Residents of Tikonko Road in Bo were taken aback upon seeing a large crowd of ruling All People's Congress (APC) party supporters storming their party office, chanting protest songs and calling on their district chairman, Sheik Sillah, to resign his position. The disenchanted APC supporters said they were protesting against the "unconstitutional and dictatorial"tendencies of Mr. Sillah, whom they said had lost their confidence and therefore should quit his chairmanship post and be replaced by another ruling party strongman, Balla Musa Koroma, until a new district chairman is elected. Koroma told Radio New Song in Bo that Sheik Sillah- during last year's general elections - declared his intention to contest for the position of Mayor of the

Bo City Council at a meeting convened in Freetown during which he (Sillah) urged all other contestants to resign their positions. This call, Koroma said, was heeded to by all, including Sheik Sillah.

"In a letter dated 2nd November, 2012, the Regional Chairman of the APC, Harold Hancil, mandated me to act as the Bo District Chairman of the party, a move he said is in compliance with Article 6 subsection 13 of the leadership succession of the constitution of the All People's Congress, 5th December in 1995," recalled Koroma. "He told me that Sheik Sillah is being relieved [of his duties] not because of death or physical or mental incapacity but because of his pursuit of the APC mayoral position."

Koroma said he had worked under Sillah for eight consecutive years during which the latter had contested in four elections.

However, efforts to get the reaction of Sheik Sillah on the said issue proved futile as this reporter was reliably informed that he had travelled to Freetown.