To say I’m shocked is an understatement. It’s with shaky hands that I type this remembrance.
I was listening to the repeat broadcast of Mr. Nyassi’s interview with Mr. M.L. Sillah on Kibaaro Radio all this morning. As I confessed when I first heard that interview, I’m very impressed with Mr. Nyassi’s depth of knowledge of his own background, the political and social history of Foni in particular, and the behind-the-scenes occurrences that gave birth to the opposition UDP. I couldn’t switch off my PC audio simply because I was enthralled by Mr. Nyassi’s narrative. I listened to the interview thrice today, and each time I feel I’ve picked up something I had missed before. Here is a man who was very much in tune with his origins, and at peace with himself. I believe no one like that could ever lose his or her bearings.
I took a break to go to the gym. And then attend a meeting. I am therefore speechless to read Mr. Nyassi’s obituary on my return.
My heart goes out to the Nyassi family – Sulayman, Landing, and the rest. I know exactly what they’re going through having lost my dad seven years ago. But my dad wasn’t a public figure, Shingle was. And Shingle Nyassi came to our national consciousness for the right reasons. The Nyassi children can hold their heads up high! You had a dad to be proud of. Every child believes his or her father is special, but few can genuinely say what Shingle Nyassi’s children can.
Shingle Nyassi’s children have lost a dad, but The Gambia has lost a MAN! Losing Shingle at this point is painful because there are few and fewer men like him in The Gambia. He will be sorely missed especially because our collective long sojourn is arduous, and its end uncertain. And Shingle wore shoes that are almost impossible to fill.
Mr. Shingle Nyassi had several choices. He could have taken the easy path: keep quiet; wave the ethnic flag; join the Yaya Jammeh bandwagon; butter his own bread and pretend to be oblivious to everything else going on. Had he chosen that option, he and his family would have benefitted handsomely – in terms of worldly materials and government positions. The children would probably all have been given government scholarships because less-gifted progeny of Yaya Jammeh’s supporters are. Or coveted public jobs. In all likelihood, Shingle Nyassi and his dependents would have lived on Easy Street had he ignored his conscience to follow Yaya Jammeh.
Instead, Shingle chose to stick to what he knew was right and just. And honorable. He recognized Yaya Jammeh for what he is very early on in this dispensation, and dared to say so openly! That, though he knew how costly the prize for such honesty would be. God knows Shingle Nyassi has paid dearly for his rejection of Yaya Jammeh. He was arrested, beaten, jailed, ostracized, castigated, vilified, and called all manner of ugly name countless times in the last nineteen years. It’s only a few days ago that Yaya Jammeh’s government was vilifying Shingle as one of the unpatriotic Gambians who are out to destroy the country’s image in a national broadcast. Yet, Shingle persevered. To the very end, he chose to stick to his principles, and guard his honor and integrity jealously.
Any adult male can be a father, but it takes one with mettle, and character to be a man. Shingle Nyassi had character! Shingle Nyassi was a man!
He has raised the bar high not just for his children, but for all of us Gambian youth. Words like “man”, “patriot”, and “honorable” are often abused by Gambians. But Shingle Nyassi was one who earned those labels. In a clime where ethnic identity is seen by most as the glue that binds, Shingle refused to be so simple. By the ethos of his life, he has shamed those of us who succumb to the temptation to view things through a tribal prism. For that alone, he was a teacher to all of us. He was a rare Gambian – one I will always remember as one of my guides though I’ve never met him.
It’s ok to dish out flowery tributes to Shingle Nyassi because he deserves it. But I believe the best way to honor or mourn Shingle Nyassi is to emulate him. Let’s all try to copy this great Gambian. I feel a deep loss even though I don’t know him.
I extend my most heart-felt condolences to the Nyassi family, the UDP organization, and to all conscientious Gambians. We have lost a father, a teacher, compatriot and a fighter. But above all else, we have lost a man!
May his soul rest in eternal peace!