Koidu

Koidu Town
Main street in Koidu in the 1980s
Koidu Town
Coordinates: 8°38′38″N 10°58′18″W / 8.6439°N 10.9717°W / 8.6439; -10.9717
Country	Sierra Leone
Province	Eastern Province
District	Kono District
Government
• Type	City Council
• Mayor	Komba Sam(C4C)[2]
• Governing Body	Koidu–New Sembehun City Council
Population  (2015 census)
• Total	128,030 [1]
Time zone	UTC±0 (GMT)

Koidu Town (or Sefadu; officially known as Koidu City) is the capital and largest city of the Kono District in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone. Its population is 128,030 based on the 2015 census.^[1] It is the fifth largest city in Sierra Leone by population, after Freetown, Kenema, Bo and Makeni. It lies approximately 280 miles east of Freetown, and about 60 miles north of Kenema.^{[citation needed]}

Koidu Town is a major urban, business, commercial and diamond trade center. Two of the world's ten largest and most famous rough diamonds were found in the Woyie River that flows through Koidu Town.^[3]

The mayor of Koidu City and members of the Koidu-New Sembehun city council are directly elected every four years. The current mayor of Koidu Town is Komba Sam of the Coalition 4 Change political party.^[2] Koidu is not a stronghold of any political party; the city is home to large support of both the Sierra Leone People's Party and the All People's Congress.

Koidu is one of the most ethnically and religiously diverse cities in Sierra Leone. The city is inhabited by many ethnic groups, with no ethnic group forming a majority. The Krio language is by far the most widely spoken language in Koidu Town and is the primary language of communication in the city.^{[not verified in body]} Sierra Leone's vice president Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh, Sierra Leone's First Lady Fatima Bio and Sierra Leone's former vice president Samuel Sam-Sumana were born and raised in the city.