(JollofNews) – The Gambia Youth for Unity (GYU) joins patriotic Gambians both at home and in the diaspora in condemning outgoing President Yahya Jammeh’s televised statement rejecting the outcome of the December 1st presidential elections.
Yahya Jammeh had previously lauded the Gambian electoral process as free, fair and rig-proof. It was in this spirit that he had graciously and humbly accepted the results of the election and his subsequent televised concession phone call to coalition leader and President-elect Adama Barrow gathered wide praise around the world for setting the tone to peaceful and democratic transfers of post-election power in the region and around the world. Thus, Yahya Jammeh’s reversal of his earlier stance is completely unacceptable.
It is important to note that the Gambia Bar Association has condemned the actions of Yahya Jammeh and emphasised in the strongest terms that there is no legitimate legal course of action available to him. They irrevocably stressed that the December 1st election results still stands and any attempt to reverse that tantamount to treason.
We at the Gambia Youth for Unity, call on Yahya Jammeh to accept the will of the Gambian people and implore on him not to risk the security and stability of the Gambians. That he and any of his loyalists will be held accountable for any violent conflict that could potentially arise from the reversal of his election stance.
The Gambia is bigger than Jammeh and the wishes of the Gambian people must be respected at all cost without any compromise. The Gambia Youth for Unity and its entire membership will not stand aside and look to allow one selfish person to plunge our country into political turmoil or civil war.
We also take this opportunity to call on all Gambians especially the youths to remain calm, peaceful, but vigilant as the President-elect Adama Barrow and his team explores all available diplomatic avenues to peacefully resolve this situation.
Fabakary B. Ceesay
Acting Chair,
Gambia Youth for Unity
