‘DR. JOBE WILL NEVER TAKE THE INITIATIVE
TO RETURN TO HOME TO LEAD A CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE OR MASS PROTEST THAT HE
IS PREACHING OUT OF FEAR FOR HIS OWN LIFE,’ MAI FATTY
REJOINDER ON DR. SEDAT JOBE’S RADIO SPEECH – A PERSONAL OPINION
Mai Ahmad Fatty
Thanks and Praises due to the Almighty God, Creator of the Universe, the Giver and the Taker of life, and in Whom my destiny resides.
I
had the opportunity to listen to Dr. Sedat Jobe’s speech on Freedom
Radio today the 7 January 2012, on a range of fundamental issues
affecting our country. I commend Dr. Jobe for recently emerging from his
eleven years of hibernation, during which period some of the worst
horrific crimes against our people were being committed (excluding his
brief political campaign in support of Yaya Jammeh) in the 2006
elections, when he is on record to have branded the opposition
‘ignorant’ and incapable of ruling.
Dr.
Jobe has a point on the difficult and sensitive issue of unity among
the opposition parties. The issue of a united opposition is a complex
one, and not as simple and facile as many would imagined. STGDP and
others had worked on it for years even before GMC was born. Nonetheless,
I acknowledge that more could be done, the failure of which I take
partial responsibility. He averred that the opposition are not seriously
‘shocked’ enough by the regime’s inhumanity to provoke them to set
aside all of their differences, to come together and establish a united
front. This is an unfair characterization and bemoans a clear
misanalysis of the dynamics.
Around
the 2006 general elections, Yaya Jammeh ordered the arrest and
prosecution of NADD opposition leaders. From their homes they were sent
straight to Mile 2 Prisons where they languished in inhume conditions
for over a week contrary to law. The government then publicly announced
falsely declaring that Hon Halifa Sallah had disappeared and at large,
when he was actually under their custody at the time. I volunteered with
Lawyers Ousainou Darboe and Antouman Gaye to undertake the legal
defence of the three NADD leaders without pay. Jammeh had previous to
that imprisoned Lamin Waa Juwara, who was also one of the NADD leaders
then. In effect he had four opposition leaders under custody at the same
time just before 2006 elections namely – Halifa Sallah, Hamat Bah, Omar
J. Jallow and Lamin Waa Juwara.
In
the process of securing their release from unlawful custody through the
courts, I had to personally go into Mile 2 Prisons to obtain the
signatures of the unlawfully detained opposition leaders with a notary
public for a bail application. Eventually the courts granted them bail
on very difficult conditions. Before the next hearing date, Jammeh
backed down in the face of stiff resistance from former President
Obasanjo who came to intervene on behalf of the Commonwealth as a
sitting President of the Federal Rep. of Nigeria. It was during that
visit when President Obasanjo brokered an inter-party MoU between the
ruling Party and the opposition parties, containing terms of fair-play
and dispute resolution. The APRC had no original intention of honouring
this Document.
It
is important to appreciate that Jammeh did all he could, utilizing all
of the coercive powers of the State to destroy and to disintegrate NADD
at a time when they were still actively working on selecting a consensus
flag bearer. The arrests and subsequent trial of these leaders made
national news for a while, and it could not have eluded Dr. Sedat Jobe’s
attention, who had much earlier resigned from government. However, not
only did Dr. Sedat Jobe campaigned for Jammeh in that same elections, he
is also on record for having publicly branded the opposition at a
Jammeh 2006 campaign rally as a bunch of ignoramus who were unfit to
rule. This unprovoked diatribe attracted a written reaction from the
opposition. Judging by his profuse moral pronouncements recently, one
would have expected that Dr. Jobe would be restrained by his moral
principles not only to campaign for Jammeh in that election, but also
that his sense of moral propriety would have conditioned him to condemn
the opposition leaders arrests, detention, and bogus trial at the time.
What I meant is that Dr. Jobe should have been ‘sufficiently shocked’ by
the clear injustice at the time and be motivated to speak and act
against it. But alas, he was mute, and in fact campaigned to secure
electoral victory for the perpetrator of crimes, after he had long
resigned from government. Six years later, the opposition is still
waiting for a statement from Dr. Sedat Jobe or on hind sight an apology
without success. Therefore, when Sedat Jobe castigated the opposition as
not being sufficiently ‘shocked’ by the inhumanity of the regime to
compel them to come together, he came across as both disingenuous and
pedantic.
The
opposition leaders have all been to jail at different times, and
continue to face inequities. I was tortured under custody for merely
acting as counsel in a certain criminal trial, while some of us faced
assassination attempts. Most, if not all of us opposition leaders are
dead broke or in debt because we invested every butut into domestic
political programs. Being an opposition leader or opposition activist in
The Gambia under current circumstances, amounts to a contract with
poverty, and potential assassination or unlawful imprisonment at any
time. It is phenomenal sacrifice.
While
we welcome Dr. Jobe into the struggle eleven years too early, we must
never lose sight of the fact that we are not at the start of the
struggle. Many people have paid with their lives, and others continue to
go through hell on the ground for years. Not only the domestic
opposition, but the online media and external civil society in both the
UK and the U.S have been very active for many years. Their efforts are
what we continue to consolidate upon today. Dr. Jobe is currently
threading on the foot-steps of the opposition in his tour to Paris,
London or Brussels, and during his consultations, he might have
discovered that we had already been to those same places much earlier
and met those same institutions on identical concerns. Sincerity demands
that we acknowledge the truth but not disparage or be contemptuous of
previous efforts by the opposition or others and proceed on the false
impression that a new foundation is just being erected.
It
is easy for some to say; ‘well you have been outside since the
election’. I have been much more effective with what I could do for my
Party and people outside under current circumstances, and this is where
my Party needs me most personally, for the meantime. AND yes GMC
continues to work on the ground as a political party with limited
resources, regardless. The ‘struggle’ is no one’s monopoly. If anyone
feels you could do better, the road to The Gambia is open for you. What
may be stopping many from venturing back home is the intrepid fear
admitted by Dr. Sedat Jobe himself on radio, when he said that if he
were to return home now, they would pounce on him. From his own
utterances, it is clear that like many Gambians, Dr. Jobe will never
take the initiative to return to home to lead a civil disobedience or
mass protest that he is preaching out of fear for his own life. It is
unfair for anyone to make specific demands for sacrifice of others that
he/she is unwilling to make.
This
is not an indictment against anyone or advocating for anyone. The fact
that Dr. Jobe recently decided to join the side of goodness is
remarkable. I praise his call for us to speak and to act with one voice.
Let us all work together to accelerate the end of tyranny. The
opposition bashing is not the solution. The liberation of The Gambia is
the responsibility of all Gambians. The Egyptians, Tunisians, Libyans,
Syrians, etc taught us not to wait for politicians. They
did not wait for politicians to lead. Their populations by themselves
without politicians did what they had to do, and I do not mean to assert
that politicians should fold their arms and do nothing. Yaya Jammeh is a
result of the collective failure of all Gambians. We must all take
responsibility for the kind of political system and leadership we have
in our country. We can put an end to this mess if are ready to do so as a
people. The choice is ours, all of us together.