HAS JULIUS MAADA BIO FINALLY TAMED HIS SHREWD WIFE BY PROTECTING BATILO SONGHA?

by Fatima Babih, EdD

On August 7, 2025, “First Lady” Fatmata Jabbie stage name Fatima Maada Bio accompanied her husband, “President” Julius Maada Bio, to the opening of the Sierra Leone Parliament.

As the saying goes, A picture is worth a thousand words. The image of Fatima Bio sitting stiffly beside her husband speaks volumes. Her facial expression and body language paint a picture of a bird whose primary wings had just been clipped, yet still flapping its secondaries in a desperate attempt to convince the world it can fly.

Instead of staying silent and leaving us to wonder why she looked so visibly bitter, hidden behind dark sunglasses and earbuds during Parliamentary proceedings, Fatima Bio, in her drunk with power stupor, unable to think and act rationally, thought the best thing to do was go to social media.

That very day, in one of her signature ranting video messages, while still wearing the same outfit she wore at Parliament, Fatima Bio got her home studio staff busy recording her rant. In her message, she declared:

I am not leaving SLPP… I was in politics before I met Maada Bio.

What followed was her usual self-praise and inflated claims. But it is those two statements that deserve attention.

The Truth Behind

I Am Not Leaving SLPP

This statement was a direct response to the growing wave of SLPP members, including her husband, who finally stood up to her election-rigging tactics during the just-concluded SLPP convention.

Who is Batilo Songha the, the leading contender for the SLPP Chairmanship? He is one of the two men who originally brought Fatima Bio into Julius Bio’s life. In my book The UNBECOMING Mrs. Maada Bio of Sierra Leone: A Case of First Lady Syndrome, I detail how Songha played a central role in making Fatima Bio First Lady. I also documented how the two eventually fell out, particularly after Songha’s wife refused to join the circle of puppet women Fatima installed in her JMB clique within the SLPP.

Batilo Songha is not a political lightweight, he is a core SLPP member since his youth. Yet Fatima Bio, empowered by the authority of her wedding ring, has repeatedly undermined and tormented the very people who helped bring her husband to power.

For this chairmanship race, she was determined to destroy Songha’s aspirations. She imposed her candidate, used ill-gottenmoney to influence votes, mobilized misguided youth for violence, and employed othernefarious tactics, the same methods she has used over the years to ruin the political careers of women in the SLPP.

But this time, the core SLPP members fought back. They put her in her place. Songha won. Her candidate lost. And SLPP members celebrated, thanking her husband for ensuring the election was free and fair.

That bitter defeat is what you saw etched on Fatima Bio’s face at the opening of Parliament. That bitterness is what she tried to mask in her ensuing video rant.

Another Fairy Tale

I Was in Politics Before I Met Maada Bio

If you’ve read my book, you already know the truth. The closest Fatima Bio came to “politics” before meeting Maada Bio was organizing beauty pageants and fashion shows in the Gambia, which were venues where young women were often paraded for politicians to find and exploit. Her role in politics was shady personal relationships with politicians in the Gambia. Nothing more. And there is no evidence of her playing any role in the political arena of the United Kingdom.

Furthermore, in a now-viral pre-Bio interview with Nana Churcher, just months before meeting Maada Bio, the then Fatima Jabbie openly said she wanted to get an education because in the future, she planned on entering politics in The Gambia. She, therefore, wanted to get an education first before returning to the Gambia to pursue this dream.

Well, fate handed her a shortcut to her dream when just after that interview, she met Julius Maada Bio. That shortcut gave her an undeserved political platform in Sierra Leone. So, when she now claims she was a “seasoned politician” before meeting Maada Bio, it is just another blatant lie; an attempt at rewriting history by a First Lady who has persistently mistaken her ceremonial role for that of co-president of Sierra Leone.

On August 7, 2025, the cracks in Fatima Bio’s power façade became visible. Her bitterness was not just about losing control over the SLPP chairmanship; it was about realizing that even the marital wings she believed gave her flight could be clipped when the party’s core membership decides to act.

For once, Julius Maada Bio may have chosen to shield a loyal ally, Batilo Songha, over the indulging of his wife’s dangerous political games.

One thing is certain…Fatima Bio’s power may have been clipped to protect one man, but the damage she has already caused to the SLPP… and to Sierra Leone… is undeniable.

The real question now is: Was this a one-time stand, or the beginning of a permanent shift in who truly holds the reins inside the SLPP?