Dampha,

I agree with you except for the "go underground bit." Under no circumstances
should Darbo go underground! I'm still pissed at him for running to the
Senegalese embassy back in '96. For the life of me, I cannot farthom why any
true leader would do that. Darbo should stand his ground, and dare these
suckers to touch him. If they want an all-out war, let's have it. This
savagery has to stop! These people are out of control because any time they
use thuggery, Darbo and co play nice. That needs to stop! This may sound
selfish 'cause I'm far away from the scene, and advocating tit-for-tat, but
god knows I'll do exactly what I'm preaching if I ever become a Darbo/Amat
Bah, etc. One's manhood has to count for something! Sorry to say this, but I
have very little respect for/patience with "leaders" who balk when the going
gets tough. Darbo SHOULD NOT LEAVE Basse Polica Station without ALL his
people. If they want to let him go, and hold unto others, he should simply
decline their offer. Nelson Mandela had done it! And regarding pleading, he
needs to look at any magistrate/Police cmdr in the eye, and tell him to go
to hell. It is universally understood and accepted that a person has a right
to self defence! These people were attacked for merely exercising their
god-given right. If anyone is to be prosecuted here, it should be the thugs
who accosted them. So, some punk ass died in the process of them defending
themselves, too bad. If these govt-sanctioned thugs had not tried to kill
innocent people, none of this will happen. BTW, I hope the s.o.b. rots in
hell. This Alieu Njie character deserves what he got. A punk ass is a punk
ass - dead or alive! And coming to the role of Baba Jobe and his "brother,"
let me tell you a little story about them.

You see Baba Jobe and Modou Soma (not Sama) Jobe are from the same cloth as
Fatumata Jahumpa. Both Jobes owe everything they have to the PPP
establishment. But, contrary to popular notion, the two are not that closely
related. They're cousins. Baba Jobe's father, the late Alh. Kajali Jobe was
the PPP area chairman in West Jarra. That man worshipped Alh. Yaya Ceesay,
the local MP. In return, he was awarded public contracts by the PWD in
Mansakonko from the 60s until his death in the late 70s. He also went to
Mecca thanks to that same patronage. Remember the first public buses that
came to Gambia = GLAPTC. Well, that cosy relationship between Jawara and
Ghaddafi generated scholarships for the Gambia. Around '76, Libya offered
the Gambia some scholarships. The PPP elite dished it out to the children of
their cronies. In West Jarra, Yaya Ceesay gave the two he had to the sons of
some of his most loyal supporters. Guess who got one of them? Yes, Baba
Jobe, son of Kajali Jobe! Baba, never a bright person, was attending
Pakalinding Sec School in Mansakonko at the time. He never finished. But,
off to Libya, he went. (The other scholarship went to Seedy Fofana, a
Sankwia boy. I understand seedy is also back, but unlike Baba, that guy
actually went to Al-Fatah university to study. You just need to look at
Baba, to figure what it is this guy was studying in Libya.) Fast forward to
'90. Baba came home full of revolutionary -Jamahiriyya- ideas. I actually
met him then. And anyone who knows this guy will tell you, he's a loose
canon. He went off on Yaya Ceesay -his benefactor- in the latter's office.
The man kicked him out. Broke, and getting increasingly frustrated, he got
involved in a coup plot (the one foiled in late '90/early '91.) He was
arrested and locked up at Mile 2. So, what you're witnessing is mis-directed
anger. First, he lashed out at the hand that fed him (the PPP), then at any
Gambian who dares stand up to the APRC. And his older brother Sidy Saine
benefitted the most from PPP patronage: Armitage School, Agric/hydromet,
studies in East Africa, then Ghana, etc. (See Yaya Ceesay's hand again?) For
reasons, I don't want to go into, I'll ignore the rest of that Jobe family.
But, no family in the whole of West Jarra benefitted more from the PPP. Just
ask around!

As for Modou Soma Jobe, what can I say? (His dad's  name is Kemo Jobe for
those who care. I won't go into how the old man made his living. Quite
honorable, but not the easiest livelihood even by Gambian standards.) But,
Soma Jobe has always been an idiotic boffoon all his life. Ingratitude and
hypocrisy runs in his veins. Soma Jobe (so-called because though a native of
Karantaba, he was raised in Jarra Soma,) who cannot write or read a simple
sentence did for the PPP exactly what he's now doing for the APRC. After
"attending" secondary school in Mansakonko, Yaya Ceesay, then Minister of
Agric took him under his wings. Soma Jobe was actually part of the failed
Rural Dev Project that was HQ'ed in Mansakonko in the mid-70s. The project
field workers were given a Honda70 motor bike. It was no secret to anybody
in the area at the time what Soma Jobe's real role was. That man was
responsible for the firing of many NCP/UP supporters in that whole region.
Just ask around. After the failure of that project, Yaya Ceesay absorbed him
back into mainstream Agric Dept, and sent him to Basse. In '84, and again
thru' Yaya Ceesay's connections, he was one of (7?) workers who were sent to
the US to observe farming techniques for three months. If he has any
education at all, that was it. Now just imagine what these people are saying
about, and doing to the PPP and UDP people. And there is one more thing
about Soma Jobe. He married a blood relative of mine, the details of which
marriage I'll spare you because it still boils my blood though it's been
over twenty years after the fact. If anybody belongs in jail, it's this
ungrateful idiot!

But, not to digress, his (Soma Jobe's) first wife (the relative of mine,)
has a single brother. This guy (and here's the twist) joined the Gendarmes
the same day as Yaya Jammeh. In fact, they were room mates during their
training. And yet again, they were all part of Jawara's security detail up
to the coup period. As corny as this may sound, this cousin called me many
times on a cell phone in the first week after the coup. Twice, he told me he
was calling from the "Chairman's Office." I could distinctly hear a voice in
the background that I today won't mistake in my dreams. However, because of
Yaya Jammeh's paranoia, this guy, whom he sent off to the Farafenni camp
weeks after the coup, was picked up and jailed for two years - without being
charged anything -after the "attempted coup" of Nov. '94. Reason? "He was
too friendly with Lt. Baisru Barrow, and they're all Jaranka people!" To
this day, the guy is under constant surveillance, and gets harrassed all the
time by the NIA people. Meanwhile, Soma Jobe who destroyed this gentleman's
only sister's life, continues to ruin careers, supervise the harrassment,
and intimidation of APRC opponents just like he did for the PPP. Some
people's ingratitude and hypocrisy is ineffable! Due to the respect I have
for Soma Jobe's younger brother, who is a decent person, I'll spare you all
the dirt on him, but there's so much there that will pop your eyes out. But,
some day, it will all come out.

But, here is the 411 on these Jobe brothers: Baba was ruthless even as a
boy, but when you stand your ground, he'll back off. I've witnessed someone
do that to him. So, UDP people should call his bluff anytime he tries to
intimidate them. If they balk, he'll continue to have a field day at their
expense! As for Soma Jobe, he HAS NEVER beaten a man in his entire life.
There simply couldn't be a bigger coward. Frail, and eternally sickly
looking, this loud-mouthed, empty-headed, mosquito-legged blood sucker will
run 990 when cornered. Take it from one who's seen it! This is a small scoop
on these chief thugs of Yaya Jammeh. At heart, they're all cowards. They
only prey on defenceless people. Pick up a knife, and they'll throw away
their AK-47!

So, like Dampha, I'm exhorting all UDP supporters to be prepared to drive to
Basse and demand the unconditional release of ALL their people. There won't
be another April 10/11th. If this criminal govt can arrest eighty people for
being part of an entourage that WAS FORCED to defend itself against savages,
why can't they arrest every member of the Paramilitary Intervention Unit
that shot at, and killed fourteen kids? Enough of this bull shit, enough of
the cowering, enough of the foot-dragging, enough of the "wait for the
outcome of the investigation," enough of the "we don't want to destroy this
country!" This APRC regime is banking on that type of mentality to continue
to wreak havoc on decent law-abiding citizens. What type of nation is it
that people get killed for just saying "we think this country could do
better." Some of us are spending too much money on medication to calm
ourselves down. This nonsense has got to stop!

Saul.

>Anybody that remotely knows Ousainou Darboe will respond to this question

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