John Leigh Gambles on APC

Leigh goes Rogue on SLPP

Perennial Sierra Leone People's Party flagbearer loser Ambassador John Leigh says he has had enough of losing the SLPP flagbearership position and has packed all his bundles and headed over to the ruling All People's congress. He,  Nyuma and some other want to form an SLPP wing of the APC.

LEIGH ON HIS LOSSES

It could be recalled that in 2005, Ambassador John Leigh, who claimed to have spent fifty thousand dollars on the SLPP flagbearer contest, was totally enraged when Solomon Berewa was declared winner and Ambassador Leigh could not even find one individual among the thousands at the convention to nominate him, let alone vote for him.

The Times reported that Ambassador Leigh was so shocked at losing that he "nearly went into coma." The Awoko newspaper at the time reported that Ambassador Leigh was spotted, crying like a baby. The Focus reported that the six other candidates accepted the loss at the time like men, but Ambassador Leigh went into temper tantrums and cried like a child. Mr. Hindolo Butcher who was campaign manager for Ambassador Leigh's tragic run in 2005 stated that up to the eleventh hour, the delegates who were supposed to nominate the ambassador had assured him that they were going to do, only to disappear into thin air at the moment of the nomination. News later circulated that Leigh's campaign mamager had given him a classic case of 419.

Awareness Times reported that when Leigh lost in  2005, he was sweating profusely in a black suit, with his neck tied like a goat, hyperventilating and it was only the intervention of then SLAJ chairman I. B. Kargbo, who called on his colleagues to give him air to breath, that saved the poor Ambassador's life. Ambassador Leigh was so distraught that he started calling the delegates bastards and "swegbehs".

Leigh in foul mood
"E don Baranta"

After the nomination in 2005 Mr. Leigh was repoted to have left the Makeni Convention center in an extremely foul mood and the police had to hastily whisk him away from the vicinity. He came back to America, maintained a low profile for some time, licked his wounds and slowly started to recoup some of his lost retirement savings and prepare for a last stand in  2011, as he was no longer a young man.

In 2011 Ambassador Leigh decided to go to Sierra Leone very early and work the ground. This time, he believed that even with 19 other aspirants, his chances were considerably better as he had been spending a lot of time shuttling between USA and Sierra Leone. He traveled to every major SLPP event, touting his credentials, condemning the inadequacy of current president Koroma, who he called as practically useless and explaining why he will be the best candidate for the Sierra Leone presidency.

Fatefully in July 2011 Ambassador Leigh was this time able to garner only 2 out of 602 votes at 0.33%.
The Segbwema blog correspondent at the convention hall stated that John Leigh left the hall in a mood so dark and bitter that those who saw him knew that something catastrophic was bound to happen. This time however, the Ambassador was able to control his rage and decided to release it all in a resignation letter to the party.

On  December 15,2011, almost six months after Ambassador Leigh's stunning second loss, he sent an ominous and chilling  letter of resignationto the SLPP Secretary General Sulaiman Banja Tejan-Sie.

Pure Anger

Only history can tell how many days Ambassador Leigh toiled on the letter trying to distill reason from satanic rage. Ambassador Leigh's letter, which I will not care here to reproduce as it is all over the Internet, is an excellent example of how not to write a resignation letter. He started the letter very coolly, making all the proper pleasantries and stating his grievances nicely. As he continued however, boiling Satanic rage took over.

At the beginning of the resignation classic, Ambassador Leigh made it clear that he had only decided to resign from the party after much reflection. He stated that he had decided to go against the advice of close folks who had urged him to stay. He then let all hell loose on the poor unsuspecting Banja Tejansie.

Leigh said that he could not continue to stay in a party who in whose words was " fronted by ex-junta personalities and under the sordid influence of those I personally know as nation-wreckers, money-grubbing lying rogues, false pretenders for money and such-like characters; not to mention the widespread acceptance in secret and off-camera of voodoo juju-swear ceremonies as part and parcel of the party’s unofficial ’democratic’ process in selecting its leadership. " (Leigh, 2011)

Accused SLPP of Voodoo

Short and precise, the letter represented months of pent up disappointment, boiling rage,  frustration seething anger and the only thing most people were betting on was the date of his declaration for the ruling All People's Congress, which was bound to happen.

Green for Red
Official welcome by Sumana Timbergate

In discussions about John Leigh political future, some people were of the opinion that he would act like Margai and form his own party, but realists stated that John Leigh's nature was so disagreeable that only his family members would join his party.

Others stated that as John Leigh was no longer very young he could not wait another ten years for Maada Bio to complete a two term 10 year  presidency as in ten years, Leigh would be a very old man. They believed that with his insatiable lust for power, Leigh would probably just hold his nose and hedge his bets with President Ernest Bai Koroma who he had described in the past with adjectives I cannot even care to repeat here, in respect of the position of the presidency. So John Leigh who has said he does not want to associate with Ex-Juntas, has left Maada Bio and left to Join Idriss Kamara, Karefa Kargo and Tom Nyuma, a paradox that can only be lost on the criminally insane.

Final battle, 8 years, 2 votes

With these defections by some strong SLPP men, Judas Iscariot would not be feeling too guilty for betraying Jesus Christ after all.


Sheku Sheriff