By Abdul Malik Bangura Esq.
My phone has been inundated with calls by several comrades seeking clarity on Ambassador Omrie Golley’s time in the APC Party, and his support and loyalty to the Party over the years.
Given the proximity of the forthcoming 2026 APC National Convention and the resultant heightened political activity within the Party, a number of political pundits are highlighting a number of potential political leaders of the Party and discussing their commitment to the Party.
Usually, I don’t comment on such rumours because it is my belief that whatever is done by anyone in the advancement of the ideals of the Party, is rooted in his commitment and loyalty to the cause of the Party.
However, for posterity sake, I choose to set the records straight on how committed Ambassador Golley has been towards the APC party, over the years, since 1995.
To start with, Ambassador Golley is not only APC member by registration, but a member by birth. His father, Late Honourable Justice Omrie Golley snr was a renowned lawyer who was colleagues to APC comrades like C.A. Kamara-Taylor, Abdulai O. Conteh, F. M. Minnah etc. Ambassador Omrie Golley’s late father was a close friend to former President Siaka P. Stevens. His father was even at some point the lawyer of Late APC Honourable SAT Koroma of Port Loko District.
Ambassador Golley has never been a member of any Political Party other than the APC.
Born in the late 1950s, this means Ambassador Golley grew up at a time when the Party was asserting itself in the national political landscape. He has deep knowledge of the party.
His love and passion for the party is known, and documented. Golley was one of few APC party supporters, who associated with the party, during the most difficult time of its very existence, after it was overthrown in 1992.
In 1995, (over 29 years ago) it was people like Ambassador Golley, who financially supported the APC party to contest in the first democratic election in Sierra Leone. Way back then in 1995, GOLLEY GAVE THE SUM OF OVER 150,000 USD (ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS) to the leadership of the APC party to enable the party fill in candidates and campaign in the 1996 elections.
In 1995, three years after the APC was overthrown by the NPRC, Golley gave over ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS. This money were channelled through Honourable Amara Alkalie Kamara of Kamakwie, and was hand delivered to the erstwhile Leader of the Party, and former President Joseph Saidu Momoh, in the presence of former National Organizing Secretary Pa Dondodo Bangura, and the current Deputy National Chairman Alhaji Dr Osman Foday Yansaneh (who at the time was Personal Assistant of the former President).
The motive of the NPRC during this period was to throw the APC party into extinction. Our entire APC Party leadership including our former President Joseph Saidu Momoh was forced into exile in the lead-up to the 1996 election. Most people who left behind denied executive positions in the APC Party. Most people disassociated from the APC in fear of their safety and lives. Golley, loyal as he is, gave the party this amount to bolster the respect and dignity of the Party. He did this noble act then, and continues to support the Party morally and financially to this day.
Ambassador Omrie Golley loves his Party. He believes that with all its trials and vicissitudes the APC party will be victorious in 2028.
The APC party is the only party Golley knew in 1995. It’s the only Party he knows to this very day. That is why he used his personal resources together with others in 1995 to support and restore the dignity of the party then, and why he continues to support it today.
The records are there.
So if some comrades are branding people as new-comers in the party, then I think it’s certainly not Ambassador Omrie Golley. In fact, in the current APC flagbearership race, I can safely say that Golley is the most proven committed APC member who has supported the party throughout all the democratic elections held in Sierra Leone- from 1996 to the 2023 General Elections. Golley has maintained the dignity of the party by supporting it with his personal funds. Make no mistake in choosing him to be the next APC leader, because he is not greedy and he is a man born and bred in the struggle of the APC and can stand up for the grassroots.
Meanwhile attached to this update is a picture taken at the official opening of Santanno House in Rawdon Street in July 1976.
Golley is pictured giving a Statement as Head Boy of Saint Edward’s Secondary School in 1976 before former Vice President S. I. KOROMA who was close friend of Golley’s father, prior to proceeding to the UK to read political science and later Law at the University of Hull.
