Sierraeye Magazine

10/05/2026

10/05/2026

Black Atlantic Radicalism and the Nova Scotian Settlers of Freetown

In the late eighteenth century, a restless Atlantic world carried ships, scriptures, rumours, revolutions, and fugitives across imperial frontiers with unsettling speed. Long before historians named it the “Black Atlantic,” enslaved and formerly enslaved Africans already inhabited it as makers of political meaning. They moved through its circulatory networks as soldiers, sailors, preachers, petitioners, refugees, and runaways, carrying with them memories of bo***ge, evangelical visions of spiritual equality, and an expanding grammar of liberty that no imperial boundary could fully contain. Among the most remarkable of these travellers were the “Black Loyalists” who departed Nova Scotia for Sierra Leone in 1792, seeking in West Africa the freedom the American Revolution had promised but never intended fully to grant them.

Yet the story of the Nova Scotians in Sierra Leone has too often been framed within the paternalist vocabulary of imperial philanthropy: settlers rescued by abolitionists, disciplined by missionaries, and governed into civilisation by the Sierra Leone Company. Such narratives reduce them to objects of reform rather than subjects of history. This article proceeds from a different premise. It seeks to recover the Nova Scotian settlers as historical actors in the deepest Thompsonian sense: men and women who fashioned a political culture from below out of migration, war, religion, betrayal, labour, and struggle. It seeks, in other words, to rescue them from what E. P. Thompson famously called “the enormous condescension of posterity.”

If the archives of early Sierra Leone speak anxiously of “Jacobins,” “rioters,” and “negro Sans Culottes,” they also reveal something more profound: the emergence in Atlantic Freetown of a radical popular politics grounded in claims to liberty, equal rights, land, representation, and non-racial citizenship. The Nova Scotians did not merely transport bodies across the Atlantic; they carried political expectations forged in slavery, sharpened in war, and radicalised through exclusion. Their Methodism provided more than consolation. Like the plebeian Methodism of industrial England analysed by E. P. Thompson, it furnished forms of organisation, literacy, collective discipline, moral legitimacy, and a language of human equality that could sustain agitation from below. Chapel meetings, petitions, dissent, and protest became vehicles through which the settlers transformed evangelical community into democratic practice.

The colonial state recognised the danger immediately. Imperial officials racialised Nova Scotian political action precisely because they understood its implications. William Wilberforce painted the settlers with the brush of Jacobinism; the brash Governor Thomas Perronet Thompson dismissed them contemptuously as “negro Sans Culottes.” Such labels were never descriptive alone. They were attempts to transform Black political agency into racial threat, to render demands for rights unintelligible except as disorder. The passage from “Black Loyalist” to “Black Jacobin” to “negro Sans Culotte” marked the colonial effort to contain a population whose insistence on liberty exceeded the paternal limits of abolitionist empire.

In this respect, the history of the Nova Scotians belongs within the wider revolutionary currents of the Atlantic world explored by Julius Scott in The Common Wind. News, rumours, sermons, and political idioms travelled ceaselessly among sailors, preachers, dockworkers, soldiers, and fugitives, creating subterranean networks of communication that linked Haiti, Nova Scotia, Jamaica, London, Charleston, and Sierra Leone. The settlers of Freetown inhabited precisely this world of circulation. Their radicalism was not derivative mimicry of European revolution but part of a broader Black Atlantic political tradition in which enslaved and formerly enslaved peoples appropriated, transformed, and universalised the language of rights that empires and revolutions sought to reserve for whites alone.

Here the profound paradox identified by Cassandra Pybus in Epic Journeys of Freedom becomes central. In fleeing the American republic whose founding fathers proclaimed liberty while denying their humanity, Black Loyalists carried to the far corners of the globe the animating principles of the Revolution itself. Excluded from the nation, they became among the most determined custodians of its universal promise. What white revolutionaries defended as the privilege of citizens, Black migrants transformed into a claim about humanity. Their journeys across the Atlantic were therefore not acts of exile alone, but acts of political transmission.

To write the history of the Nova Scotian settlers in this way is to shift the centre of gravity in the study of the Black Atlantic. Sierra Leone ceases to appear merely as an abolitionist experiment on the margins of empire and emerges instead as a crucible of popular democratic struggle in the Age of Revolution. The settlers’ petitions, protests, refusals, and insurgent political cultures formed part of a wider genealogy of Atlantic radicalism from below. Their history belongs not to imperial benevolence, but to the heroic tradition of ordinary people who insisted that liberty must be universal or it would remain a lie.

Ibrahim Abdullah, 10/5/26

08/05/2026

08/05/2026

Obituary: Haja Mariama Fofana

Haja Mariama Fofana, beloved wife of the late Dr. Idris Fofana passed away peacefully at her home in Juba, Freetown on May 6, 2026. She was 83 years old.

Born on February 12, 1943, to Alhaji Muhammad Jalloh and Haja Fatmata Jalloh in the East End of Freetown, Haja Mariama was a pioneering figure in Sierra Leonean education, women’s empowerment, and community leadership. She attended the prestigious Annie Walsh Memorial School and became the first Fulah (Fulbeh) woman to enter Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone. There, she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Language, Modern History, and International Relations, later obtaining a Master’s degree in Gender Studies from the same institution.

A dedicated educator, she worked as a teacher before serving with numerous non-governmental organizations and as a consultant for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Throughout her life, she remained deeply committed to the advancement of women and the girl child. She was an active member of the Fulah Progressive Union and the Eminent Women Peace Mediators, a founding member of the 50/50 Group Sierra Leone Chapter, and served as its third President.

50/50 Fifty-Fifty Group Sierra Leone Chapter noted in its release that “Haja was a strong, vibrant, dependable, and deeply committed member of the 50/50 Group, someone you could always count on for support, guidance, and service. She never hesitated when called upon to assist others or contribute to the growth and success of the organization. Her unwavering dedication, kindness, humility, and compassionate spirit touched countless lives within the 50/50 Group and beyond. It is difficult to come to terms with the loss of such a beautiful and gentle soul. Her legacy of commitment, sisterhood, and selfless service will continue to inspire us all and will forever remain a cherished part of the history of the 50/50 Group. We extend our heartfelt condolences to her family, loved ones, friends, and all who mourn this unimaginably great loss. May her beautiful soul rest in perfect peace.”

Haja Mariama was remembered by her colleagues as a motherly figure of quiet strength and pleasant demeanour. One fellow founding member wrote: “It is with profound sadness that I learned of the passing of our dear sister and Think Tank founding member, Haja Mariama Fofana. Haja Mariama will be deeply missed for her enormous and positive contributions not only to our tribe, but to women, the girl child, and the nation as a whole. … Haja was a motherly figure, pleasant and of quiet demeanour. She left an indelible mark on us all. May the Almighty Allah grant her the highest place in Jannah. May he also give family comfort, the courage and strength to overcome this moment of grief.”

Haja Mariama Fofana is survived by many children, grandchildren, brothers, sisters, nephews, nieces, in-laws, and a wide circle of relatives and friends who will cherish her memory.

Janazah and Burial Details
• Date: Saturday, May 9, 2026
• Prayers: Masjid at Hill Station Mu Zikr will begin around 10:00 a.m.
• Burial: Makonkarie Village via Mathoir, Yoni Mamaila Chiefdom, Tonkolili District, after ASR prayers.

“Indeed we belong to Allah, and indeed to Him we will return.” (Qur’an 2:156)

May her soul rest in perfect peace.

08/05/2026

May 8, 2000 Massacre - Protesters marched on rebel leader Foday Sankoh’s home in Freetown, where RUF rebels killed at least 20 civilians, a pivotal, tragic moment during the Sierra Leone Civil War.

05/05/2026

Rest in Peace, Coach Vic: Sierra Leone’s Only Female CAF ‘A’ Licensed Coach and Premier League Trailblazer

Coach Victoria Conteh, affectionately known as Coach Vic or “De Cox,” former Head Coach of the Sierra Leone Senior Women’s National Team, the Sierra Queens passed away in Freetown yesterday.

Coach Vic was a true pioneer and trailblazer in Sierra Leone football, breaking barriers as the first female coach in the country’s history to manage a top-tier male club. A proud CAF A License holder, the only Sierra Leonean woman to achieve this distinction, she served as a mentor, CAF instructor, and member of the SLFA Technical Committee. Her decades of dedication as a player, coach, and administrator left an indelible mark on the development of the women’s game and the sport as a whole.

Born in the early 1970s, Conteh represented Sierra Leone as an international player in the early 1990s, earning six caps for the country’s first-ever women’s national team. At club level, she turned out for Prisons, Lioness, Soccer Angels, and other top sides. She later transitioned seamlessly into coaching, leading the Sierra Leone U-20 women’s team, the Sierra Leone Police Women’s outfit, and briefly taking temporary charge of men’s second-tier side Delta Strikers. In December 2019, she made history when East End Tigers appointed her as head coach of their Premier League side, the first (and only) woman to hold such a position in Sierra Leone’s top-flight men’s game. She guided the club with distinction, including a notable 1-1 draw in her debut against FC Kallon, before the season was curtailed by the COVID-19 pandemic. She also coached Police FC after their promotion to the Premier League.

Despite serious health challenges in recent years, Coach Vic remained passionate about the game. In March 2026, she told legendary BBC sports journalist Mohamed Fajah Barrie at an SLFA Academy match that she missed being on the touchline and hoped to return.

The Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) has expressed profound sorrow at her passing. In an official condolence message released on Monday, May 4, 2026, SLFA President Babadi Kamara, together with his Executive Committee and the entire football community, stated: "The President of the Sierra Leone Football Association, Babadi Kamara, together with his Executive Committee and the entire football community, expresses profound sorrow at the passing of Madam Victoria Conteh, former Head Coach of the Sierra Leone Senior Women’s National Team, Sierra Queens. Madam Conteh was a trailblazer in women’s football, remembered for her historic achievement as the only female Head Coach in the Sierra Leone Men’s Premier League, where she led East End Tigers with distinction. Her passion, resilience, and commitment to the development of the women’s game have left an indelible mark on Sierra Leone football. On behalf of the football family, we extend our deepest condolences to her family, friends, former players, and all those she inspired through her remarkable journey. May her soul rest in perfect peace.”

Legendary BBC sports journalist Mohamed Fajah Barrie, who covered her groundbreaking career extensively, paid a heartfelt tribute: “I last met Victoria Conteh known as ‘De Cox’ in March this year during a Premier League football match at the SLFA Academy. Her last words to me were, ‘Mr. Fajah, I want to go back to the touchline as I miss being there.’ One of her legs had been badly infected by poison, leading to amputation in 2023.
Today, we received the heartbreaking news of her passing in Freetown. It is a sad day for Sierra Leone football. Victoria Conteh was the only Sierra Leonean woman to hold a CAF A license coaching badge. She made history in 2019 as the first and only woman to coach a Premier League side. Until her death, she was the first Sierra Leonean woman to serve as a CAF instructor and also served on the Technical Committee of the Sierra Leone FA.
Victoria was also a former Sierra Leone international, playing for her country’s first-ever national team in the early 1990s, where she earned six caps. At the club level, she played for Prisons, Lioness, and Soccer Angels. She will be greatly missed. Rest in peace, Victoria!”

Coach Vic’s courage, knowledge, discipline, leadership, and unwavering love for football inspired generations of players and coaches across Sierra Leone and beyond. She proved that qualification and passion, not gender, define success on the pitch. The touchline has lost one of its most passionate voices, but her legacy as a barrier-breaker and trailblazer will endure in every young girl who dreams of coaching or playing at the highest level.

The football community, her former players, colleagues, and all those she mentored, join in mourning this immense loss. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family, friends, and loved ones at this difficult time.

Rest well, Coach Vic. Your legacy lives on.

May her soul rest in perfect peace. Ameen.

05/05/2026

Remembrance as a Political Project: Race and the Afterlives of Edward Wilmot Blyden

The afterlife of Edward Wilmot Blyden reveals, with unusual clarity, that remembrance is never a neutral act. It is a political project—an arena in which competing communities struggle to define not only who the dead were, but what they mean. In Blyden’s case, this struggle is inscribed materially in stone: in the divergence between his gravestone, erected by his “African friends,” and a commemorative tablet in central installed by his “white friends.” That these memorials record different dates of his passing is not merely an archival inconsistency. It is symptomatic of a deeper contest over authority, belonging, and racial meaning. Even in death, race contoured Blyden’s memory.

The gravestone is intimate, declarative, and political. It names Blyden “A Truly Great African,” situating him within a moral and intellectual community that claims him as its own. The inscription collapses the geography of the Black Atlantic—St. Thomas, Liberia, Sierra Leone—into a narrative of return and belonging, while affirming an identity that Blyden himself spent a lifetime elaborating: Africa as both cultural inheritance and political destiny. Erected by “his African friends and admirers,” the grave speaks in a voice of proximity. It is grounded in lived relations, in recognition, and in a shared understanding of Blyden as a race man—one whose intellectual labour was inseparable from the project of African self-definition.

By contrast, the tablet in the center of Freetown belongs to a different memorial regime. Its location in a colonial civic space and its attribution to “white friends” immediately signal a distinct audience and purpose. Here, Blyden is reframed—rendered legible within the categories of empire: a learned man, a respectable figure, perhaps even a loyal subject of imperial modernity. The discrepancy in the date of death is telling. It suggests a memorialization at a distance, mediated through bureaucratic or symbolic registers rather than grounded knowledge. More importantly, it underscores the limits of colonial authority over the very lives it sought to classify. If the grave embodies recognition, the tablet performs inscription—an attempt to fix Blyden within an imperial archive that cannot fully contain him.

These two memorials do not simply differ; they speak past one another. They constitute two voices on Blyden, each racializing his life in distinct ways. The gravestone asserts him as African, not as a descriptive category but as a political identity forged against the hierarchies of race that structured the nineteenth-century Atlantic world. The tablet, by contrast, risks domesticating that radicalism, translating Blyden into a figure acceptable within colonial discourse. In doing so, it participates in the production of historical silences—not by erasing Blyden, but by reconfiguring the terms through which he is remembered.

To grasp the significance of this divergence, one must situate Blyden within the broader crisis of Black Atlantic modernity. As a thinker, he was deeply invested in the question of race—not as a biological essence, but as a historical and cultural formation requiring defence, cultivation, and dignity. Blyden’s project was to reclaim Africa from the epistemic violence of empire, to assert the value of African civilisations, and to imagine a future in which Black people could exist outside the tutelage of Europe. Yet his life was also entangled with the institutions of empire—missionary networks, colonial administrations, and settler societies in Liberia and . This dual positioning made him, even in life, a contested figure.

It is therefore unsurprising that his death did not resolve these tensions but instead reactivated them in the domain of memory. The gravestone and the tablet reproduce, in miniature, the larger contradictions that structured the Black Atlantic world: between autonomy and incorporation, between race consciousness and imperial recognition, between lived community and administrative abstraction. Memory here is not a passive record but an active site of struggle.

The discrepancy in dates—seemingly minor—can be read as a profound metaphor. It signals that there is no single authoritative account of Blyden’s life or death. The archive is unstable; the record is incomplete. More importantly, it reveals that the power to remember is also the power to define reality. In this sense, remembrance becomes an extension of politics by other means. To name Blyden, to date his death, to situate him within a narrative—these are acts that carry ideological weight.

The memorialization of Blyden poses a central question: what kind of past is being constructed and for what purposes? The gravestone constructs a past oriented toward African self-assertion and collective dignity. The tablet constructs a past compatible with colonial order and recognition. Neither is neutral; both are interventions in the present.

To say that even in death race contoured his memory is to recognize that race operates not only in life but in the afterlives of historical figures. It shapes who claims them, how they are represented, and what they are made to signify. Blyden’s body lies in Sierra Leone, but his memory circulates across competing discursive fields, each seeking to fix its meaning. The result is not a singular legacy but a contested one—one that exposes the politics of remembrance itself.

In the end, these memorials do more than commemorate Blyden. They reveal the impossibility of stabilizing his meaning within a single narrative. They show that remembrance is always an act of power, that memory is always already political, and that the struggle over race does not end with death. Blyden remains, even in memory, a figure claimed, reinterpreted, and contested by the very worlds he sought to transform.

Ibrahim Abdullah lectures at Fourah Bay College

05/05/2026

"According to the 2026 Global Terrorism Index, sub-Saharan Africa now accounts for more than half of all terrorism-related deaths. The Sahel is the epicenter of this violence, with three regional states—Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali—among the world’s top five worst-affected countries, with a tenfold increase in terrorism fatalities since 2007.

The two most prominent groups active today in the Sahel are the al-Qaida affiliate Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, or JNIM, and the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara. The threat does not end in the Sahel, however. JNIM in particular is expanding further across the broader West African region, with Guinea the latest victim of its spread.

In late March, the Guinean government announced that it had dismantled a suspected terrorist network linked to JNIM and had arrested 11 people in April 2025 following a nationwide counterterrorism operation. The government did not explain why it had taken so long to announce the arrests."

As al-Qaida-affiliated jihadists look expand beyond their strongholds in Mali, neighboring Guinea could prove an attractive target.

04/05/2026

OBITUARY
HON. JUSTICE NYAWO FINDA MATTURI-JONES, JA (RTD.)
1950–2026

The legal community, the people of Kono District, and Sierra Leone as a whole mourn the passing of Hon. Justice Nyawo Finda Matturi-Jones, Justice of the Appeal Court (Retired).

Hon. Justice Matturi-Jones passed away on 4 May 2026 at the age of 75. Born on 28 August 1950, she was widely celebrated as a proud daughter of Nimikor Chiefdom in Kono District, Eastern Sierra Leone.

Justice Matturi-Jones occupies a historic place in Kono and national history as the first female graduate lawyer from Kono District and the district’s first female judge. These milestones made her a symbol of progress, ambition, and excellence for generations of young women across Sierra Leone.

Her judicial career spanned decades of public service. She began as a Magistrate before serving extensively as a High Court Judge, including assignments in Kenema where she earned respect for discipline, fairness, and sound judicial reasoning. Her consistent professionalism saw her elevated to the Court of Appeal, where she served as Justice of Appeal.

In December 2021, President Julius Maada Bio appointed her Chairperson of the Judicial Tribunal established to investigate allegations involving the Auditor-General and Deputy Auditor-General.

She was appointed inaugural Chancellor of the Kono University of Science and Technology, a role that reflected both her stature as a legal luminary and her enduring ties to her home district.

Her contributions extended beyond the courtroom into governance reform, women’s empowerment, and legal development initiatives, including work connected to women’s rights and land governance frameworks.

For the people of Kono District, she was more than a judge. She was a daughter of the soil whose achievements brought distinction to Nimikor Chiefdom and pride to an entire nation.

Hon. Justice Nyawo Finda Matturi-Jones is survived by family, friends and former colleagues whose lives she influenced through her example and service.

May her soul rest in peace.

04/05/2026