By Omar Bah
The National Assembly Member for Serekunda West, Madi Ceesay, yesterday told The Standard that he will consult his lawyers to possibly take legal action against Presidential Youth Adviser Lamin K Saidy, who, he alleged, had accused him of inciting the public to attack the police.
A few hours after the killing of two policemen on Tuesday night, deputy youth presidential adviser Lamin K Saidy wrote the following on his Facebook: “Madi Ceesay and your team, two officers were shot dead days after you and your party colleagues called for attacks on PIU officers. I hope you are happy. I am not sure if you are happy, but two are dead and one is in critical condition. As I write this, I am facing the dead bodies, and your names keep coming to mind”.
Saidy further wrote: “If anyone is clueless, it will be an irresponsible National Assembly Member who shared a message carrying a dangerous message targeting police. I am waiting for the next line of action”.
Reacting to Mr Saidy’s comments in a Standard exclusive, Madi Ceesay said: “It is really disappointing that a whole presidential adviser can be spreading such a blatant lie against my personality. This is not the first time; he wrote something previously calling for my removal from the Assembly because I subscribed to things similar to what he just alleged. I ignored that because I thought it was just too foolish to attract my attention, but this one is a little bit serious because lives are lost and a whole presidential adviser is spreading a blatant lie against me. I am by nature a human rights activist, and by virtue of my position as a National Assembly Member, I would never condone any violence in this country or call for an attack on the security forces. I will consult some lawyers and see what I can do about it, and hopefully we will meet in court for him to prove his allegations. I will also challenge him to take me to court because incitement is a violation of the law”.
Asked whether he is surprised, Ceesay added: “I am not surprised because the majority of the presidential advisers are clueless just like him, because if he was wise, he would not have been spreading such an unfounded claim against me or my party. Since its inception, the UDP has been a law-abiding party. We do not subscribe to any violation of the law.”
Fear for his life
Madi went on: “If you attribute the deaths of two police officers to comments you claimed I made, that could be a threat to my life, so I want to be on record that whatever happens to me anytime from now, Lamin K Saidy should be held responsible for unjustifiably spreading false information against me. If I had uttered those words, I would never have reneged on them. I want to express my deep sorrow and extend my condolences to the police fraternity and the families of the two deceased officers. This is a big loss, and the signals are really worrying because they demonstrate how insecure the country is. If the people who are supposed to protect us are killed, that is a cause for alarm”.
