Information gathered by this newspaper has revealed that madam Fatmata Zainab Conteh, an ardent Christian formally of Sella Limba Chiefdom, Sierra Leone is now on the run fearing for the safety of her life after she was declared wanted by women of the dreaded bondo ‘sowei’ secret society because she refused to be initiated as the sowei of the society and succeed her dead mother as the head of the initiator of the society.
It is common knowledge that among other barbaric practices, the women of the Bondo society normally circumcised young women and girls by cutting their clitoris and the labia majora of their vaginas which most times causes serious bleeding.
Fatmata is also accused of being engaged in the campaign against the female genital mutilation that the bondo societies practice on young women. This was based on the horrific thing she went through when she was initiated at a young age.
According to a female relative of Fatmata who does not want us to state her name for fear of reprisal, Fatmata’s trouble started in 2005 when her mother who inherited the sowei society from her grandmother died, and there was a need to initiate other women, mostly a daughter or granddaughter to succeed the deceased sowei.
She further explained that this is a generational thing that has been happening and Fatmata was always vehemently opposing that because she is a Christian and considered the bondo sower society as devilish and evil because during initiation most young girls will die while others will be bleeding profusely.
Sources stated that after the death of the Sowei leader, Fatmata was taken together with the remains of her mother to the Bondo society shrine for some secret ritual ceremony where she witnessed her late mother’s corpse decapitated in her presence as part of the ritual ceremony.
After the burial ceremony, the Soweis told Fatmata’s aunt (Aunty Cherra) that she should replace her mother as the leader of the Bondo secret society. ‘Fatmata being the only daughter of her mother was automatically expected to be initiated as the next sowei’.
It was learned that several unidentified people at the late night hours will be hunting the house of Fatmata making threats that they will kill her the day they will set eyes on her. This threat has caused her family members and relatives, including her to run away and go into hiding for safety.
In Sierra Leone, the Bondo Sowei society has a very organized network and they have all been alerted to go after Fatmata to take over the mantle of leadership in the society and they will not rest until they find her to be part or being killed.
Meanwhile, information said, Fatmata Zainab Conteh is nowhere to be found. Rumors indicated that Fatmata escaped from Sierra Leone in June 2013 to save her life from the hands of the Soweis. Price has been placed for anyone who will show the where about of Fatmata.
