Gambia: I Cried In Prison Hearing Jammeh’s Defeat – Lawyer Darboe

– Darboe reacts to historic election

(JollofNews) – Lawyer Ousainou Darboe, leader of the Opposition United Democratic Party emotionally told The Standard Tuesday that he cried in his lonely prison cell when a prison officer informed him of President Jammeh’s defeat in last week’s polls.

Darboe, who calls his arrest and subsequent jailing “an honour”, was freed on bail on December 5 after nearly 8 months behind bars.
“I was alone in my cell when this prison officer announced this incredible news and I cried because I reflected and thought of the people who died fighting for this day. They were honourable people, patriots lying in their honourable graves,” he said.

Darboe also said he did not regret his decision to take to the street “because I know I have not committed any crimes and I also know that I was there for a worthy cause.”
He said he was given a very polite treatment by prison officers and jail mates, though the prison atmosphere created by the government “was generally bad”.

However, Darboe said despite the challenges he was kept strong in prison by words from his youngest daughter while they were being arrested telling him “we are behind you dad” and “reading the Quran”, as well as his commitment to end “dictatorship in Gambia”.

The opposition leader said though President Jammeh always says he respects the laws of the country but the possibility of his acceptance of defeat was something he thought of with “mixed feelings”.