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Tag: Yahya Jammeh

  • BREAKING: Former President to stand trial over killing of Nigerians

    BREAKING: Former President to stand trial over killing of Nigerians

    A former Gambian President, Yahya Jammeh has been accused of human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings, torture and arbitrary detention.

    The Gambia’s Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) made this known at the weekend in its findings.

    Among the ex-President’s high handedness victims, TRRC revealed, were West African migrants, including nine Nigerians.

    The TRRC in its report said the ex-president was also responsible for the persecution and unlawful arrest of Gambian journalists, the killing of 17 civilians, and for the deaths, sexual violence, torture of persons accused of being witches or wizards.

    The commission’s revealed Jammeh alongside “Tumbul Tamba, Kawsu Camara (Bombardier), Bai Lowe, Musa Badjie, Landing Tamba, Sanna Manjang, Solo Bojang, Malick Jatta, Alieu Jeng, Omar Jallow (Oya), Lamin Sillah and Buba Jallow were responsible for the murder of the West African migrants”.

    Migrants from Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo, including their Gambian contact, were held by Jammeh’s top lieutenants in the security services before being murdered by the “Junglers,” a notorious paramilitary unit that took orders from the ex-president.

    TRRC was set up in January 2017 by President Adama Barrow, whose election in 2016 put an end to over two decades of the former despotic leader.

    Jammeh is presently in exile in Equatorial Guinea since his departure from the Gambia in January 2017.

  • U.S. bars ex-Gambian President Yahya Jammeh, family

    The United States has barred former President Yahya Jammeh of The Gambia and his immediate family from the country.

    U.S. Department of State, in a statement on ‘Public Designation of The Gambia’s Yahya Jammeh,’ said the ex-president was sanctioned over “his involvement in significant corruption.”

    “The Department is publicly designating former president of The Gambia, Yahya Jammeh, under the terms of Section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act of 2018, due to his involvement in significant corruption.

    “Section 7031(c) provides that, in cases where the Secretary of State has credible information that foreign government officials have been involved in significant corruption or a gross violation of human rights, those individuals and their immediate family members are ineligible for entry into the United States.

    “The law requires the Secretary of State to publicly or privately designate such officials and their immediate family members.

    “In addition to the designation of Yahya Jammeh, the Department is also publicly designating Jammeh’s spouse, Zineb Yahya Jammeh, his daughter, Mariam Jammeh, and his son, Muhammad Yahya Jammeh,” the statement read.

    The United States is committed to combating corruption, increasing respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and promoting good governance globally, according to the statement.

    “The United States stands with the government of The Gambia, its people, and civil society in support of The Gambia’s transition towards greater transparency, accountability, and democratic governance, for the benefit of all Gambians,” the statement read.

    Jammeh was defeated by current President Adama Barrow, who won the December 2016 presidential election with 43.34 per cent of the vote.

    Jammeh’s tenure ended on Jan. 19, 2017, the same day that Barrow was expected to be sworn in as his successor, but he initially accepted the result, and later reneged.

    Barrow was forced to flee to neighbouring Senegal, where he was inaugurated at the Gambian embassy on Jan. 19 2017.

    The U.S. had warned the embattled Jammeh that he was losing opportunities to peacefully handover to then president-elect Barrow and avoid the consequences of his actions.

    “President Jammeh is losing opportunities to respect the will of the Gambian people and to peacefully hand over power to the president-elect, which is supposed to happen on Thursday.

    “Doing so would allow him to leave office with his head held high and to protect the Gambian people from potential chaos.

    “Failure to do so will put his legacy – and, more importantly, the Gambia – in peril, and we have been clear about this,” the U.S. had said.

    The United Nations, the African Union and ECOWAS had said that Jammeh would cease to be recognised as Gambian President from the date he was expected to handover, which the U.S. also supported.

    Jammeh was eventually forced to leave The Gambia and go into exile on January 21, while Barrow returned to the Gambia on January 26.

  • How Nigeria, ECOWAS forced Yahya Jammeh out of power in The Gambia – Buhari

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday explained how Nigeria and other member countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) forced former President of The Gambia, Yahya Jammeh out of power in 2017.

    The president also expressed regrets that ECOWAS had to use `strong-arm tactics’ to make Jammeh relinquish power to the new president.

    Recall that Jammeh, who re-contested and lost Gambia’s presidential election on Dec. 1, 2016, had refused to step aside despite several international appeals for him to do so.

    President Buhari, who stated this when he received the visiting Gambian President, Mr Adama Barrow, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Tuesday, said Nigeria and the ECOWAS had no option left than using the unpopular tactics.

    “We had to go through those actions because it was the only option for Nigeria and ECOWAS,’’ the President told Mr. Adama Barrow, the President of the Gambia who succeeded Jammeh.

    President Buhari recalled that in spite of all entreaties, the former President refused to accept the outcome of the election he superintended which was widely accepted as credible.

    He said: “We thank God for the role He allowed us to play in the Gambia.

    “We believe in multi-party democracy. In Africa, it is absolutely necessary but for the system to work and one to come out of it clean, there is need for patience.

    ‘‘Patience on the part of leaders is also necessary in view of ethnic and religious diversities that prevail. Leaders must be patient, hardworking and resourceful.’’

    President Buhari counselled that if African countries could get the institutional structures of democracy working properly, the continent would emerge from the process of development successfully.

    He urged the Gambian leader to uphold the legacy of free and fair elections, which he described as the biggest guarantee for democracy.

    While comparing experiences with the new leader of the Gambia, the Nigerian leader said one of the biggest challenges facing Nigeria was unemployment.

    “Sixty per cent of the 180 million people are under 25 years. They all wish for a secure future. Those of them who are educated feel they are more qualified for employment.

    “We have studied the problem and are doing our best to stabilize the situation.

    ‘‘We took over from a party that had been in power for 16 years. During those years, the country earned an unprecedented amount of money as revenue, never seen at any time before,” he stated.

    The President announced that representatives of both countries will deliberate and advise the leaders on how best to strengthen the existing level of cooperation between the two states.

    In his remarks, President Barrow said he came to thank Nigeria and its leader in person for ensuring the completion of the democratic process in his country, which had stalled back then following the refusal of Jammeh to accept the election results.

    The Gambian leader said his country received the support of Nigeria in many spheres, citing education, administration, justice and security sectors and requested President Buhari to continue to be of assistance.

    “We will never forget Nigeria for the help it has rendered to us since independence,” the visiting Gambian leader said.

     

  • President Barrow to return on Thursday- Aide

    Gambia’s President Adama Barrow is due to return to Gambia on Thursday, a senior aide Amie Bojang said on Wednesday.

    Barrow who was inaugurated in neighbouring Senegal as mediators sought an exit deal for his predecessor Yahya Jammeh, on January 19.

    “He is leaving tomorrow and will arrive in Banjul at around 4 pm,’’ said Bojang.

    It would be recalled that the ECOWAS Commission said its coalition force in The Gambia would remain for the next six months, as requested by Barrow.

    Mr Marcel de Souza said this while briefing members of the diplomatic corps and partner organisations on the political situation in The Gambia on Tuesday.

    De Souza, however, said that retaining troops in that country would be decided by the Chiefs of Army Staff.

    The 7,000 Combat troops from Senegal, Nigeria, Mali, Ghana and other West African countries are already stationed at the border to jointly enter the country on air and by land in an operation to thwart any hostilities or breach of law in the country.

    The Nigerian Air force spokesperson, Group Capt. Ayodele Famuyiwa, said in a statement that the NAF dispatched a contingent of 200 men, as well as an aviation fleet comprising combat aircraft, cargo ships, a helicopter and a surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft in Dakar,”

    ECOWAS had assured that military intervention will be the last resort while it attempted unsuccessfully to convince Jammeh to step down.

  • Defiant Jammeh flees to Guinea on exile

     

    Immediate past president of The Gambia, Yahya Jammeh on Saturday night departed the country with his family on exile to Guinea.

    Jammeh’s decision to relinquish power is coming after Friday’s final peace move by Conde and Mauritania’s President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, who persuaded him to vacate office peacefully.

    In a statement issued on State TV on Friday night, Jammeh confirmed he was stepping down, to avoid bloodshed in The Gambia.

    He said: “Fellow Gambians, my first preoccupation as president and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and a patriot is to preserve at every instance and in every circumstance, the lives of Gambians and this is a duty I hold sacrosanct.

    “As a Muslim and as a patriot, I believe that it is not necessary that any blood be shed.

    “It is as a result of this that I have decided today (Friday) in good conscience to relinquish the mantle of leadership of this great nation.”

    Jammeh was defeated in last month’s presidential election by Adama Barrow, who has since been sworn in as the country’s new president.

     

  • Gambia: Jammeh’s election challenge postponed

    Gambia’s Supreme Court has declined ruling on President Yahya Jammeh’s petition to overturn his election defeat, the report said on Tuesday.

    It said that many Gambians wait nervously to see how the veteran leader will react to his rival’s planned inauguration this week.

    Jammeh initially conceded defeat to opposition leader Adama Barrow following the Dec. 1 poll and later changed his mind, drawing widespread condemnation and the threat of a military intervention by regional neighbours.

    Whether Gambia succeeds in swearing in Barrow is viewed as a test for democracy in West Africa, a region which is seeking to draw a line under a history of coups and autocratic rule.

    The Supreme Court has not sat for over a year and the entire judge’s seats bar that of the chief justice are unoccupied.

    Jammeh has hired judges from Nigeria and Sierra Leone to hear the petitions, but they have failed to arrive in Gambia.

    “It is crystal clear that the justices from Nigeria and Sierra Leone are not coming,” the court’s Nigerian Chief Justice Emmanuel Fagbenle said.

    The chief justice said the court would be adjourned until the next regular session in either May or November, but added that the petitions could be heard if the judges arrived sooner.

    The court’s inability to convene only deepens the political crisis in Gambia. Allies of Jammeh said there could be no inauguration with petitions still pending before the court.

    “In the interest of justice, the petition must be heard and determined before the inauguration can take place,” said Edward Gomez, a lawyer for Jammeh’s APRC political party, reacting to the adjournment.

  • ‘I am alive’, Gambia’s President-elect, Adama Barrow cries out

    ‘I am alive’, Gambia’s President-elect, Adama Barrow cries out

    Gambia’s president-elect, Adama Barrow has refuted news of his assassination which became an item on the social media and on some local and foreign media on Wednesday.

    The report which was credited to CBN Television, Banjul had ‎reported that Barrow was murdered by unknown assailants who overpowered his security guards, leaving two dead and six others injured from gunshots.

    However, a tweet from his official handle, @adama_barrow, ‎said he’s alive and well. “We would like to inform you that the President-elect is alive and well. #Gambia‎”, it read.

     

    His rumoured death is coming few days after he referred to the country’s constitution that a court action taken by supposed outgoing President Yahya Jammeh cannot prevent the winner of the poll from assuming office as mandated by the constitution.

    “It should be crystal clear that filing an election petition is the private matter of a loser in an election. It does not prevent mandatory constitutional processes from taking place.

    “ECOWAS, the African Union and the United Nations could only intervene if the two presidents fail to do, with impeccable thoroughness, what the constitution of the republic demands,” Barrow, who vowed to take office on January 19 despite the refusal of Jammeh to give up power, had stated.