By Cinnatus Dumbuya
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone's Vice-President Alhaji Samuel Sam-Sumana said Saturday that he sought political asylum at the U.S. embassy in Freetown after his house was surrounded by armed men.
Sam-Sumana said armed men had attacked and then disarmed his personal body guards at his residence in the capital, but he did not know on whose orders they were operating.
The Vice-President was recently expelled from the ruling All Peoples Congress on charges of deceit and inciting violence.
He was accused of lying about his faith and academic credentials, even as he denied these allegations.
Sam-Sumana's lawyers had written to the ruling party's secretariat, but the content of their message has not been made public yet.
The Vice-President – now in quarantine after one of his personal body guards tested positive to the deadly Ebola virus – has come to prominence in Sierra Leone's political life after he was chosen to run on the same ticket in the 2007 election by President Ernest Bai Koroma.
His quarantine is due to come to an end on March 17.
