Willie Kargborie Caulker, whose whereabouts are still unknown, faces the prospects of being arrested, imprisoned, or might even face mob justice from supporters of the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) because of his political activities and opposition to the government.
Caulker’s troubles reportedly started on 24 June 2023 when he received several calls from agents of his party, the All People’s Congress (APC), who were stationed in the Eastern District reporting incidents of rigging and harassment of his party’s officials. Being the APC’s representative in the Eastern District that was responsible for coordinating, monitoring, and supervising the entire electoral process; he rushed to the scene where he requested that the ballot boxes be recounted. For requesting such, after officials from the National Electoral Commission (NEC) had turned down his request, he was mercilessly beaten by alleged SLPP supporters who later reportedly took him unconscious to a notorious detention centre known as “Benghazi”.
He was reportedly detained at “Benghazi” for several weeks where he claimed to have been repeatedly beaten and tortured by state security agents. But he was later released without any charge proffered against him after his wife and his cousin, a senior military officer, reportedly stood as sureties for him.
Investigations indicate that following his release from the notorious “Benghazi” known as the “Gulag of Sierra Leone”, he was reportedly instructed to report to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) every Friday.
However, further investigation revealed that when Willie Kargborie Caulker noticed that many opposition supporters had reportedly “disappeared” after being detained at “Benghazi”; he became convinced that he too would be killed someday. So, he reportedly fled Sierra Leone.
Having failed to report to CID headquarters for two Fridays, a warrant of arrest was said to have been issued for him by the Sierra Leone Police. Later, it was reported that his wife and cousin, who had stood as sureties for him, were taken to CID headquarters and interrogated about his whereabouts. But they too had no knowledge of which country he had fled to.