The Independent Media Commission (IMC) has initiated an investigation into the alleged attack on Citizen Radio by Leader of the Coalition for Change (C4C) party in Parliament, Hon. Saa Emmerson Lamina.

On Saturday, September 3rd, 2022, at around 9:30pm, the Management of Citizen Radio hosted a paid for program by the C4C National and District Executives and during the program, one of the panelists,Sahr Nyama mentioned the name of Hon. Lamina while explaining developments in their party about the recent court withdrawal that has brought unity among them.

National Secretary General of SLAJ, Alhaji Manika Kamara said to ensure fairness and balance, the moderator of the program, Ibrahim Tamba Fanday contacted Hon. Lamina to respond to some claims.

He said even though it was a C4C paid-for program, Fanday allowed Hon. Lamina to respond for over 20 minutes via mobile phone.

"Beyond that, he explained that the line went off and so they continued with the discussion program. Moments later, Hon. Lamina and his team of young men stormed the radio station and stopped the program," he said.

He said Hon. Lamina demanded that he should be given more time to respond inside the studio, hence there was chaos and the police and the military had to be called in to rescue the panelists, radio staff and moderator.

"As the statutory media regulatory institution with the mandate to promote a free and pluralistic media industry throughout Sierra Leone; and also, to protect the interest of the public against exploitation or abuse by media institutions pursuant to the IMC Act 2020 (Act No 5 of 2020), the Commission wishes to inform the public that it has launched a formal investigation into the matter, and the public will be informed accordingly on the outcome of the investigation," a release from IMC states.