Second Rejoinder: Refuting The Satanic Views Of Samsudeen Sarr

By Ebou Gaye

I have read your second rebuttal with keen interest and rapt attention. Many people have advised me not to waste my time arguing with a disreputable character like you. However, I think it is necessary to engage you once more, as some of the issues you have raised need to be addressed. I unreservedly apologize to those people for not paying heed to their advice and hope that they will understand my position.

Mr Sarr, I am not the least convinced with the lame excuse you have given for not answering my quests- that you didn’t consider me serious in asking those questions. It is implausible, to say the least. The fact of the matter is that you are short of answers. Those questions have proven to be vexed, puzzling questions for you. You know very well that any attempt to answer them would throw you into a bottomless ditch. That is the very reason for dodging them.

I understand that you judge people by yourself. That is why you have described your master’s critics as angry, frustrated people, advising me to register for anger management courses. That is exactly what you experienced when you were opposing your master as an arch-critic, prompting you to seek reconciliation with him. I believe you attended anger management classes during that period. I also hope that you will advise your master to attend such classes. In so doing, he may be able to manage his behaviour as a cantankerous, belligerent, irascible and eccentric leader and stop quarrelling with the world thinking fallacious that he is the only one capable of reasoning. Mr Sarr, your belief is erroneous. Your bitter experience and unsavoury past don’t apply to everybody, and we are not as weak as you are. Bear that in mind!

You have demonized those who had attempted to dislodge your master Yahya Jammeh, hinting that they don’t deserve pity or mercy as they had killed or intended to kill soldiers who were at the service of their country. I hereby express by belated condolences and sympathy to the loved ones of the victims and pray that their gentle souls rest in perfect peace. Mr Sarr, I hate violence and hence would not encourage it. However, I regret that it is extremely difficult to avoid violence when dealing with Jammeh. He has vowed to eternalize his stay in power. Added to this is the incontrovertible fact that he treats people with contempt and cruelty, ridiculing his opponents all the time. To my understanding, he doesn’t love peace at all as he claims. At this juncture, I would like to put it to you that your master is the root cause of the violent incidents (coup attempts) that have taken place in our dear country since he came to power. He has set a dangerous precedent by overthrowing a democratically elected president. Besides, he keeps on celebrating his coup lavishly, which has the danger of arousing the envy of other soldiers. One may argue that his coup was bloodless, but the counter argument is that the aftermath is bloody. Thus, it makes no sense at all to lay the blame squarely on the feet of those who have attempted to overthrow your master. To me, he is to blame. You should shut your chatterbox if you lack the courage to tell the truth. Now, let me remind you and your master of the maxim “He who lives by the sword will die by the sword” and “What is obtained through snatching can be lost through snatching”. Mr Sarr, I am baffled that you now refer to your master’s coup as a revolution. The term revolution is a misnomer to me, as far as his coup is concerned. Are you not the one who authored the book “Coup d’état by the Gambia National Army”? It was a coup d’état then but a revolution now, simply because you have reconciled with your master. You are seeking to please him once again by glorifying his coup d’état, calling it a revolution. I hope it will not revert to a coup d’état when you fall apart with him again. Well, that cannot be ruled out, given your inconsistency. It is highly hypocritical of you to glorify your master’s coup and denounce others.

I am not in a position to confirm or deny your allegation that the Senegalese authorities have harboured Gambians who had planned to launch attacks against your master to decapitate his regime. However, I want to remind you that your master has been accused in many quarters of harbouring Casamance rebels. Besides, it is an open secret that he accommodated a coup plotter, General Bubu Na Tchuto of Guinea Bissau and gave him VIP treatment when he fled to The Gambia. If you are genuinely interested in regional and world peace and security as you want to make us believe, you should advise your master accordingly in this regard. If you and your master can accuse other countries of aiding and abetting those who aim to depose him using violent means, he should make sure that he is not seen or suspected to be doing the same thing. What is good for the goose is good for the gander! Oh, I have forgotten! It is one rule for Jammeh and another rule for others. That is what you and Jammeh believe.

You have tried to give the impression that The Gambia under Jammeh is heaven-on-earth. Yet, you have told us that you travelled to America to tap your potentials better. In other words, you travelled to America to look for a better life, or greener pastures, as others would say. If things are alright in The Gambia as you want to fool us into believing, why didn’t you stay there and tap your potentials? Mr Sarr, it is impossible to sell the idea that you fled a country where the human rights situation is good and sought political asylum in a country with a poor human rights record as implied in your writings. Only a credulous fool can believe that. You have told us that you know Jammeh makes mistakes but his good deeds outweigh his bad deeds by far. However, you have never mentioned or pinpointed any of his mistakes or misdeeds as you do with American presidents. Why this posture? Is it that American presidents make more mistakes than Jammeh, or that you fear Jammeh more than you fear them?

You have lamented that your master’s opponents customarily castigate him, accusing me of insulting you and Jammeh. Mr Sarr, Jammeh is notorious for using foul language. He has called journalists illegitimate sons of Africa, and the opposition donkeys and dogs. Besides, he has branded dissidents liars. You have got your own share, as you have been labelled as a pathological liar with no scruple on TV by Jammeh- the one you ardently defend and expect people to treat with utmost respect. As for you, you have been very harsh and uncharitable with me in your reactions to my criticism. You have used extremely vulgar language to characterize me. Mr Sarr, I have not said about your master anything close to what he has said about other people and what you yourself have said about him. In your book which I mentioned earlier, you have portrayed Jammeh as a malnourished, rough, naïve, immature and unpresentable person at the time of his coup. In addition, you have explained how he always tries to mystify himself, and- in your own words- does it in a very embarrassing manner. You have narrated what transpired when you accompanied a foreign delegation to Kanilai with ministers and other dignitaries. According to you, Jammeh wanted to give you the impression that he communicates with bees. Your narration continues thus: Jammeh asked his visitors to follow him to a big tree where there were bees. As they got close to the tree, he warned them to stop in order not to be stung by the bees. Jammeh continued walking to the tree raising his hands and murmuring some strange words, pretending to be talking to the bees. All of a sudden, he turned one hundred and eighty degrees and started running. He ran as fast as a deer, fanning himself with his hands. On seeing him, the visitors ran helter-skelter as fast as their legs could carry them, taking different directions. Jammeh was stung by the bees all over his body. He entered a small room in Kanilai village where he was nursed by a group of women. The women later came out and told the visitors that the bees were angry with Jammeh because he failed to visit them for too long. According to you Mr Sarr, Jammeh was the very one who asked the women to convey that message to you just to camouflage the embarrassing situation in which he found himself. You have also recounted how Jammeh tried to protect the military camps after one of them was attacked. The story goes like this: Jammeh secretly sent some people to bury salt in all the camps. They were caught by some soldiers who didn’t know that they were agents of Jammeh, and the matter was reported to him. Jammeh confessed to having sent them. He explained the purposed and promised that what had happened (the attack) would never happen at any camp again. When a second camp was attacked, Jammeh told soldiers that the attacked would be worse if he did not take that measure. You told us after your account that you expected him to accept the fact that what he did had no effect rather than trying to mystify himself as usual and fool you. Mr Sarr, this is just the tip of the iceberg. None of Jammeh’s critics has treated him with disrespect and disdain or offended him more than you have done. Thus, it is mindboggling for you to blame people for what they say about him. No amount of defence or praise-singing can undo what you have done to caricature Jammeh and tarnish his image. You are now treating him as a fool by pretending to love him, but I don’t think he is as foolish as you consider him to be. Jammeh is fond of saying “Give a fool a long rope to tie himself”. He has now given you a rope. It is a matter of time to see whether you will tie yourself or not. Beware!

You have mentioned Imam Baba Leigh in your piece, referring to him as my Imam. I am proud to have him as my Imam as long as he remains truthful, and I am confident he will. You can call him my hero and teacher as well if you so wish. You have projected Imam Leigh negatively, blaming him for his ordeal. This is due to the fact that he has flatly refused to lend himself to the services of the dictator but chosen to fight for justice and respect for human rights. I know he can defend himself to the fullest. Nonetheless, I feel obliged to contribute my quota in defending him to the best of my ability, since you have drawn him into the debate and associated him with me. The problem with you and your gang members and other opportunists and flatters is that you expect all religious leaders to dance to Jammeh’s tune and serve as his propaganda tools. You expect them to praise Jammeh and defend his misdeeds or turn blind eyes to his excesses. When a religious leader criticizes Jammeh, you label him as a politician, saying that he should not be involved in politics. The hypocrisy here is that you never tell religious leaders who are loyal to Jammeh not to meddle in politics. You have got it wrong, Mr Sarr. Not everybody can behave as you wish. You are just like the former president of Zambia Frederick Chiluba of blessed memory who told the members of the church to shut up when they cautioned him against modifying the constitution of his country with the aim of clinging onto power at the end of his second term in office. He argued that the issue was purely political and had nothing to do with God and religion. They told him that they had a stake in the running of the affairs of their country and that they would not be able to worship God or practise their religion without political stability. They made it categorically clear to him that he would be held fully accountable in case of crisis. They fought him tooth and nail and ensured that he failed woefully in his third-term bid. You see, Mr Sarr, politics is everybody’s business, regardless of the individual’s occupation and religious and social status. Islam is all-embracing and would be incomplete and meaningless if it failed to encompass politics. In fact our prophet (pbuh) doubled as a religious leader and head of state, and his disciples who succeeded him played the same dual roles. That state, it can be said, had the three arms of government, namely: The Executive (the prophet and his disciples), the Judiciary (judges) and the Legislature (the Holy Qur’an and Hadith). There was also Baitul maal, which can be interpreted as Treasury. The state consisted of regions, each of which was headed by a governor called Amir. Hence, it is impossible to divorce Islam from politics, as it is wrong to suggest that a religious leader should not talk about politics. Talking about politics doesn’t necessarily make a religious leader a politician. I would say that talking about politics is a socio-religious obligation. What is wrong is to connive with a dictator for personal interest, or to help a despot to suppress or oppress people. The prophet (pbuh) has said: “Anyone who sees and evil act should try to change it using his hand. If he is not able to, let him use his tongue. If that is not possible he can use his heart, and this is the weakest (lowest degree) of faith. The prophet (pbuh) has also said: “The best jihad (crusade/fight in the cause of Allah) is to tell the truth before/in front of a tyrant.” There is an Islamic principle which says “Don’t obey or show loyalty to the creature (a human being) to the extent of disobeying or wronging the creator (God).” Mr Sarr, you can see that what my Imam is doing is in line with the teachings of Islam. It can also be deduced from the foregoing elucidation that blind loyalty to a leader, which you and your fellow sycophants advocate, is against the Islamic principles. Thus, it is not correct for you to say that my Imam is poking his nose into politics. He is doing what he is supposed to do. Mr Sarr, you are very unfair with my Imam. With all the sufferings inflicted on him by Jammeh, you want to shift the blame to him and absolve Jammeh, making him the victim of wrong treatment on the part of Imam Leigh. How on earth can you justify his kidnapping and long detention incommunicado without trial? Even if he committed a crime, which is far from being the case, he should not have been treated in that manner. He should have been charged and taken to court. Jammeh had no case against him. Mr Sarr, you are stone-hearted, or heartless I should say. You have argued that Imam Leigh is faulty as he is the only Imam among the lot defying your master continuously. Yet, you want to make us believe that Jammeh who defies the entire world is right and everyone else wrong. To buttress your point, you have blamed the African leaders and Western leaders claiming that they conspire against Jammeh. In summary, you are telling us that Imam Leigh is wrong because his views differ from those of the remaining Gambian Imams, but Jammeh is right even though his views differ from those of African and Western leaders- the whole world, by extension. What sort of logic is this? You have decried Imam Leigh for his position on the executions, suggesting that he should have behaved like the other Imams- your Imams. You have also attempted to defend Jammeh saying that those executed had been sentenced to death. Mr Sarr, the manner in which the executions were carried out aroused suspicion. Jammeh first denied the executions, only to turn around and confirm them, which strongly suggests that he had something to hide. Besides, he refused to hand the bodies of the executed convicts over to their relatives for decent burial.

Additionally, he failed to notify the Senegalese authorities prior to the executions which included two Senegalese. Legal luminaries argued that there were legal issues that had not been addressed fully, and reports had it that the group included a man who was mentally imbalanced. These facts lend credence to the widely held belief that the executions were carried out for the purpose of human sacrifice, and not law enforcement as Jammeh and his bunch of spin doctors claimed. Your Imams should have advised your master to release the bodies. They know very well that keeping them and refusing them decent burial runs counter to the teachings of Islam. Mr Sarr, it is not a crime for my Imam to give his views on the matter, and nor is it against Islam to do so. Therefore, it is wrong for Jammeh to kidnap him for merely expressing his views on the issue based on his knowledge of Islam. His kidnapping is unjustifiable, but you are adamantly trying to justify it and other human rights abuses perpetuated by your master. Your views are satanic, and your arguments groundless and seriously flawed.

God save us! Amen!

Ends