets ECOWAS President Omar Alieu Touray).

ECOWAS Mission for Sierra Leone, ECOMISIL forces are next door, fully ready and alert to deploy in Sierra Leone. For over two months now, caged Bio has not left the country, very unlike of him. This is due to the impending human rights indictments hovering on the horizon at the International Criminal Court ICC.

On Christmas Eve, Bio was seen driving himself to his place of birth in Bonthe for his Xmas holiday. The usually long, heavily armed security convoy was conspicuously absent. Why the change of routine in recent times? What have Bio and the global partners agreed on? Bio has, of course, told his closest bodies about the partial amnesty.

As a sly fox, Bio has lies planted all over his DNA. True to his words, a few years ago: “I will deceive everyone,” Maada Bio will not renegade on this promise to deceive his people for his own self-aggrandisement and egotism. He has done it in 1996 and he will surely do it again.