It is Chinua Achebe who notes in one of his celebrated novels, “No Longer At Ease”, that “… a kinsman in trouble has to be saved, not blamed: anger against a brother should be felt in the flesh, not in the bone.”
This takes us to the issue between the state and one of Sierra Leone’s female entertainers and Chairperson of the Lappa Movement cum politician, Madam Zainab Sheriff.
Since her arrest on the morning of Friday 20 February 2026 and subsequent incarceration on accusations of incitement, threatening language, etc; it seems the All People’s Congress (APC) has somehow forgotten about her legal troubles. Large crowds of party stakeholders and sympathizers, including its battery of lawyers, have not been seen around or at the Law Courts.
Though Madam Sheriff is said to have threatened her party, the APC, with court action if the party goes ahead and pays the fine imposed on her by the Political Parties Regulation Commission (PPRC) when the issue started; yet her case just like any other member of the party should be at its centre.
In crucial moments like these, especially now that Election Management Bodies (EMB) appear to be penalizing any member of the APC who tends to express any critical view on the country’s post-2023 elections; we in The Nationalist believe that the party should rally around any member embroiled in such legal challenges just as it did when its National Secretary General, Lawyer Lansana Dumbuya, was faced with similar challenge.
Unity, they say, is strength and we at The Nationalist are of the view that if the APC is united in spirit and determination there is no way it will not win the 2028 general elections even if First Lady Fatima Bio or former Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Lahai Lawrence Leema is made chairperson of the Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone (ECSL). But for that to happen, the APC should know that every voice counts.
Therefore, whatever differences Zainab Sheriff might have had with any member of the party, or the party itself, at this time should be put aside. The APC, The Nationalist believes, should rally around her and any other member that is facing similar situation.
On that note, stakeholders including national officers, the Women’s Wing, the Young Congress and even aspiring flagbearer candidates should always make it a point of duty to witness court cases of their comrades if not all the time but some time. Party members should not be left to fight their own battles alone. They should be rallied around during difficult and challenging times and then blamed later as noted again by Chinua Achebe that, “The fox must first be chased away, after which the hen can be reprimanded for straying into the bush.”
Leaving party members, including its sympathizers in the media, to fight what appear to be politically-machinated cases on their own, risks creating a loophole wherein anyone could be picked up and incarcerated for expressing their views. It is only when this is done, just like it was happening during the post-2018 elections, that the governing Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) will realize that the APC means business.