Meighoo: Security services should take Bakr’s words seriously

UNC PRO Kirk Meighoo said the government should take the perceived threats made by Jamaat al Muslimeen leader Imam Yasin Abu Bakr against the government and Minister of Education Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly seriously.

In a brief phone interview with Newsday on Sunday, Meighoo said threats against anyone should not be tolerated.

“We would hope that security services take these threats seriously and act accordingly.”

Bakr carried a live 75-minute broadcast on Facebook from his mosque in Mucurapo on Friday night. Bakr, who led the 1990 attempted coup against the NAR government, said the government is prejudiced against schools run by the Jamaat and warned Gadsby-Dolly to “fix it or else…”

Meighoo said, as Bakr was the attempted coup's leader, there is a cause for concern. He said, in the past, a commission of inquiry determined that Bakr had made threats before and no one took them seriously.

“People may think he is grand charging but, in this instance, it was not a grand charge. Every time a threat is made, it must be taken seriously, but in this case, even more so.”

He said to avoid a repeat of the 1990 attempted, coup, he believes the government’s security services will do the right thing this time around.