The All People’s Congress (APC) strongwoman Dr. Sylvia Olayinka Blyden OOR has responded to a series of references made against her in the 2023 report by the European Union Elections Observation Mission (EU EOM) to Sierra Leone which was released on Tuesday.
Dr Blyden OOR said in a statement on Thursday that the EU has sought to criminalize his “beautiful relationship between APC’s Dr. Sylvia Olayinka Blyden OOR and SLPP’s H.E. First Lady Fatima Maada Bio”.
She said that the EU Lead Observer, Hon. Madam Evin Incir, a female EU Member of Parliament, should have lifted Sylvia and Fatima’s relationship sky-high as a beacon of HOPE for what APC and SLPP could aspire.
“Instead, without a scrap of evidence to support her claims and without prior engagement to solicit the side of Dr. Sylvia Olayinka Blyden OOR, has profusely demeaned APC Strongwoman Sylvia Olayinka Blyden for merely being in a sisterhood relationship with SLPP Strongwoman First Lady Fatima Maada Bio,” she said.
Dr. Blyden OOR said she picked out five issues written around her in the report, including her Supreme Court Case against the conduct of the 2018 Elections; financial relationship between her and Facebook; accusation of
alignment with SLPP; her relationship with First Lady Fatima Maada Bio; and accusation of holding contempt with some of the APC members.
“I will treat (i) (ii) and (iii) with disregard but it is poignant to see European Union wrote about SYLVIA OLAYINKA BLYDEN in at least five(5) different matters in a Report on an Election wherein Sylvia did not contest, Sylvia did not even vote and Sylvia was not even in the country,” she said.
Relationship With Fatima
Dr Blyden said that her relationship with the First Lady started over two decades ago when Fatima was not even 21 years old at the time. “It is not a new relationship but has withstood the test of time because it is built on a rock-solid foundation of over 20 years. It has now transcended APC – SLPP Politics. It is an example of Political Tolerance. It should be showcased to the World as the power of Sisterhood over Bitter Politics,” she said.
Contempt For Certain APC Members
Dr Blyden OOR said “Without engaging me first, the EU went and raised significant concerns in their Report over the ‘contempt’ that Sylvia Olayinka Blyden has for certain APC Members. Well, again contrary to the statements of the EU Observers who (or their hidden handlers) seem to have an uncanny interest in SYLVIA OLAYINKA BLYDEN, my notable contempt for certain of my fellow APC members did not start at 2023 Elections but dates as far back as May/June 2020 (over 3 years ago) from the time when those APC members, selfishly looked the other way (as did the EU Mission in Sierra Leone) when my constitutional rights (as a Woman and as a Human Being) were egregiously abused during a most unlawful detention that I was subjected to by the State,” she said.
“That was an unlawful and pre-planned detention occasioned simply because I was by then (May/June 2020), the only leading APC democratic voice who courageously used democratic tools in our Democracy. For example, I used the democratic pathway of filing a case against the elected President, the Electoral Commission & Chief Electoral Commissioner at the Supreme Court. I also presented myself to democratically challenge allegations against me at the Commissions of Inquiry and MOST IMPORTANTLY, I wrote copiously against the excesses of President Bio and the SLPP-led Government – all in a transparent and democratic manner without ever breaking the Law.”
She said that for that courage, she singularly showed back then, she was arrested without a warrant, thrown behind bars into filthy detention cells and “treated in nasty, egregious manners that are unprintable”. “I was detained behind bars for two months from May 1, 2020, to the end of June 2020. Throughout my ordeal, those particular elements of the APC stayed silent. That their silence, and their subsequent lapses against expected democratic values, are the sources of my contempt for them. Let the EU take due note.”
She said however, she is too STRONG to allow that bitter maltreatment of her by the State to determine her patriotic and trustworthy contribution to the State. “I have a character strength that ensures I serve as a role model in PATRIOTISM (Country First!). So I will not allow my deeply bitter experience to derail my personal relationships with those I love and care for.”
She challenged Hon. Evir Incir to produce EVIDENCE that she (Sylvia Olayinka Blyden) ever aligned herself with the SLPP. “In the absence of such, an unfettered Apology is to be publicly given by Incir and the EU Observers – especially as they NEVER engaged me prior to publishing such malicious matters about me.”
She said that no hidden hand will derail the social standing of the First Lady Fatima Maada Bio and Dr. Sylvia Olayinka Blyden OOR, two strong women, who have applaudably succeeded to transcend their political differences amidst a bitter political climate that threatens the very foundation of our Multi Party Democracy.
“Instead of praising Fatima and myself for maintaining a relationship across party lines, the EU Observers attacked the relationship maliciously,” she said.