By Lamin Cham
& Amadou Jadama
Former Banjul North National Assembly Member, Abdoulie Saine, has been arrested and charged with incitement to violence. According to police spokesman Foday Conta, Mr Saine was picked up Sunday in connection with an audio released online in which he insulted and disparaged Mandinkas.
He said Saine is yet to be arraigned but has been denied bail for his personal safety. Conta said the police are continuing with their investigations.
In the audio released over the weekend, the moronic Banjul politician said anyone who casts aspersions on former president Jammeh will be afflicted with suffering.
He said he preferred to live under the dictatorship of Jammeh to the current democracy. “Democracy is hypocrisy,” he ranted, saying Europeans do not have friends but only look out for their interests.
In his rambling diatribe, Mr Saine said ‘Sosseh’, the Wolof name for Mandinkas, are not God-fearing and are dogs and that left to their own devices they will tear each other and tear others to pieces. However, he said Mandinkas unlike ‘Sosseh’ are “truthful, pious and good people”.
However, he curiously failed to explain the difference between Mandinkas and Sosseh.
Mr Saine said he would willingly give his life for Jammeh and described him as saintly. He said he broached the idea of enthroning Jammeh as king of The Gambia but Gambians dimwittedly failed to support that agenda and are now ruing that lost opportunity.
In a dig at President Barrow, he said President Jammeh never “sacrificed” his son to become president or maintain stranglehold on power. He said Jammeh worked for Allah and whoever fights him fights Allah.
Doubling down
In a subsequent audio also released online, a still combative Abdoulie Saine said he did not regret making the original statement except for the “insults” which he made because he was “angry”.
In a rather tepid attempt at self-clarification, he said “Sosseh are those people who are not even from The Gambia. They are not meaningful Gambians. They came here, made themselves Gambians and want to promote Mandinka supremacy and lying and mixing up people because they have already failed in life…these are the people I am referring to as Sosseh. So whoever falls within this category, you are part of them. I said it and I stand by it.”
Mr Saine said his first son and his sister’s only daughter and other close family members are all married to Mandinkas and therefore he is not a Mandinka hater.
‘Hate speech’
Mr Saine’s audio generated intense debate online with the majority of commentators blasting him for indulging in hate speech and stoking the fires of tribalism and bigotry in our charged political discourse.
Late Sunday evening, his party, the APRC, through new spokesman, NAM Musa Amul Nyassi, released a statement condemning Mr Saine and disassociating the party from his diabolical utterances.
It read: “It has come to the notice of the National Executive Committee of the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction, that Honourable Abdoulie Saine has said some disturbing and tribal sentiments in an audio that went viral.
The National Executive Committee under the leadership of Alhaji Honourable Fabakary Tombong Jatta vehemently condemns this audio and totally disassociates itself from the message in the audio, and that Honourable Abdoulie Saine on no account spoke on behalf of the APRC, as a party and he is solely responsible for any statements that he uttered in the audio. The APRC as a party stands for and is with the belief of one Gambia, one nation and one people. We are a disciplined party that does not condone tribalism and indiscipline in any form, and call on all party members to conform to the noble values we are always known for.”
