Gambia’s former ruling Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC) is preparing the grounds to launch a legal action against a former member of the country’s national military after he publicly admitted to bankrolling the burning of the party’s bureau in 2016, a credible source informed JollofNews.
Former soldier Sanyang said in an interview with Coffee Time With Peter Gomez last week that he played a lead role in arson one of the political offices of the party of the former Gambian strongman.
In the interview, which was broadcast live, the former soldier claimed that he personally funded a group of soldiers, who are currently serving in the army, to execute the arson on the APRC’s Kanifing bureau.
“The burning of the APRC bureau was my responsibility,” Sanyang claimed in the Coffee Time interview, adding that he provided both funds and operational support.
The former soldier justified his actions by arguing that a victory for then-incumbent Yahya Jammeh would have meant a continuation of his 22-year misrule. He alleged that the electoral process was riddled with malpractice, stating that including the spot-counting and the “participation of non-Gambians” were examples of such electoral malfeasance.
Sanyang further alleged that Sheikh Omar Faye, Gambia’s current ambassador to Mauritania and a former cabinet minister, played a crucial role in manipulating elections under both Jammeh and Barrow.
APRC officials, who have long maintained that the arson attack was politically-motivated, said they have now started consulting lawyers with the intention of bringing Sanyang before the courts.
“This is not just about the destruction of property; it is about accountability and justice,” one senior party figure told JollofNews.
The APRC bureau in Kanifing was set ablaze in the run-up to the December 2016 elections, at the height of tensions that eventually led to Jammeh’s ouster. No one was held responsible at the time, though the incident was widely condemned across the political spectrum.
The APRC believes Sanyang’s claims have given the matter a new twist. Party officials described Sanyang’s claims as confessions, arguing that they not only vindicate their earlier suspicions but also pave the way for criminal proceedings and damages claims.
As of now, neither the government nor the Gambia’s military has commented on Sanyang’s allegations of the involvement of serving soldiers in the arson.
