By Lt. Col. Rtd. Sheriff Samsudeen M. Sarr

Mr. Jallow for your information I am a habitual reader of all the on-line-Gambian newspapers including specifically those frequent stories you often write for the Echo. That is to start by letting you know that I have read several of your opinions in the past; and despite my admiration of your style of writing and the dept at which you argue to consolidate your view, I have also long ago concluded that your perception of Sana Sabally’s character and leadership is totally flawed, or better put, outrageously bias.

And to be honest with you, I think you must have been kidding your readers in stating that you are not an apologist for Sana. As a matter of fact I believe you are by all indications-in the past and present- the loudest apologist for Sana Sabally. Obsessively trying to defend this psychopath is gradually making you lose a lot of your credibility as a fair minded and balanced critic. I certainly don’t know how you have missed Ebrima Chongan’s, Binneh Minteh’s and my narrative of your hero’s undesirable past activities to say that you are “yet to hear anyone pin any heinous crime to Sana Sabally..”  That was really mind-boggling.

Anyhow, as first hand witnesses and victims of Sana’s brutality if you cannot relate to what we have been trying to say about our experiences and still maintain that the guy is great because of his crusade to overhaul a “decadent” Civil Service work ethic in post-coup d’etat Gambia, then I don’t know what would. Don’t you think it is because of our fear of such dogmatic mindsets blinded by prejudice and biasness that we find it unnecessary to commit ourselves to your recommendation to start lambasting Jammeh’s performance?

I was going to reiterate on the specific crimes committed by your great Sana against us backed by documented dates and live witnesses but given your infatuation with him it is very likely that you would dismiss everything and cling to your intransigence.

Did you not say that “if he (Sana Sabally) has found God during his moments of crisis, the least we can do is to encourage it and help him develop that further, but not to trivialize it as a meaningless exercise?”

Why then couldn’t you, by the same equation, come up with this? “If Chongan, Minteh and Sarr after being silent for too long have finally found the guts and courage to start criticizing the AFPRC/APRC government, the least one could do is to encourage them to say more, but not hound them away with arbitrary denial and baseless allegations.”

Talking about being disingenuous, what is more unscrupulous than your attempt to hit us below the belt by saying that “some of these military officers stopped taxi drivers, harassed and sometimes terrorized them at Denton Bridge, and more often than not, made them pay ridiculous amounts of money to secure the release of their vehicles or sometimes their driving licenses.” What a cheap shot my friend?!

It is really scary to hear a seemingly intelligent person like you trying to justify the capital crimes committed by Sana Sabally against members of the Gambia Armed Forces with false stories intended on characterizing us (Chongan and Sarr) as traffic extortionists. You really didn’t know much about how the security forces operated, did you?  I think Chongan and Sarr harassing taxi drivers at Denton Bridge to get money from them should have been quickly deleted after appraising your composition derived mainly from your sharp mind to fabricate issues and shamelessly portraying them as gospel truth.

I have known people like you everywhere. They come from all clans, tribes, nations and races.

On a final note, I want to say this to you Mr. Jallow. The Mandingo, Wollof, Fullah and Jola all know what kindness is, what fortitude is and what generosity is. All of us can define justice quite as accurately. However, it is only when we are blinded by bias and denominational narrowness that we insist upon our differences and can recognize goodness only in the robes of our own crowd. Take it from me, your hero Sabally was and I believe is still a devil that no amount of lies and fabrication could turn him into the saint you are trying to make out of him.

Now I urge you to once again reassess this inconsiderate statement you made about Sabally: “… He made many enemies in the process of doing this, but that was exactly the right thing to do, and if that struck terror in people, so be it. Deal with it. No uuhhs, no aahhs, no nothing”. COLDBLOODED.