Coward!
Published:Sunday | May 30, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Clergyman says Tivoli Gardens strongman was a weak leader
Tyrone Reid, Sunday Gleaner Reporter
A tough-talking inner-city pastor has ripped into Christopher 'Dudus' Coke for offering residents of Tivoli Gardens as sacrifices while he made his escape.
On the streets, the name 'Dudus' sparks fear mingled with respect, but Bobby Wilmot, vice-president of the Trench Town-based Joy Town Community Development Foundation, is of the opinion that the Tivoli Gardens strongman is a weak leader.
According to Wilmot, Dudus sacrificed the residents of west Kingston for his own safety.
Unconfirmed reports suggest that Coke and other high-ranking members of his crew sneaked out of Tivoli while members of the security forces were entering the community last Monday.
narcotics kingpin
Some commentators have opined that the reported narco-boss abandoned the people who stood up for him.
Some of these residents had vowed to lay down their lives for Coke, words which seemingly proved prescient for some Coke loyalists.
In a no-holds-barred interview with The Sunday Gleaner, Wilmot threw punches at the already staggering character of Coke, who has taken a beating from the United States Department of Justice which has him on its list of Consolidated Priority Organi-sation Targets, which includes the world's most dangerous narcotics kingpins.
In rebuking Dudus, Wilmot, who currently pastors the Majesty Gardens Covenant Community Church, argued that true leaders do not seek to protect themselves; they protect the people.
"He is not a true leader. That's my strong position," said the straight-talking preacher.
"A true leader would say 'here am I', and face the music. If you are the leader, you should protect your people," the clergyman charged.
Wilmot, who has been working in Trench Town - a People's National Party (PNP) enclave that is just a stone's throw from Tivoli Gardens - for the past 15 years, believes the loss of lives in the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) stronghold could have been avoided.
"He shouldn't have waited for it to come to this," said Wilmot of the police-military incursion, which has left at least 73 civilians dead and three members of the security forces killed.
According to Wilmot, if provided with an opportunity to speak with Dudus face to face, he would rebuke him for his error in judgement.
how come?
"If I had a chance to talk to him, I'd say, bredren, you know the runnings. It was clear that they (security forces) were getting ready to go into the community ... you should have come forward and said, 'I'll face the courts, leave my people alone'."
The clergyman believes the manhunt for Coke will continue, as he does not think he will surrender to the police.
"He is seeking to save his own neck ... . If he hasn't fled the country, he is brokering a deal with the US. He doesn't trust the local authorities," said the inner-city pastor who has his ears glued to the ground.
Wilmot added that word on the street is that Coke has vowed not to go out like his father, Lester Lloyd Coke, better known as Jim Brown.
The elder Coke, patriarch of the Coke dynasty which has ruled Tivoli Gardens and its environs with an iron fist for approximately a quarter of a century, was burnt to death in February 1992 in his jail cell while awaiting extradition to the US.