The Sierra Leone Police Criminal Investigations Department has detained the National Secretary General of the All People’s Congress, Lansana Dumbuya, following a statement he made during the party’s mammoth meeting held at the Attuga Mini Stadium in Freetown.
Dumbuya was captured in a widely circulated and trending video chanting “Maada Bio Thief Man” during the political gathering. The chant referenced the name of the sitting President of Sierra Leone, Julius Maada Bio. The video rapidly spread across social media platforms, triggering intense public debate and political reactions within the capital and across the country.
At the time the video began circulating, there was no immediate public statement from the Sierra Leone Police. However, it later emerged that Dumbuya had honored an official invitation from the Criminal Investigations Department and was subsequently detained. His detention has since sparked strong reactions from political stakeholders, members of the APC, civil society commentators, and netizens on various online platforms.
One of the presidential aspirants of the APC, Ady Macaulay, reacted through his official X handle, describing the arrest and detention of the APC Secretary General as a direct attack on freedom of speech and a dangerous shrinking of democratic political space. He stated that in a democracy, dissent is not a crime and criticism of leaders must never be punished, warning that silencing opposition voices undermines the rule of law and erodes public trust in governance. He further declared that the APC would no longer roll over in the face of intimidation and bullying, concluding that the situation represented a point of “full stop.”
See screenshot of Ady Macaulay’s social media reaction below.
Public reaction to the detention has not been limited to party officials. A concerned citizen, James Conteh, took to Facebook to express his views, drawing comparisons with previous statements allegedly made by individuals aligned with the ruling party. In his post, he questioned the consistency of state response to political speech, referencing past remarks by senior political figures and asking whether Dumbuya’s statement was worse than those earlier comments.
See screenshot of James Conteh’s Facebook post below.
Prior to honoring the police invitation, Lansana Dumbuya issued a detailed press statement addressed to the Criminal Investigations Department and the Sierra Leone Police. In the statement, he explained that the comment attributed to him was a political opinion expressed in good faith and grounded in publicly available reports and observations by both international and domestic election observation bodies regarding the 2023 general elections.
He clarified that the position he expressed was not a new or personal one but a long-standing and consistently maintained position of the All People’s Congress, for which he spoke in his capacity as National Secretary General. According to him, the APC has, since the conclusion of the 2023 elections, consistently raised concerns about the conduct, transparency, and outcome of the electoral process, including allegations that the elections did not reflect the will of the people.
Dumbuya further stated that his remarks were made strictly within the context of political discourse and democratic engagement as allowed by the Constitution. He also placed on record that, to the best of his knowledge and understanding, no comprehensive, transparent, and disaggregated official election results were conclusively published or validated, an issue he said remains a subject of public debate both nationally and internationally.
He maintained that the APC’s position on the elections remains unchanged and that his statement reflected a widely held political view shared by many citizens, civil society actors, and political stakeholders. He rejected any suggestion that his comments were made with malice or criminal intent, emphasizing that political parties and citizens have a constitutional right to express political opinions, particularly on issues of governance, elections, and democracy, provided such expressions do not promote violence or hatred, which he stated his did not.
In his statement, Dumbuya reaffirmed his commitment to peace, the rule of law, and lawful democratic engagement, while informing the public that he had nevertheless been detained by the Inspector General of Police for engaging in what he described as democratic discourse.
See images of Lansana Dumbuya’s press statement below.
The detention followed shortly after the Political Parties Regulation Commission issued fines against the All People’s Congress. In a public statement dated Monday, 2nd February 2026, the Commission announced fines of two hundred thousand leones and one hundred and fifty thousand leones against the APC for violations of Section 39(1)(c) and Section 39(1)(d) of the Political Parties Act of 2022. The violations were attributed to statements made by Lansana Dumbuya and Zainab Sheriff during the APC mammoth meeting at the Attuga Mini Stadium.
The Commission noted that it had previously warned the APC by letter dated 11th November 2025 against contravening the provisions of Section 39 of the Act. It stated that the remarks made during the meeting were profane, obscene, provocative, and inciting, and gave the APC seven days to pay the fines or face further actions as provided by law.
See image of the PPRC press release below.
Following the announcement of the fines and the subsequent detention, several commentators and party supporters have raised concerns about the actions of the PPRC, accusing the Commission of suppressing citizens’ voices and acting in favor of the ruling party. These allegations have further fueled public debate about the independence of regulatory institutions and their role in safeguarding democratic participation.
From a human rights perspective, critics argue that the detention of a senior opposition figure for a political chant raises serious questions about freedom of expression, political pluralism, and the proportional use of state power. Political speech, particularly in the context of elections and governance, is generally afforded heightened protection under international human rights frameworks, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Sierra Leone is a signatory.
Observers note that actions taken by law enforcement agencies and regulatory bodies are closely monitored by international partners, democracy observers, and donor institutions. They warn that perceptions of intolerance toward dissent or selective enforcement of laws could negatively affect Sierra Leone’s democratic image and public confidence in state institutions.
Spear News made several attempts to reach the official spokesman of the All People’s Congress and the spokesman of the Sierra Leone Police for official reactions, but all efforts were unsuccessful as of the time of filing this report.
As developments continue, the detention of Lansana Dumbuya has evolved beyond a single political incident into a broader national debate on democratic space, institutional independence, and the limits of political expression in Sierra Leone. Spear News will continue to follow the situation and provide factual, balanced, and objective reporting as more information becomes available.
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