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| Dr. Baba Ceesay |
Dr. Ceesay is one of many Wahhabi scholars who have caved out a comfortable niche within the Jammeh dictatorship from where they serve a consistent dose of extreme form of Islamic teachings that the violent dictatorship of Yaya Jammeh find appealing.
The Saudi-trained cleric has preached in the past that Sharia law justifies the killing of opponents of a ruler. This type of hateful rhetoric appears to be encouraged by a regime that thrives on political violence to further tighten its grip on power - a rhetoric consistent with the regime's violent agenda.
It is no coincidence that the Gambian dictator has started threatening the opposition leaders with death and disappearances in a run up to the 2016 presidential elections. Jammeh was recorded few days ago threatening the opposition and warning them of more hard times ahead.
Also consistent with Dr. Baba Ceesay radical teachings of what he claims to be Islamic, that elections are the invention of the infidels, Jammeh has said that the vote is meaningless because elections will not remove him from the presidency. The trivialization of elections in general and the Gambian electoral process in particular is a permanent feature in Jammeh's campaign itinerary.
These radical cleric's presence in The Gambia and the influential role they seem to be caving for themselves deserves the attention of all freedom-loving Gambians who believe in and contribute to the idea of the secularity of the state.
