Allah, it’s time to go, Lt. Jammeh

Even before Jammeh lost the latest vote to Adama Barrow, the international community had become fed up with his dictatorship. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) was wary of the victory that Jammeh awarded himself in 2011, asserting that the election was tainted by repression and intimidation of voters.  No leader invokes the […]

Even before Jammeh lost the latest vote to Adama Barrow, the international community had become fed up with his dictatorship. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) was wary of the victory that Jammeh awarded himself in 2011, asserting that the election was tainted by repression and intimidation of voters. 

No leader invokes the name of Allah like Jammeh. In a phone call to the winner of the December 1 election, Adama Barrow, the video clip of which has gone viral, Jammeh had mentioned Allah; he said “Allah is telling me my time is up.” Still addressing Barrow, Jammeh said “You are the elected President of the Gambia and I wish you all the best. I have no ill will.” Jammeh’s quick acceptance of defeat in the election he termed “transparent” had actually stunned the world.

Well, Jammeh has since turned full circle and rejected the verdict of the people of Gambia, having observed “serious and unacceptable abnormalities.” Accordingly, he now demands another “fresh and transparent elections which will be officiated by a God-fearing and independent electoral commission.”

Jammeh is capitalising on an error which the Independent Elections Commission (IEC) said it spotted on December 5, to allege “serious and unacceptable abnormalities” in the vote. It became necessary to revise the votes after the IEC discovered that ballots from one area of Gambia had been added incorrectly which increased Barrows tally. However, despite the revision, Adama Barrow remains the winner of the election as his margin of victory only reduced from 9% to 4%. Mr Barrow had earlier scored 222, 708 votes or 43.3% to Jammeh’s 208,487 or 39.6%. Mama Kandeh came third with 89, 768 or 17.1% of the vote. 

Nonetheless, it has emerged that the revision “has not changed the status quo” of the result. Defending the Commission’s work, its head, Alieu Momarr Njai said the “election results were correct, nothing will change that.”

Predictably, Senegal, which totally sandwiches the Gambia, excepting by the seaside, has rejected Jammeh’s latest action and caused a meeting of the United Nations Security Council. In a joint statement, ECOWAS, AU and the UN called for an orderly transfer of power to the President-elect within constitutional deadlines and in accordance with Gambia’s electoral laws. 

Reports also say Jammeh Jammeh is spurning ECOWAS mediation. Obviously, Jammeh is unable to learn from history. Is Jammeh pretending that he is no witness to how the international community enforced the will of the people of Cote d’Ivoire or the Burkinabe?

There are indications that Jammeh has deployed soldiers in strategic areas in Banjul but can the Gambia’s Boy Scout soldiers withstand the Army Brigade in Sokoto that may be arranged to oust Lieutenant him and install Adama Barrow?

Lieutenant Yahya Jammeh’s so called Alliance for Reconstruction and Reorientation Party has announced its intention to challenge the results of the election at The Gambia’s Supreme Court, which is fine. However, there is palpable fear that Gambia’s Nigerian-dominated judiciary may give Jammeh what the citizens denied him. Already, the Gambian Bar Association has cried out that the Supreme Court led by an allegedly pliable Justice Emmanuel Fagbenle – there are seven other Nigerian Judges in Gambia- may decide the election dispute in favour Jammeh. But the Supreme Court should understand that only one verdict is expected of it: one that will get Jammeh off the saddle and handing over the reins of power to Adama Barrow, for according to Momarr Njai “if it (disputed vote) goes to the court, we can prove every vote cast.”

Now is the time for President Muhammadu Buhari to scramble mediators to the Gambia to inform Jammeh in unmistakable terms that ECOWAS will not tolerate him hanging on to power a day longer than is allowed by his country’s electoral verdict of the December 1. If Jammeh is afraid of his past, as do many African despots, he should say so and begin to negotiate a respectable exit. The message to President-elect Adama Barrow should be that he stops talking and threatening the wellbeing of Jammeh after his exit, whatever he wants to do, he should wait till he is sworn in to office. The message for General Ousmane Badjie, the Gambian army chief and his colleagues is that they must stay on the side lines and obey the constitution, without taking sides. The message to the Gambian people is firm assurance that their electoral choice will be respected by all sides. 

If Jammeh Jammeh refuses to cede power to Barrow, he will come face to face with Nigeria’s Special Forces ready to rout his Boy Scouts army. After Liberia, Sierra Leone, Cote d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso, Jammeh should know that our sub region has no place again for repressive, power hungry and bloodthirsty tyrants.  

His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Doctor Yahya AJJ Jameh Babili Mansa has been in power in Banjul for good 22 years. During this time, the tiny Gambia had witnessed a repressive and murderous iron-fist rule of Lieutenant Jammeh.  He had taken advantage of non-payment of salaries and deteriorating living conditions among the Gambian soldiers to overthrow  Sir Dauda Jawara, the independence leader of the country in a coup d’état on July 22, 1994.  Citing corruption and lack of democracy, Jammeh would impose himself on Gambia for more than two decades. 

Although he believes in Allah, Jammeh is a Marabou in his own right, claiming cure for asthma and HIV/Aids, among others. Jammeh despises homosexuals and is alleged to have caused the death and disappearance of Gambian Journalists, students and ECOWAS nationals. Heed the voice of Allah and leave in peace, Jammeh.