Pa Modou Mbowe, Spokesperson APRC “No To Alliance “
By Ramatoulie Jawo
A clash between the National People’s Party (NPP) and the breakaway faction of the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC) commonly called “No to Alliance” left two people arrested on Tuesday night.
The incident occurred at a meeting held by the NPP in Kanwally Village in Foni ahead of the local government elections.
Pa Modou Mbowe, the spokesperson of the APRC “No to Alliance,” told this medium that their administrative secretary, Matarr Kujabi, was also arrested after the clash.
“There was a problem in Kanwally Village. The National people’s party went there to conduct a meeting. They were welcomed by the villagers, and also welcomed to conduct their meeting. The Alikalo spoke to the entourage at the meeting. Matarr Kujabi our administrative secretary took the stage after the Alikalo and made a speech about their presence. He told them, “you guys should not waste time here because we have a candidate as well. What you guys want is what we desire as well. We want our candidate to win” Mr. Mbowe said.
The No-To-Alliance spokesman went on to narrate that the visiting National People’s Party delegation switched off their microphone and public address system when Matarr made those comments at their meeting.
“By turning the Mic off, Matarr told them, then there is no need for you guys to continue the meeting, because if the mic is off it means you don’t want to hear what I am saying. Then it means you have to stop the meeting,” he said.
Mr Mbowe said while Matarr was haggling with the NPP folks, a fight broke out in the periphery of the meeting. Matarr decided to intervene and separate the combatants. That was when an NPP guy hit one of the villagers with a stone to the head and ran away.
“While Matarr was talking to the boys who were fighting, one NPP guy came and hit one of the villagers with a stone on his head. That guy fell down and started bleeding. The boy (assailant) ran away. He was chased by the boys from the village, he was caught, beaten, and he also sustained an injury from that beating,” he said.
Mr. Mbowe narrated that thereafter, the NPP guys left the village. A little while after they left, the police came and asked the boys to go with them for questioning. Two of the villagers were arrested.
“These boys were arrested on Tuesday night and Matarr has to go with them because he is part of them. So, he went and gave his statement. Upon giving his statement, they (the police) allowed him to go home and report back to the police the following day. He went back the next day as instructed, and he was there to help the police with their investigation,” he said.
Mbowe further alleged that Demba Sabally asked the police to keep Matarr at the police station, where he (Matarr) spent the night yesterday.
“He went back the following day and was there helping the police with their investigations. Then, I think Demba Sabally, the Agriculture Minister, he urged them to keep Matarr”
When Mr. Mbowe was pressed on the veracity of his statement that Demba Sabally urged the police to keep Matarr, he alluded to a statement that Demba Sabally purportedly made that convinced him that he must be behind the Matarr’s detention.
“Well, he made a statement that Matarr was held by the police when Matarr wasn’t and as a result of that, Matarr was invited again to the police. But this time around, they transferred the case from Kanwally to Banjulinding police station.”
Mr. Mbowe said they are taking this issue as an intimidation tactic from the authorities.
“We took it as intimidation, really. It is really a trend that is happening. It started in Sare Talata with Dou Sannoh and the villagers.”
As we go to press, he said the case has been transferred from Kanwally to Banjulding police station, where Matarr Kujabie and two other arrested villagers are being detained.