(JollofNews) -A senior partner of the Gambia’s opposition coalition has laughed off President Yahya Jammeh’s injunction against the inauguration of Adama Barrow as the third president of the Gambia.
Mai Ahmad Fatty said Mr Jammeh’s efforts are futile and incapable of stopping President-elect Adama Barrow from being sworn-in as president.
“Let me be categorically clear here, you can file a thousand injuctions but President-elect Barrow will be sworn-in on January 19th Allah willing and there is no injuction that can stop that,” he said.
Mr Barrow is due to be sworn-in next Thursday after he was declared winner of last month’s presidential election by the country’s electoral commission.
President Jammeh who declared the results null and void citing huge and unacceptable mistakes by the electoral commission, has filed a petition at the supreme court.
But the court is unable to hold a hearing until May – as most of the judges come from neighbouring countries – and Mr Jammeh’s mandates ends on January 18th.
He has since filed another motion asking the supreme court to issue an order restraining Mr Barrow from presenting himself before the chief justice of the Gambia or any judicial or quasi-judicial officer or any person in whatever capacity whatsoever for swearing-in or inauguration as president of the Gambia on January 19th 2017 or any other date pending the determination of the election petition.
But Mr Fatty said he is certain that Mr Jammeh will not be in power in May when his petition against the election results is being heard in the supreme court.
“Whatever President Jammeh and his followers would like to do, I am absolutely certain that he will be a former head of state in May. He can pursue whatever remedies he would want to pursue, but he can do so as a former head of state because on January 19th President-elect Adama Barrow would be sworn in as new president of the Gambia Allah willing and nothing is going to change that,” Mr Fatty said.
He added: “On that date, Mr Barrow will be sworn-in and Mr Jammeh will become a former head of state or rebel leader and will be treated as such. If he wants to toe the path of honour and dignity, I am convince come January 19th he will cede power and if he has any grievances to pursue in a court of law, we guarantee him that there is going to be due process and fair play.
“In a Barrow administration, the judiciary of the Gambia will be fully independent and his rights and whatever controversies are in place will be looked upon by a panel of impartial judges who will render a verdict that is in consonance with justice.
“We know the courts are not properly constituted and it is not [Jammeh’s threats to cling to power] grounded on law since the outgoing president seem to be ignoring every provision in the constitution. We call upon him to respect the constitution as chief executive of the state and uphold and enforce the laws of the country. But most importantly, we call on him not to continue to flout or abuse the process of the courts. This is not going to help him and does not augur well for a person who ruled this country for 22 years.
“As a soon to be former head of state, he should know what to do not to plunge this country either in constitutional crisis or a state of insecurity and uncertainty. That will be a very terrible legacy to end his term of office with and it will be highly disappointing and ungrateful to the Gambian people that a person who was given a mandate to rule for 22 years will leave this country or is bent on living this country with permanent scares, continuing to inflict previous harm not only on the constitution but on the psychology and minds of all Gambians. This would be unfortunate.”
Diplomacy
Mr Fatty said President-elect Barrow will continue to use diplomacy as a way of resolving the political standoff because he don’t want the country to be engulf in fire.
He warned that although Mr Barrow does not believe that the personal ambition of one individual is worth the blood of a single Gambian or any other individual, his confidence or his resort to diplomacy as an effective solution to the impasse must not be construe as a sign of weakness.
He said President-elect Barrow and the entire members of the opposition coalition are resolved in enforcing the election results and that the mandate of the people shall stand on January 19th without fail
He added: “We therefore call on President Jammeh to toe the path of honour and dignity and handover power peacefully to the new government that is elected by the people. And we ask him to de-escalate the tension that is rising in our country as a result of his actions and to assure the Gambian people that he means well and to stop sending conflicting messages and information out there that he is not going to step down as that is a violation of the constitution and an abrogation of the will of the people through their votes. These are very serious legal anomalies and grievious constitutional breaches for a sitting president must not engage in.
“We ask him to respect the law, be true to his conscience and stop deploying armed men around civilian areas in order to instill fear amongst Gambians. For Gambians have decided that they have given good riddance to fear and have welcome their sovereignty and independence as individuals and will not be cowed down.
“The coalition will support Gambians and we call on them to prepare themselves for the inauguration, wear their ashobis and go to the Independence Stadium, Bakau, on January 19th. We are doing everything within our powers to make sure that Gambians come out in their thousands and we call upon them that nothing disastrous is going to happen on that day and President Jammeh will be incapacitated from wrecking havoc in this country.”
The right thing
Mr Fatty reminded President Jammeh that although the opposition is speaking a language of peace, they want him to understand that they will not allow or tolerate anyone no matter how high or low the person is – to plunge the country into permanent crisis.
“We call upon him to respect the ongoing dialogue that is taking place both in the open and clandestinely so that we can reach a consensus and give the Gambian people a new democracy and a new lease of life that they deserve for which president Jammeh will be honoured by history and for which we are willing to treat him like a former head of state in accordance with the act of parliament that grants former President Jawara the privileges he is enjoying under a statute that he Jammeh himself signed into law,” he said.
“We want to give him all the privileges of a former head of state and we want him to be in a situation where he could help guide the nation in terms of crisis and when there are situations where we need counsels. We want to call upon him and he must not deprive himself of this opportunity and privilege and render himself an enemy to the people of the Gambia who made him who he is for the past 22 years but no longer wishes him to be their president.
“We continue to support a peaceful diplomatic solution to the crisis and we believe that as Gambians we can talk to each other and resolve this problem even without the intervention f non-Gambians. We believe that at the end of the day President Jammeh has the interest of the Gambia at heart and he will cede power on January 19th in the interest of the Gambia and his love for Gambians. This is what we believe he will do and we know that he will do the right thing.”
Its all systems go for Barrow’s inaugration. The sooner we accept the people’s verdict and learn to live with it, the better. Elections are now done and dusted and attempts to reverse the verdict is an exercise in futility.
I as a none Muslim have thought that true Muslim’s believe in peace and not killings. If the President is true to his own belief then please I ask you to respect your own faith. Gambia is known as the smiling coast of Africa of peace and happiness. Please do not take out of this what YOU WANT . This is not a personal attack, it is only time for change. Change happens all over the world whether we as a person like it or not. Who are we to say it’s not going to happen no one can stop change. As it is right now there are many Gambian people either leaving Gambia or living in fear as to what is about to happen from one minute to the next. There are no smiles in Gambia right now. Please respect your own belief do not show the world Muslims in a bad light. Show everyone you are true to your faith and genuinely do care about all Gambians and respect their wishes for change. Therefore being a part of history as a man who against his own wishes respects the decision of the people of the Gambia.
May there be peace and happiness for everyone not fear.
Thank you Karen. Mr Fatty has said it all and this is what we expect from the coalition, enough is enough!
We need to take a stand, it does not help to run and hide from a bully or bullying.
Do we deserve this? The uncertainty and the fear
To Allah we put our trust n to him he shall not fail us.it is only the torn of Allah that last as my brother rightly said we need change in this country for 22yrs in office we are really much appreciative n grateful for all the efforts rendered.Your time is over pls accept it and move on cuz Allah knows best. This country is blessed by Allah the almighty and so shall it remain in the power of the Lord of the universe.
Together we stand..
peace in The Gambia and forever, lets fear not overtake us,with Allah we are protected.
long live The Gambia our homeland..
Hello Fellow Gambians,
I, Adama Barrow Independent Candidate representing the Coalition of eight parties hereby declare that the planned innaugration schuled for 19th January be postponed until when the ruling can be made on Petition filed by the APRC Party.
The reason is, i want to go into office with a clean sheet. If i had known that the self exiled Gambians in the Diaspora had bribed the corrupt IEC Chairman Alieu Momar Njie before December 1st election i would have withdrawn my candidature. Democracy is not about cheating its all about being clean and to clean the mess other people left. On that note i am declaring the scheduled innaugration be halted until further notice. No urge for ascending to the presidency when the peace and tranquility of our beloved Gambia can be endangered.
Many thanks for your cooperarion.
Yours
ADAMA BARROW
Candidate Independent Coalition.
You wish, but please be brave enough not to impersonate Barrow. It doesn’t serve you well in your argument.
Jammeh can’t be stronger or bigger than the GAMBIA NATION. No matter how tall an okro tree is the planter still bend it to reap the fruit. Jammeh is a disgrace to the entire Africa continent.
BABILI MANSA YOU ARE THE CHOICE OF THE MAJORITY. WE ARE NOT BLIND AND WE ARE NOT TRAITORS 22 YEARS OF PROGRESS AND DEVELOPMEN IS WHAT YOU GAVE US.
Jammeh Musa, we are patriotically by your side from now and on and we are ready to die in defending our integrity with the last drop of our blood.
To all those warmongers warning to all of you. Remember that no cockroach will be be spared. The foreign forces you are inviting to help you secure the pesidency for you will be met with an unexpected resistance which will surprise all and sundry. They are relying on their conventional armament superiority but they most know that conventional warfare and guerrila war tactics are not thesame. Senegal you are counting on why cant they uproot the insurgency in Cassamance. Ask the Nigerians why it took them so many years without defeating the Boko Haram.
If they think that if they invade The Gambia to oust Jammeh forcefully and install Barrow is going to be that easy and quick, no its going to be a long battle which they cant sustain and they will end up abandoning The Gambia with their mess.
This is a warning to all the traitors both home and abroad to know that no cockroach will be spared, so let them bite what they can chew or else they will all be choked.
WARNING WARNING WARNING
BE AWARE OF THE DANGERS YOU ARE CREATING. DONT LIVE IN A GLASS HOUSE AND YET THROWING A STONE.
Why are people giving too much respect for an irresponsible military junta like Animal Jammeh? He will never listen. He has some, cocaine and tobacco taking officers that give him false hope of protection. ECOWAS must capture or kill all these useless monsters.
This gorilla seized power, spent 22 illegal years filled with disasters for Gambia. Negotiating with Jammeh is like negotiating with Satan. He will never accept. Mr BUHARI, Mrs sirleaf should not waste their time. The language an animal understand is fire for fire. Remove and brutally annihilate this gorilla. None of his wives and children must escape. Tell all Gambians to flee to guinea Bissau for safety. The palace may need to be bombed. After the end of this, the military must be purged like obj did in Nigeria. GAMBIA has a useless military for now…who defend a useless man against the nation of GAMBIA. Recruit new youths and completely overhaul these Armed Forces. Gambians will survive as Jammeh goes to hell.
WAOOS:
I absolutely agree that “The Gambian military is useless and must be purged. Their must be young new recruits who will respect and uphold the constitution. They should at least have basic formal education to understand the importance of democracy, and respect human rights and rule of law. We don’t want to be put in hell again by some other fools in the armed forces. One time is more than enough.
There must be young new recruits in The Gambia armed forces. The present one must be purged.
End of Story for Jammeh is an either or situation
Option (1) Suicide
Option (2) 50 year jail term in some far away land
SAVE THE DAY AND LIVES:
Can you just make it simple and prevent the impending Ecowas forces in The Gambia? Provided he did not step down before then, the armed forces should just arrest the current president at 00.01 on Thursday the 19th. Arrest all those military officers who disagree with the above. Stand by the inauguration and protection of the Presidemt elect. Ask the Ecowas forces if you need them to keep the peace. You will be hailed as heroes. Is far much more better than losing your lives and go to hell for nothing.