In what appears to be a premeditated assassination, the Managing Editor of Salone Compass Newspaper, Ibrahim Alusine Kamara alias Kamalo, was almost killed by armed military men believed to be presidential bodyguards and Operational Support Division (OSD) personnel of the Sierra Leone Police on Sunday, 25th June, 2023.
Had it not been for the swift intervention of the main opposition All Peoples Congress (APC) Deputy Leader, Kamara would have been a dead man by now.
It could be recalled that on Sunday June 25th, 2023, the leadership of the main opposition convened a press conference at their headquarters on Old Railway Line, Freetown.
Salone Compass Managing Editor was among several journalists invited to cover the event when armed military men believed to be presidential bodyguards and OSD personnel stormed the office and immediately opened fire in and around the office whilst party officials were about to address journalists.
It was like a complete waterfront as this military and OSD men besieged the APC office and its surroundings with the consistent firing of tear gas canisters and live bullets leading to one casualty.
Kamara and some journalist colleagues were able to flee the APC office and sought refuge in a nearby private residence where they were also being suffocated with teargas canisters.
When the firing eventually subsided, Kamara and his colleagues came out for a retreat to their various offices.
However, upon coming out, he narrated, I discovered that my vehicle, among others that were parked outside the office had been severely vandalized almost beyond repairs by the marauding presidential guards and OSD officers.
“I then kindly asked one of the security officers detailed thereat to allow me to take my jeep to the garage; a request which he approved of ” Kamara furthered.
Driving off just about ten meters away, he stated, two military officers and one OSD personnel halted him, querying as to who had permitted him to move his vehicle from the place.
Before he could even respond, one of the soldiers instantly placed him at gunpoint and the other had his gun corked to shoot at him while the OSD was hitting him with his gun, he narrated.
Even though he was in his Sierra Leone Association of Journalists regalia and even though he told them that their colleague security personnel had authorized him, they were hell-bent on pulling the trigger when the Deputy Leader of the APC coincidentally arrived at the scene and eventually saved Kamara from untimely death.
The said security officers, according to Salone Compass Newspaper CEO, were heard saying that he is one of the journalists that always writes and goes on television and radio shows to criticise them and the government.