AYV News, April 23, 2025
A grassroots politician of the All People’s Congress (APC) Party in Sierra Leone, Dr Ibrahim Bangura, intending to run for the Party’s 2028 Presidential ticket, has warned that if the country’s politicians are serious about unity, they must lead respectfully.
He was speaking at the pre-launch of his campaign at the Fourah Bay Field in Freetown over the weekend, where he encouraged hundreds of supporters not to use any of his platforms to insult other party members.
Dr. Bangura said: “If we are serious about unity, we must lead respectfully. Every APC supporter is my brother or sister. We must not tear down what we intend to build. True leadership is not about exclusion, it is about harnessing every strength”.
He promised that even his rivals of today will find a seat at the table tomorrow should he emerge the APC flagbearer after the 2026 National Delegates Conference. Many APC and non-APC people have described his message as one not of division but of healing.
Responding to questions about his contributions to the APC, if any, Dr. Bangura said: “I did not join the APC, I was born into the APC.” He recalled his father’s legacy in the APC and described him as a pillar of the Youth League, who rose to become the Organising Secretary of the Party.
“My father was more than politics. The APC office on Pademba Road became more than a stronghold; it became the backdrop where love blossomed. It was there that my father met the woman who would become his wife. That love gave birth to Ibrahim Bangura. Yes, literally and politically, I am a child of the All People’s Congress”. Dr. Bangura recalled.
At age 15, Dr. Bangura said he formed ‘The Rising Sun’ — a movement of young minds, where the children of the APC committed to carrying the torch, adding that by 2000, he was in university, establishing and leading the APC Student Movement.
He said he invited Ernest Bai Koroma to Fourah Bay College in 2002 to campaign, and he became President in 2007. But unlike others, who lined up to collect rewards, Dr. Ibrahim Bangura said he chose a different path. He left to further his studies, sharpening the tools he would later use in service of the APC and the nation.
In 2018, when the Party faced the bitter taste of electoral loss, he did not run from the fire; he walked into it. He offered himself for Secretary General. But when the NRM storm broke out, a rebellion of young cadres against the party elders, it was Dr. Bangura that the leadership called. He had to choose between personal ambition and party peace. He chose peace.
With the wisdom of a mediator and the integrity of a patriot, he helped mend the breach. No shouting. No showboating. Just service.
Since then, he has been a tireless contributor, serving on the Constitutional Review Committee, the Manifesto Committee, and strategic platforms ahead of both the 2018 and 2023 elections. The ink of his fingerprints is on the party’s very playbook.
Focusing on his slogan: “Heal. Unite. Build”; Dr Ibrahim Bangura delivered an unscripted speech, where he highlighted the roles he had played within the APC to build the party and foster peace.
He recommitted his commitment to competent and decisive leadership that will protect the votes of the APC and change the face of Sierra Leone, while being positive that the APC would form the next government after the 2028 General Elections.
Dr Ibrahim Bangura, an Associate Professor at Fourah Bay College (FBC) and a visiting Professor at Oxford University in the United Kingdom, has over 30 publications on peace, governance, and security to his credit. He is also a consultant for the African Union (AU), ECOWAS, and the European Union (EU).
