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Prominent All People’s Congress (APC) figure Dr. Sylvia Olayinka Blyden has publicly criticized First Lady Fatima Maada Bio for endorsing Freetown Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr’s bid for “success” in the APC flagbearer race, a move Blyden described as politically calculated and deliberately timed.
Blyden, who recently announced that she is considering contesting the APC flagbearer position ahead of the 2028 general elections, made the remarks in a statement issued shortly after the First Lady publicly wished Mayor Aki-Sawyerr success within the APC. According to Blyden, the endorsement came just one day after she disclosed her own intentions, a timing she said was not coincidental.
In her statement, Blyden claimed the First Lady’s action signalled a preference for Aki-Sawyerr over her within the APC, arguing that it reflected the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party’s (SLPP) strategic interests rather than goodwill toward women in opposition politics. She stated that the endorsement made clear “which woman” the First Lady would prefer to face in a future presidential contest.
Blyden dismissed suggestions that she was personally angered by the endorsement, saying instead that she understood the political reasoning behind it. She alleged that the preference for Aki-Sawyerr was linked to concerns over election result documentation, particularly Result Reconciliation Forms (RRFs).
“It is only Yvonne who will know how to do certain things such as to make APC’s 2028 RRF forms disappear,” Blyden said in her statement, adding that she was “serious” about the allegation. She further challenged Mayor Aki-Sawyerr to produce APC RRF forms from the 2023 Freetown mayoral election, arguing that as an experienced candidate, she should have secured and retained the documents.
Blyden contrasted this with her own potential candidacy, asserting that under her leadership, no election result forms would be lost. She claimed this was the reason the SLPP, in her view, would prefer not to run against her in 2028.
The APC figure also reflected on the party’s past electoral defeats in 2018 and 2023, warning that without what she described as a “paradigm shift” in strategy and internal accountability, the party risked repeating previous outcomes. She urged party members to learn from past elections and adopt more strategic approaches ahead of the next polls.
Neither the Office of the First Lady nor Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr has publicly responded to Blyden’s claims at the time of this report.
