Tribute: Momodou Baboucar Njie - A man for all seasons

The untimely demise of Momodou Baboucarr Njie has sent shockwaves throughout the length and breadth of this country and indeed in the whole of the Senegambia region.

I say Senegambia  because MB Njie was a figure whose statue covered both the Gambia and Senegal. Doudou Njie was one of the prominent citizens of the capital city of Banjul.  He was born in Perseverance Street, where he grew up under the tutelage of his grand father Pa Omar Secka and the late father of Lamin Eli Secka. Njie attended Saint Augustine’s Primary and Secondary Schools and during these times, though he was studious, he was not an excellent sportsman, unlike his brother the late Ma Ebou Njie.

Married to Awa Loum, a teacher and devoted wife, the two became the epitome of the ideal couple. The untimely death of Awa Njie was devastation on MB Njie and had stayed for many years without remarrying. He later married Yai Tuti Njie and later Mariama Njie Nee Eunson. He was survived by two wives.

He frequented Darra at Peel street with the likes of Daddy Jobe, Sol Samba, Assan Faye, Omar Joof to name a few.  There, Njie towered over most of the magi darras.  As a magi darra, (senior student) not only because of his intelligence but he was not counted among the brutal and bullying magi darra who derived pleasure in whipping the recalcitrant younger talibes like myself.  His childhood friends were Tijan John, Doudou Bah, the late Ablie Jagen and Badou Sinyan.

Doudou was a self made man.  He started his working career as a clerk with a prominent Lawyer and politician Mr. Pierre Sarr Njie.  He later joined the Compagnie Francaise d’Afrique occidental (CFAO), initially as a clerk and rose to be the head of the stores department, the first African ever to hold this position.  While with CFAO, he picked up the job of manager of the newly established British petroleum Gambia (BP) and his name was synonymous with the company so much so that he built it into one of the most successful and efficiently run companies in the country.  

With the take over of BP by Elf, he steered the new company’s affairs with his usual leadership style until his retirement. Known for his business acumen and management skills, it was just a matter of time before he was elected as the first indigenous Gambian to be chairman of the Gambia employers association (chamber of commerce).  The government of the day recognised his immense influence and ability and appointed him to serve on several parastatal boards, the state pensions board (precursor to the social security and housing finance corporation), to name a few.

As consul for Spain, he was prominent in the diplomatic and consular corps and enhanced in no mean way, the cordial relations between the Spanish state and the republic of Gambia.  He was always immaculately dressed whether he was wearing stylish Italian tailored suit or a grand Boubou (waramba) made of brocade (basin) of the richest kind in subdued colours reflecting the man’s simplicity, with his grey hair tucked into a well knit authentic Hausa hat and displayed copiously on the sides all reminiscent of a Hausa chief in northern Nigeria.

He was fluent in French, which he leant  all by himself through correspondence, lingua phone records and voracious reading of French books.  He enjoyed speaking the language of De Gaulle and any time we met we would exchange niceties in that language. Doudou Njie was at peace with everybody.  He was organised without being dogmatic, he was firm without being commonplace, he was religious without being fanatic, and he was intellectual without being ostentatious. As for his relations with his fellow humans, he rose above religious bigotry and dogmatism I have never, in my life come across a person who fitted in all circumstances and occasions, a man of all seasons.

As a well-respected dignitary of Banjul, Doudou Njie played a key role in facilitating the then ruling party’s control of the Banjul electorate.  He was virtually the kingmaker in Banjul.  As a key member of the central committee, he  gained the respect and esteem of his colleagues and helped resolve several formidable crises within the party.

He was made a nominated member of the House of Representatives and later was elected speaker of the house.  During his tenure, he was known for even-handedness in his dealings with the government and opposition members of the house.  His intense knowledge of house’s procedures and standing orders was admiration of all in the house.  He was an outstanding speaker and imbued a high standard of debating among the members.  He was the chancellor of the order of the republic of  The Gambia and was decorated with the insignia of commander of the order of the republic of The Gambia.  Several countries including Spain, Senegalese and Gambian parliamentarians, also decorated him.  His historic speech echoing the yearning of the Senegambian peoples to come together as one is as true today as it was then.

Doudou, without fanfare or ostentation, contributed immensely towards the development of Islam in this country.  The mosques he has helped build are legion, the most prominent being the Pipeline Mosque of which he was one of the initiators.  His contribution towards the procurement of the land on which the present mosque stands and the uncountable financial contributions he made towards its construction is indelibly written in the annals of the mosque. When in 1991 the Mosque committee held its first commemorative Gamo, Doudou Njie was the natural and most obvious choice for chief Patron. Until his demise, he held the position of chief adviser of the Mosque committee.  He was also a member of the committee of Banjul Muslim Elders.

A couple of weeks before he died the social and welfare committee of the Pipeline Mosque, led by Imam Fallou Jallow, paid him the usual visit that the committee makes from time to time to the  sick and elderly members of our congregation.  The committee members came back to report that Njie Doudou showed great elation at seeing the members and left them in no doubt that he has accepted his illness in total supplication to Allah the Almighty.

It is common knowledge that Doudou had a broad and accommodating mind and attitude Vis a Vis other religious denominations. He regularly attends the concerts of Bati Linguere Cathololic Choir. He was a cherished life Patron of this famous choir.  Doudou was a role model not only to his fellow Banjulians but also to the country at large. Anybody who happened to have had the good fortune to have any dealings with him would have benefited from his largesse  and sagesse.  

The stories narrated at his funeral all point to the departure of a good man. As Serign Touba was quoted to have said, he has served Allah and kept peace with his fellow humans. This is why his funeral was an event never been seen in this country before the lying in state, military last post at the cemetery where tens of thousands came to bid him last farewell.

Doudou was emblematic of the Saloum culture epitomised in the love of ask an. The expression of grief, dismay and utter sense of loss clearly visible at his residence among the members of his outer and immediate family alike is understandable.  Doudou’s entire life pivoted around his love of family.  He knew and appreciated early the Godly obligation of looking after family in its wider sense and the family are better for it.

As far as I am concerned personally, I  have interacted with Doudou Njie, since  I was much younger, in all walks of life as his ndongo darra at Darra Serign Barrow, as a colleague the diplomatic service, in the Senegambian secretariat, as committee member of the Pipeline Mosque and as my gorroh (i am married to his niece).  Our orchards at Kembujeh are also adjacent to each other and we used to spend hours there together with Daddy Jobe who also had a garden nearby.

To say that he liked me would be a truism because he was everybody’s friend, but I know that the pot pourri of circumstances that link me with him make me fit to say that he was a good man and we all will miss him. As desiderata says “speak you truth quietly and listen to other, even the dull and ignorant, they too have their story.”  Doudou had the rare gift of God to listen to everybody.  And that is what makes him different from most.
May Allah in his bountiful mercy grant him the repose he so richly deserves. Amen ya Rabi

Author is a former deputy executive’s secretary of the defunct Senegal Gambia permanent secretariat, secretary, Pipeline Mosque, secretary, association of Talibehs of Darra Serign Barrow.