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Dr. Sylvia Olayinka Blyden OOR has received her renewed Honorary Foundation membership card from the All People’s Congress (APC), marking 13 straight years as a member.
She collected the card from the APC Secretariat in Freetown and used the moment to call on members to verify their membership and financially support the party.
The card was handed to her by Secretariat staff Madam Umu Marian Sillah and Chief Osman Jalloh under the direction of the party’s National Secretary General, Lansana Dumbuya Esq. Dr. Blyden arrived dressed in APC colors, including an APC North America t-shirt.
“This is the well-deserved status that I have held for the past 13 years now in the APC. It is the highest status of membership and it reflects my contributions to the growth of APC in the past, and which now continues in my own style of service,” she said.
She recalled her early days with the party, stating that her loyalty to APC ideals goes back to the 1990s when she was in exile in America. “I used my money, my energy, and my time to rebuild the APC at a time when it was weak and unattractive,” she said.
Dr. Blyden made it clear that she did not join the APC because of former president Ernest Bai Koroma. Instead, she said it was he who used to call her from RITCORP in Freetown to ask for support when he wanted to re-enter politics in 2000–2001. “I have the moral authority over Ernest Bai Koroma any day and any time, and he knows this,” she said.
She stated, “Those who say it is Ernest who brought me into APC are wrong. The truth is that when Ernest decided he wanted to come back to politics, he used to call people like me in America to support him.”
She added that she was only 26 years old when she and others worked globally to bring APC back to life. In 2001, she temporarily stepped away from APC due to internal fights and went on to lead the Young Peoples Party (YPP), becoming the youngest ever person in African history to lead a registered political party to an election.
“I am satisfied with my politics so far. It is God who planned my political journey,” she said, confirming that her only party membership apart from YPP was with the APC. She officially rejoined APC in 2012 and has held her Honorary Foundation status since then.
Dr. Blyden said she has presidential ambitions but is not yet ready, as she wants to learn more about Sierra Leone’s culture, laws, and society before taking on such a role.
Her longstanding history with the APC in North America was earlier recognized in an article published by Cocorioko Newspaper in 2013. In that article, Osman T. Conteh, one of the founding members of APC North America, described her as one of the key brains and early sponsors of the branch during the party’s difficult years.
He said Dr. Blyden gave a large financial donation and used her time and skills to design the APC website, which gained high traffic. She also helped rent office space in Maryland with Hon. Ibrahim Bundu and supported the executive led by Hon. Raymond Kabia.
Dr. Blyden later addressed APC members in the U.S. and spoke against backbiting and division. She reminded them that many who now support APC were once afraid to be seen with the party. “We had a vision and we believed in the APC,” she said, urging youths to rise and lead just as she did when she was under 30.
She told the audience at that time, “This is your time. Rock for the APC.”
Dr. Blyden is expected to release a special broadcast in Krio later this month.
