by Fatima Babih, EdD
In the latest episode of The Fatima Bio Reality Show, Sierra Leone’s First Lady has once again managed to turn a routine parliamentary event into a full-blown personal drama, complete with self-contradictions, historical revisionism, and an imported spokesperson to demand apologies on her behalf.
From Tough Talk to Tears
Less than 24 hours after boldly declaring that she is “not somebody that runs away when they blow a whistle,” Fatima Bio pivoted from portraying herself as an unshakable political warrior to claiming she is a deeply wounded victim of hate within the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), of which her husband is the head.
In her first video release, she downplayed the Parliament incident, assuring her supporters that even though she was roasted by SLPP members in Parliament, who burst into a mocking song upon her entrance, it didn’t bother her in the least. She even professed her undying love for the SLPP.
But in her second video, the tone shifted dramatically. Now, she was the traumatized First Lady, betrayed and disrespected, naming enemies in her husband’s own government, from State House to the cabinet, and dragging former allies into the fray.
Caught in Her Own Web of Lies
Among her many claims, Fatima Bio admitted to deliberately refusing to stand when her husband entered Parliament, even her adult daughter from a previous marriage, who accompanied her, did not stand up; breaking both protocol and respect for the presidency.
Fatima Bio’s excuses? First, she said that she had never stood up for her husband during her eight years of attending State Openings. In the same breath, Fatima Bio claimed she did not stand up because she did not want to overshadow her husband, which only makes sense to her and not to the rest of the world.
Unfortunately for Fatima Bio, her claim of never having stood in Parliament for her husband was debunked by SN Radio YouTube archives, which tell a different story. Video footage from past years shows Fatima Bio standing without hesitation every time, and even applauding.
This proof makes her latest stunt the first time she deliberately chose to snub her husband publicly, in the nation’s highest legislative chamber, no less.
If that weren’t enough, she confessed to wearing earbuds during the entire parliamentary proceedings, including her husband’s speech, because, as she puts it,
“I did not want to hear any of their nonsense.”
This reaction is not just petty defiance; it’s an act of open disrespect toward the nation’s legislature.
The Sylvia Blyden Factor
Enter Sylvia Olayinka Blyden, once a fierce critic of Fatima Bio, now an attack agent and spokesperson. Through this spokesperson’s social media rant and a media blog post, Fatima Bio is demanding a public apology from the Speaker of Parliament, as Sylvia puts it,
“for allowing rudeness toward the First Lady.”
Yet in her outrage, Blyden conveniently ignored the glaring fact that Fatima Bio’s own conduct, refusing to stand, wearing earbuds, openly disrespecting the chamber, was far more offensive than any song SLPP members were singing.
The Song That Hit a Nerve
The Krio chant that so rattled Fatima Bio, translated as,
“Your coco is burnt, how did you manage to burn your coco,”
was a direct jab at Fatima Bio’s failed attempt to influence the outcome of the recent SLPP elections.
Ironically, Fatima Bio is the same woman who has, numerous times, happily sung and danced on TikTok and on the streets to similar mocking tunes when SLPP candidates she sought to destroy lost at her rigged elections.
The mockery was not about her gender, as she and her defenders are spinning it. It was about her loss of ill-gotten political control and the collapse of her iron grip over party affairs. It has nothing to do with gender-based issues in politics as Sylvia Blyden wants us to believe.
Let’s remember, Fatima Bio’s main victims in the SLPP have been women. Now that she is extending her grip on the men, the Party stalwarts are motivated to act. Where were her defenders who are spinning the parliament incident as a gender issue when Fatmata Sawaneh was publicly victimized by Fatima Bio, who danced in the streets to mock Sawaneh? Isn’t Fatmata Sawaneh a woman?
The SLPP Has Had Enough
What Fatima Bio seems unwilling to grasp is that, as her husband’s reign comes to an end, the SLPP rank-and-file, the true core members, have reached their breaking point. Years of her overreach, sabotage, and usurpation of party structures and resources have worn thin.
For too long, Fatima Bio has wielded unelected influence to decide who rises and who falls in Sierra Leone’s political landscape. This Parliament incident may well be the tipping point that finally prompts SLPP members to say, “Enough is enough.”
In the end, the parliament event was not about Parliament being rude to a First Lady. It was about an unhinged First Lady showing open contempt for Parliament and for the office of the President, then expecting the country to cry for her when the party she has bullied for years finally pushes back.
MAMA SALONE ~ Lioness of the West Coast 