He is the maternal nephew of the Gambian historian and politician Alhaji Alieu Ebrima Cham Joof.
He attended the Hall Academy in New Jersey in 1964 before proceeding to the American University in Washing D.C. where he obtained a BA in 1968 and an MA in 1969.
[1] During the administration of president Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara (the First Republic), Cheyassin Secka became the leader of the defunct National Liberation Party[2][3] formed on 4 October 1975.
[1] However his political career was merred by the country's 1981 coup d'état instigated by the revolutionist Kukoi Samba Sanyang.
[2] According to sources, "he was sentenced to life imprisonment for his alleged participation into the Koukoi [Kukoi] coup attempt against Jawara's regime.