For refusing to become Sowe…..  Bondo society women want Zainab Sesay and Michaela Isha Sessy dead

By Alfred Batilo Songa

Information gathered by this newspaper indicates that Miss Zainab Sesay and Miss Michala Isha Sesay formerly of in Kasankoh village in the Port Loko District are now on the run, fearing for the safety of their lives after they were declared wanted by women of the dreaded Bondo secret society because of the refusal of Zainab to succeed her late mother as Sowe and initiate Michaela into the Bondo society.

According to the reports, it is the tradition of the Temne people of Kasankoh that when the Sowe of the Bondo secret society dies, she must be succeeded by either her daughter or granddaughter or niece.

The reports further stated that when Sowe Ya Kadiatu died on 10 April, 2025, the deity chose her daughter, Zainab to succeed her, an edict that Zainab refused to accept, causing a lot of anger and confusion among the society members.

The reports further stated that Zainab, a member of the Bondo society was expected to take over from her late mother as Sowe and to initiate her cousin, Michaela into the society and use her blood to sign her leadership role of the society.

The reports further stated that it was therefore an unforgivable abomination for Zainab to refuse to succeed her mother as well as refuse to be the one to personally initiate Michaela and use her blood to sign her leadership.

The reports indicate that Zainab who is reported to have been forcefully initiated into the Bondo society when she was a small girl had been engaged in the campaign against female genital mutilation that the Bondo secret society is reported to practice as well as other barbaric and harmful practices on young women and girls.

It is reported that because of her traumatising experience, she stood firm and refused to succeed her mother as Sowe and initiate her younger cousin, Michaela, into the society.

According to a middle aged woman who claimed to be a relative of Zainab and Michaela, but who asked us not to mention her name for fear of reprisals from the Bondo women, Zainab’s and Michaela’s troubles started on the day that Zainab’s mother died and there was need for another woman, normally either a daughter, granddaughter or niece to succeed the deceased Sowe and become the new Sowe, who is the Leader and Chief Initiator of the Bondo secret society.

The woman further explained that when the Bondo society women including their aunts and other relatives, approached Zainab with the edict from the deity to succeed her mother, she outrightly refused to accept, which according to their tradition is an abomination punishable by death.

She disclosed that in order to carry out the edict of the deity, the Bondo women kidnapped Zainab and Michaela in order to forcefully initiate Michaela and crown Zainab as the Sowe but that late in the night some Bondo society women who were against the injustice removed them them from the prison inside the Bondo bush and let them escape from the community.

She further explained that when the leaders of the Bondo society discovered that Zainab and Michaela had escaped they declared them wanted and gave instructions that they should be found and killed in order to appease the deity and cleanse the society of the unforgivable abomination that they have committed.

She also explained that Zainab’s and Michaela’s families were also accused of having a hand in the escape of their children, and after continuous threats to their lives, they fled the village.

The woman further disclosed that the Bondo secret society women have a very organised network of members all over the country and that they have all been alerted about the abomination that Zainab and Michaela have caused against the society and given instructions that they should look for them and kill them in order to appease the deity and cleanse the society of the abomination that they had committed.

She stressed that the Bondo society women have vowed that they will not rest until they find Zainab and Michaela and kill them.

The woman also stated that Zainab and Michaela were also being accused of having a lesbian relationship, which she said is regarded as an abomination in their society, also punishable by death.

When this Reporter requested for an interview with the Bondo women, he was told that nobody will talk to him and that if he continued to pursue the matter, he will not like what will happen to him.