Not Every Threat Wears a Mask – Why APC Must Protect Its Brightest Minds

By Bei Santigie T Kanu

“Revolutions devour their own children,” warned Danton before he was executed by the very revolution he helped ignite. Centuries later, Frantz Fanon would echo the same caution to post-colonial Africa: “Each generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfill it, or betray it.”

But what happens when a generation forgets what the mission was?

Across Africa, liberation movements that once inspired nations have been hollowed out by internal sabotage, where whispers grew louder than vision, and ego triumphed over purpose. Zimbabwe’s ZANU-PF once stood as a pillar of resistance; today, it struggles with the ghosts of factional betrayal. South Africa’s ANC, once united under Mandela’s moral clarity, now buckles under the weight of intra-party disillusionment. And closer to home, Sierra Leone’s own political memory warns us: when voices from within become more poisonous than the opposition, defeat is no longer external, it is engineered from inside.

This is the dangerous mind game unfolding within the APC.

In recent months, the airwaves have been polluted with unverified audios, venom masked as “critique,” slander dressed as “strategy.” These recordings do not come from opponents, but from those who claim loyalty while wielding misinformation as their weapon of choice. They corrode trust, distort reality, and render even the most committed patriots suspect. But here is the truth APC supporters must confront: not every critic is a visionary, and not every voice raised is a voice worth following.

As Shakespeare’s Cassius whispered in Julius Caesar, “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.” We must ask: are we so afraid of ambition that we destroy competence? So entangled in factionalism that we fear loyalty?

Enter Dr. Ibrahim Bangura—not with noise, but with quiet consistency. Not with division, but with a legacy of service that predates many of the loudest voices. His name need not compete for attention; his record speaks when others shout.

But if even he is not spared the cynical audio circus, then no leader is safe, and no future is secure.

Let this be a reckoning for every delegate and member: the APC cannot win tomorrow if it attacks the very minds that kept it alive yesterday.