FREETOWN – Lawyers for SLPP flagbearer hopeful Hon. Alhaji Musa Tarawally have written to the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Moses Sellu Mambu, demanding the immediate retraction of a public notice that barred party members and the public from doing business with him in the name of the SLPP.
In a legal letter dated 21st September 2026, Jengo, Sam & Partners described the notice issued on 19th September as defamatory, “ultra vires” and in breach of the SLPP Constitution.
What the dispute is about
The row centres on whether Tarawally is still a member of the Citizens Democratic Party (CDP), under which he contested the 2018 presidential election.
1. On 17th September, SLPP National Chairman Jimmy Batilo Songa wrote to Tarawally directing him to stop using the SLPP logo, presenting himself as a party member or as a flagbearer aspirant. Songa said the SLPP had written to the CDP to verify his status and that CDP National Secretary General Ibrahim Sorie Sesay replied on 3rd September confirming Tarawally remains a CDP member.
2. On 19th September, National Publicity Secretary Moses Mambu issued a public disclaimer advising all SLPP executives, members, corporate bodies, banks and development partners to cease official dealings with Tarawally under the SLPP banner unless explicitly cleared by the leadership.
Tarawally has rejected the claim. He maintains he resigned from the CDP on 15th June 2018 in a letter addressed to then Secretary General Victor O. King, and returned to the SLPP. His lawyers say he is a fully paid-up Grand Chief Patron with dues paid to 2028 and was accredited as a National Delegate who voted at the 2025 National Delegates Conference in Freetown. Four CDP Regional Chairmen and former CDP Chairman Gibril Thullah have also issued statements backing his claim that he left the CDP in 2018.
The legal demands
In the letter to Mambu, the lawyers argue that no disciplinary procedure or hearing was ever conducted against their client as required by the SLPP Constitution, and that the notice violates Articles 2, 5, 7(1), 10(1) and 13(1) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance.
They gave Mambu seven days to:
1. Provide full written particulars of any alleged prohibited transactions;
2. Identify the party organ or officer that authorised the notice;
3. Withdraw the notice in writing; and
4. Publish the withdrawal with a correction and apology on the same platforms.
They warned that failure to comply would lead to a criminal complaint under Section 44 of the Cyber Security and Crime Act 2021 on cyber harassment, civil proceedings for libel and injunctive relief, and petitions to the PPRC, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the ECOWAS Community Court.
A similar seven-day ultimatum was earlier issued to Chairman Songa over his 17th September letter.
The SLPP, which is undertaking a wider membership verification exercise ahead of the 2028 general elections, has said the Tarawally notice is not targeted, noting that “more people will receive similar notices” as it migrates to a new digital register.
