“We Will Kill You If Death Is What You Prefer”

“We will kill you if death is what you prefer”, are obviously harsh words, not to talk of it coming from a public office holder, a minister addressing rioters.

Not only has the declaration attracted a lot of criticisms nationwide, it has already earned the minister in question a suspension.

The president Julius Maada Bio could not stomach the alleged comments credited to cabinet minister Abu Abu Koroma, and has had him suspended as at Sunday.

The cabinet minister, had allegedly uttered the threat following the spate of violent incidents in his country Sierra Leone which had left the government unsettled..

The move comes after the president accused the political opposition of inciting the recent violence that has left over a dozen people dead, and which in some cases has been linked to coronavirus restrictions, according to an AFP report.

Bio’s office said in a statement that it had suspended Abu Abu Koroma — a minister for Sierra Leone’s northern province, an opposition stronghold — for “unacceptable conduct and public remarks”.

A video circulating on social media, which AFP was unable to independently verify, appears to show Koroma telling a crowd that rioters will be shot.

“We will kill you if death is what you prefer,” the cabinet minister appears to say in the video, speaking in a mixture of Themne and Krio.

“Any youth who misbehaves, we will break your legs and go after your mother and father,” he appears to add.

Yesterday, Bio gave a televised address accusing members of the opposition All People’s Congress (APC) party of being behind Sierra Leone’s recent violent flare-ups.

Eleven people died in one such incident last month, in an attempted jailbreak in the capital Freetown which occurred after an inmate tested positive for coronavirus.

The APC was not immediately available for comment.

Authorities in the former British colony have recorded 307 coronavirus cases to date, with 18 fatalities.

READ ALSO: At Dopemu, Lagos, It’s Lockdown Without Social Distancing

Bio — who briefly led a military junta more than two decades ago — took office in 2018 after a tumultuous election campaign which ended a decade-long spell in power by the APC.

Sierra Leone is one of the world’s poorest countries and is still recovering from the 1991-2002 civil war which claimed some 120,000 lives.

However, it was not clear what would now be the fate of the cabinet minister.