Sources from the United Democratic Movement (UDM) have revealed that plans are underway to select former junta leader, Valentine E. M. Strasser, as Chairman and Leader of the Party.
The position became vacant a fortnight ago when former chairman Mohamed Bangura tendered his letter of resignation to the party's secretary general and the Political Parties Registration Commission (PPRC), citing as reason an elusive "opportunities of a different nature."
Bangura formed the UDM in late 2010 after he controversially left the Peoples Movement for Democratic Change (PMDC), the party that thrust him in the political limelight after he returned from asylum in Canada.
Although the party has since named an interim chairman and leader, some members are of the view that the party needs to elect a fresh face to re-brand ahead of the 2018 presidential elections.
But a party stalwart who declined to be named say the choice of former chairman, Mohamed Bangura, and few other members is Strasser, even though he is not a registered member of the party.
The choice of the former junta strongman, our source says, is because those who back him think the UDM would attract members from among the military and some Krios [Strasser's ethnic group] in the Western Area.
Strasser, who became the world's youngest head of state in 1992 when he and a group of young army officers overthrew the one-party dictatorship of the All Peoples Congress under J.S. Momoh, remains mute as to which political party he supports or will join.
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