Adonkia Imam Languishes in Police Cell over Land Battle

With serious efforts being put in place by the Ministry of Lands to bring sanity to the land sector, as well as efforts by the government to improve its Human Rights record, some set of the public are accusing the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Hon Philip Sengepoh, and the Local Unit Commander at the Adonkia, Peninsular Police Station, of destroying the gains made in the two areas.

The latest to accuse these two individuals are family members of Sheik Musa Kamara, a popular Islamic scholar in the Dodo community, Adonkia, in the Western Area Peninsular, who has been in police detention for the past week now, family sources told this
medium.

This medium managed to speak to Shiek Musa in police detention, who stated that he was called by LUC Kallon to report at the Adonkia police station, and upon his arrival on Thursday 24th November 2022, he was physically assaulted by the LUC and some police personnel, and later dragged downstairs and locked up, on the allegation that he maliciously damaged and trespassed on property belonging to the Deputy Speaker of the House of Parliament, Hon Sengepoh.

He continued that since then he has not been given a medical form to see a doctor, even when he and his lawyer requested that, furthering that he has been in serious pain in a police cell, and was also denied bail.

This medium tried to reach out to the Deputy Speaker, through direct phone calls, WhatsApp calls, direct messages, and WhatsApp messages, on the issue of bail for Sheik Musa, but he did not respond to any.

We also spoke to LUC Kallon, who confirmed that Sheik was in their custody for trespassing on property belonging to the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, and will not be granted bail until an order from the Deputy Speaker is given to do so.

This is most worrying, as a bail bond prepared by the line manager and crime officer for bail was put on hold.

Lawyer Kamara from Teddy Associates, who has been advocating for his Client to be granted bail, told this medium that the human right of his Client has been violated.

Our reporter and one AYV reporter last week spoke to the Deputy Speaker in connection to the said Land matter, where he stated that the land in question was given to him by the Simbo family as a legal fee after his law firm represented them in a legal battle between them and the Levay family to reclaim their property. The Deputy Speaker stated that a Default Judgement was issued by Honorable Justice Manuela Harding because the other party failed to enter an appearance on the matter.

However, during our investigation of the matter, we again engaged Sheik Musa, who stated that he is the rightful owner of the said land, and the judgment that the Deputy Speaker is referring to has been set aside again by the Honorable Justice Manuela Harding in a recent ruling on the matter, and the recent judgment gave them access to the propriety.

This writer also spoke to Police Media One, who promised that the issue will be swiftly looked into and they will get back to us.

Family sources also revealed that this is not the first time Sheik Musa has been arrested in connection to the said property. They claimed that most times he has been molested and locked up in a police cell for weeks.

Most people who spoke to this medium said that they know the Deputy Speaker to be a fine personality, but if the accusations are true, that has the tendency of undermining the gains made by President Bio and may lead to a loss of votes in the coming elections in that part of the country.