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Central Base Journalists Sierra Leone (CBJSL) had been reliably informed about how a Lebanese foreign national in Sierra Leone, Mr. Abdallah Osman had allegedly connived to unlawfully take over a four (4) town lots pieces of land together with the current Deputy Minister of Lands, Rev. Dr. Jonathan Titus Williams from it’s legal or lawful owner, Madam Kadijah Bangura along the Penninsular Highway, York Community in the Western Area Rural District (WARD).
Taking a look at Madam Bangura’s documents on the disputed land, CBJSL discovered that Kadijah Bangura bought the land in question since 2020 from a former Director of Lands in the Ministry of Lands, Mr. Sylvanus Pratt, who is still alive and kicking.
What is not strange in this whole episode is that, Madam Bangura possessed all the necessary and official documents, included a signed conveyance by her lawyer and the Site Plan which was signed by officials in the Ministry of Lands.
Guess what happened, the said Lebanese fellow from the blues came and encroached on the land, claiming that he was the owner of the property and he bought it from a Christian institution known as the Anglican Diocese in Freetown.
Moreover, when Madam Bangura conducted an open findings or investigation through the Council of Churches in Sierra Leone (CCSL) on how the Lebanese man might have acquired the land from the management of the Anglican Diocese in Freetown, it was discovered from authorities at CCSL that the Anglican Diocese didn’t own a land at the York Community along the Penninsular Highway and never go in to land sale or deal with anybody. Above all officials at CCSL further established that it was against the practices of Christian faith for a church administration to sell a land even for the purpose of building or constructing a church.
It could be recalled that within the year 2021, the Ministry of Lands instituted an investigation into the issue and they came to their conclusion that the land was a legal property belonging to Madam Bangura.
Furthermore, it was alleged that the Lebanese man used the power that be through the current Deputy Minister of Lands who called for a new or fresh investigation in to the matter. CBJSL was told that before the commencement of the second investigation, the Deputy Lands Minister had already taken side by innaundating the woman with phone calls and threatened her on the issue.
After the conclusion of what many described as a doctored and planned investigation, lands officials in their second report didn’t afraid to proclaim or rule that the conflicted land belonged to the Lebanese national, Mr. Abdallah Osman, despite the facts that the Anglican Diocese had made it very clearly that they didn’t own a land at the York community, along the Penninsular Highway as claimed by the Lebanese illegal encroacher. CBJSL was also informed that the Anglican Church land property situated at Henry Street where the Saint Henry Church was built.
After land officials had given right to the Lebanese man as the owner of the property, Mr Abdallah Osman didn’t only hired thugs to the York Community but he also commanded them to cause havoc which they succeeded to do.
The action of the accused Lebanese man and his thugs also caused panic among the local residents of York community as the disgruntled youths who were spotted with all sort of offensive weapons, drinking alcohol, smoking Kush and were also publicly threatened to manhandle and kill anybody who might stand their way. The youths weren’t hesitated to destroy all the bakings erected by Madam Kadijah Bangura to demarcate the land area.
In another development, the investigation carried out by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on the same issue also revealed that the land in question was lawfully acquired and owned by the woman, Madam Bangura.
CBJSL also informed that Mr. Abdallah Osman had sacked and driven away his caretaker in the land, Joseph Kamara aka Rasta for defending the land against his Boss by telling him the hard facts that the land was lawfully owned by Madam Kadijah Bangura.
As we speak, the Ministry of Lands had issued out a notice which instructed both parties to stop all work on the land until they were told to do otherwise.
What is not clear here as we are concluding, the Ministry had authorized both parties to stop all work on the land with immediate effect, but the Lebanese citizen had reluctantly went forth to serve an affidavit to the court against Madam Kadijah Bangura.
Mr. Abdallah Osman was innundated with phone calls in an efforts to get his side of the story with several text messages on his cell phone, but he declined to respond as at press time.
