April 3, 2018 By Patrick J.Kamara
SLPP Julius Maada Bio casting his ballot at Juba Barracks
There was heavy presence of armed military personnel at the Services Secondary School, Juba Barracks, where the presidential candidate of the Sierra Leone Peoples Party, Retired Brigadier Julius Maada Bio voted.
There was low voter turnout at the centre, while the presence of armed military personnel at the polling centre caused some chaos and there was a standstill for about half an hour at one of the stations.
International and local journalists assembled at the entrance of the polling centre as they wait for Bio, who arrived at the centre together with his wife and two-year-old child daughter at 12 noon.
The security personnel at the entrance of the polling station where Maada Bio voted attempted to stop journalists from covering the event, but the move was greeted with strong resistance from civil society activist and some international observers who condemned the act, before all journalists were allowed in.
Bio was interviewed after voting and he told reporters that he was confident of winning because his manifesto resonated with the people of Sierra Leone and that that was why he took the lead in the first ballot.
He condemned the heavy presence of armed police and military personnel at the stations, thus calling on his voters to come out in their numbers and vote.
Asked why he took his young child along, Bio said election was not a war and that bringing his toddler along speaks volume for peaceful election in the country.