Speaking at a charity event over the weekend in the US, Fatima Bio said that unknown individuals wanted to have her husband removed from power.
Julius Maada Bio’s wife, Fatima Bio, has said that because Julius Maada Bio has a Ph.D. in coup planning, no one can remove him.
She was referring to the violent riots that took place on August 10 in strongholds of the opposition and left 31 people dead, including six police officers.
The president blamed the protests – which were generally about the high cost of living – on the opposition alleging that they were part of a plot to overthrow him, leading to the dismissal of the top three in the army.
Speaking over the weekend at a fundraising event in the US, Mrs Bio accused unnamed people of wanting to overthrow her husband.
“Maada Bio has a Ph.D. in coup d’état, can you remove him?” she asked rhetorically, before reiterating: “The man has a Ph.D. in [staging] coups, how can you remove someone who teaches people how to stage a coup?,” the first lady said in a video shared on Facebook.
Mrs Bio was making an apparent reference to the fact that her husband first came to power in April 1992 as part of a group of young military officers who overthrew the civilian government of Joseph Saidu Momoh of the All People’s Congress, the party he defeated at the polls in 2018 and whom he accused of being behind the August protests.
The opposition party vehemently denied the allegations.
Many have condemned the statement with some of the moderate elements within her Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) condemning it.
Mrs Bio, a prolific user of Facebook and TikTok, has been known to make controversial comments.
She has not responded to the reactions following her coup comments, nor has anyone at the presidency.