Abdoulaye Saine: Thanks a lot for the brief piece on Professors Arnold
Hughes and John Wise. As Omar Drammeh once said on the L, there are bad
whites, but, equally, there are good whites. And certainly, both John
Wiseman and Arnold Hughes are good guys and genuine friends of the Gambia,
in my view.
Over the years, they wrote quite a lot on the Gambia. In fact, the
University of Birmingham's Centre of West African Studies, under Arnold
Hughes, had developed an unusual expertise on the Gambia.
However, the truth of the matter is that while I was in the Gambia, I didn't
know about these scholarly materials on the Gambia until I came here. And
certainly, when I came over here and saw these works on the Gambia, I was
truly shocked to have discovered the amount of work Arnold Hughes in
particular, has done on the Gambia, from the late 60s to now.
I was equally surprised to have even discovered that one of the leading
books/materials/sources on Pan Africanism, for a very long time now, is
actually written by our own Dr Jabez Ayo Langley, who I understand, now
teaches at Howard University.
In fact, his book/material is still a leading authority on the subject of
Pan Africanism, I understand. Also, given Professor Abdoulaye Bathilly's
age, I was really shocked when Arnold told me, that he had taught Bathilly
when he, Bathilly, was doing his PH.D at the Centre many, many years ago.
Today, professor Bathilly of Senegal is one of the most respected bi-lingual
historian in Africa.
And yes, Arnold's book on the Gambia, entitled: "The Gambia: Studies in
Society and Politics" (1991) 'remains ground breaking' as you wrote. I also
concur with you that his account of the 1981 coup was superb, and, as you
indicated, remains the best I also have seen.
In the book, he even predicted a subsequent coup (after 1981), in the wake
of the formation of a new Gambian army!! He had demonstrated good prescience
by asking whether the new Army, created to protect Jawara, would not be the
very tool that would be used to topple Sir Dawda. His works on the defunct
Senegambia confederation were also very brilliant/impressive!
John Wiseman was also doing a tremendously good work on the Gambia. In fact,
he was coordinating the activities of the Gambian Studies' Association,
formed in the UK, after the 1989 Round Table Conference on the Gambia, held
here in Birmingham. John Wiseman has also done very impressive works on the
Jammeh coup.
And speaking of democratization in Africa, there is a book Professor Wiseman
gave me entitled "Democratization", written by him, in which he was
describing the kinds/types of regimes/governments we now have in Africa. I
do not know whether you have seen this one, but it is an excellent book, I
must say. In fact, in the book, he too referred to the form of government in
the Gambia as "Liberalized Authoritarianism".
Arnold's retirement and John Wiseman's malignant cancer of the neck is
really a blow to Gambian Studies in particular, and African studies in
general. As you said, let's keep them in our prayers, so that they would be
here with us for a longer period.
By the way, Dr Ebrima Sall, if you have read this piece, I'll be grateful if
you could tell Dr Fatma Denton, now in Dakar, that Dr John Wiseman has been
diagnosed with a malignant cancer of the neck. He is already losing his
speech and in fact it is very difficult to hear him when talks.
Omar Drammeh: Yes, I was able to get a lot of materials on the
Soyinka/Mazrui debate from the early 1990s to now. In fact, I even got an
old copy of the Democrat newspaper which had covered the debate in those
days, in Northern Nigeria.
I might as well go ahead and just do the piece for the L. In fact, if you
see one of Wole Soyinka's letters to Ali Mazrui, you'll even accuse him
(Wole) of racism when he referred to himself as a "black African with no
hang ups", thus implying that Ali Mazrui was not a pure African!! Ali Mazrui
certainly has some Arab connection, but is that relevant? More on it later.
Omar, Nigerian politics is very complex indeed. When I first came to the UK,
to do a training at the BBC, I developed a very good friendship with Kadaria
Ahmed, who is a producer with Focus on Africa and Network Africa.
Kadaria, by the way, is a Muslim and a Hausa Fulani by tribe. Obviously, she
is from the Northern part of Nigeria. I said to her one day, that I thought
Shola Odunfa in Lagos was one of the best BBC correspondents in Africa.
She said to me: "my boss, Robin White, also feels the same, but for me I'll
reserve my opinion. She asked me: "Ebrima, do you really understand Nigerian
politics and society?" And, in reply, I said: "No" (at the time).
She said to me that as a Northerner and a Hausa, she could see some
pro-south or pro Yoruba bias at times, in Shola's report. Shola, by the way,
is a Yoruba from the south.
So when I came to the UK this time around, and found time to study Nigerian
politics and society, I began to understand what is really going on in
Nigeria. And my respect for some of their scholars started to diminish, now
knowing what their agenda is for that great country.
Anyway, I am glad to report that Kadaria did break Hausa customs/norms by
marrying a Yoruba Muslim. Her husband also broke Yoruba customs by marrying
Kadaria, a Hausa fulani; and in fact that was even news on Network Africa.
Network Africa had to interview Kadaria Ahmed about their marriage, because
it was unusual: a Yoruba/Hausa marriage. And she did give her reasons for
doing what she did.
Football: Babayoro is finally back in England, after being trapped in
Kaduna, during the recent Muslim/Christian riots, in Northern Nigeria.
Chelsea did not, in the end, fine him, as originally threatened.
George Weah said the other day, that he loved London and that he was very
happy indeed at Chelsea. He is still on loan at Chelsea, but Chelsea hopes
to sign him at the end of the season if they can convince AC Milan.
You know the West End of London, where Chelsea is based, is very tempting:
always described as one of the best capitals in the world. So I'll not be
surprised if Weah chooses to stay at Chelsea.
The David Beckam/Alex Fergusson well publicised dispute is a long and
interesting story. I'll tell you more about it, hopefully, by tomorrow.
David Beckham, it seems, is now in a state of quandary: On one hand, he
wants to satisfy his wife and son, and on the other hand, he also has to
fulfill his duties as a player of Manchester United.
Victoria Adams, his wife, now wants to live in London; and in fact already
they have bought a house near Arsenal, in North London. One of the most
respected sport writers here, Harry Harris of the Daily Mirror, said on TV,
the other day, that Beckham is definitely leaving Manchester United, sooner
rather than later, because his wife Victoria desperately wants to move to
London, or even abroad - perhaps Italy or Spain.
According to Harry Harris, Arsenal - and not Tottenham - is Bechkam's
choice. Anyway, let's see how it goes!!
Omar, since you are a betting man, have you seen the latest odds on the
European Championship? According to bookies Ladbrokes and William Hill,
Holland are favourites to win the trophy, followed by Italy, Spain, France,
Germany and England. What do you think? You can get 7/2 Holland winning the
cup. England are the outsiders, but their odds have been cut down a little
bit, because their match against Argentina was not bad at all. By the way,
who, in your view, would win the European Cup?
Ebrima ceesay
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