Justice, News, Politics

Gambia: Chief Justice To Hear Injunction Against Barrow’s Inauguration Today

Chief Justice Emmanuel Fangbele

(JollofNews) – Gambia’s Chief Justice, Emmanuel Fagbenle, will Monday morning hear President Yahya Jammeh’s petition seeking to block the inauguration of President -elect Adama Barrow.

Mr Barrow is due to be sworn-in on Thursday  as the Gambia’s third president after he was declared winner of last month’s presidential election by the country’s electoral commission.

Mr Jammeh had initially conceded defeat and praised the electoral system as rigged proof. He changed his mind a week later and declared the results null and void citing huge and unacceptable mistakes by the electoral commission.

He later filed a suit at the supreme court asking judges to determine that Mr  Barrow was not duly elected or returned as president, and that the said election was void.

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.

And as the date nears, Mr Jammeh has asked his own appointed Chief Justice, the only Supreme Court presently in the country, to make an order of interlocutory injunction 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.

Lawyer Edu Gomez is representing Mr Jammeh

He also wants the court to make an order of interlocutory injunction restraining the Chief Justice of the Gambia, his agents, servants, workers, employees, or any person acting in judicial or quasi-judicial capacity from swearing-in and or inaugurating Adama Barrow as president of the Gambia on January 19th 2017 or any other date pending the determination of the election petition.

The suit which was prepared by Mr Jammeh’s lawyer, Edward Gomez and supported with the sworn affidavit of  Seedy Njie, minister of Information and spokesman for Mr Jammeh’s APRC party, also wants the court to make an order of interlocutory injunction restraining Mr Jammeh, his government, agents, servants, workers, employees or any person acting in whatever capacity from preparing, arranging, organising, conducting, partaking or participating in any manner or form in the swearing-in and/inaugurating of Mr Barrow.

Mr Jammeh further asked the court to issue an order restraining the National Assembly of the Gambia, its speaker, deputy speaker, members, Clarke, agents, servants, employees or any person acting in whatever capacity from preparing, arranging, organising, conducting, partaking or participating in any manner or form in the swearing-in and/or inaugurating Mr Barrow.

Chief Justice Fagbenle at Mr Jammeh’s  campaign event

He also asked the court to issue an order restraining any organ of the government, any domestic, regional or international body, group or organisation, their agents, servants, workers, employees or any person acting in whatever capacity from preparing, arranging, organising, conducting, partaking or participating in any manner or form in the swearing-in and/or inaugurating Mr Barrow.

Meanwhile, some Gambian activists are questioning the impartially of Chief Justice Fagbenle after he appeared at Mr Jammeh’s campaign events wearing his party t-shirt and cap in November.

Futile

In response Mai Ahmad Fatty, a senior member of the opposition coalition said Mr Jammeh’s  injunction is 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 injunctions but President-elect Barrow will be sworn-in on January 19th Allah willing and there is no injunction that can stop that,” he said.

17 Comments

  1. Emmanuel Fagbenle must be a real dumb SOB. After this is all said and done. He will not be able to live in Gambia and I doubt that Nigeria will want him back. Hell maybe him and Yahya will be cell mates at Mile 2! If he is lucky!

  2. He reminds me of the doctor in the film ” The Last King of Scotland “

  3. Anyone desperately daring to validate Jammeh’s legitimacy past January 18th and thus creating a deliberate crisis will end up as a victim of circumstances once natural justice takes place. Its crystal clear even to laymen that Jammeh’s argument not only fails to stand the test of time but is also not legally binding. These are just the last of a dying horse and may haunt Jammeh and his cronies indefinitely. Make hay while the sun shines.

  4. It won’t help. Better think of getting out of Banjul before you get trapped and unable to escape. The Ecowas forces are coming!

    • ECOMIG NIMBATT 1 and 2 to be precised drafted from the 19th battalion of the Nigerian special forces. A battle tested and trusted army. The same troop that liberated the dreaded sambisa forest once occupied by Boko Haram. One thing i can assure the good people of Gambia is that Nigeria is right behind them in their volition to kick Jammeh out and reclaim their country.

  5. LETTER TO EDITOR
    Yaya himself openly admitted to the whole world on TV that he lost to Adama Barrow by 18,975 votes. He surely must have collated the results from the individual pooling stations across the country which were all validated and signed by his trusted and ‘God fearing’ pooling and counting agents. The margin between him and Adama from the initial IEC declaration was about 51,000+.
    So, Yaya was the first to amend the results publicly before the ICE eventually did so. I am not sure if that is a crime in itself.
    If the Supreme Court in May 2017 eventually determines that there was an abuse of process in any particular voting station that is significant enough to change the electoral verdict, it may rule that elections be re-conducted in such area. Whatever the outcome, it can never be a whole new elections for the whole country all over again.
    With regard to his appeal to the Supreme Court, let him wait for that outcome outside the presidency as declared by the IEC. His appeal is not the only one waiting for a Supreme Court decision. There are people convicted by courts and sentenced to death or other terms of imprisonment which they are currently serving while awaiting the outcome of their final appeals. The rule is simply that every lawful verdict must be upheld and executed until it is overturned by a superior verdict!
    Yaya Jammeh should understand that the declaration of Presidential Election results by the Chairman of the IEC is as strong and valid as an Appeal Court judgement and that is why only the Supreme Court can overturn it.
    God fearing is not about walking around with the “Quran” pressed to your chest and praying beads hanging all over your body. If that book is truly the Holy Quran of the Muslim faith, how come he is so deficient of all the good virtues that God has revealed therein?
    In contrast, he worship idols, lies each time he speaks, regularly commits adultery, steals the wealth and resources of his subjects, does not keep his word or promises, has no respect for the elderly, has no sympathy for the weak and above all he is unreliable, proud and full of himself.
    Surely his parents have not done a good job of bringing him up.

    • All this noises and hurrican wind blowing every direction is simple to understand that is (CRIMES) but if you wanted to be forgives that windows is still available dont wait till it get too late.

    • He did it in good faith thinking the election was free and fair. That crook election comissioner betrayed jammeh.

      Jammeh being a god fearing man first accepted the results but God showed him the truth aND njie was busted.

      • God fearing man does not put thousands of lives at risk for selfish interests. He’s been killing torturing and imprisoning perceived opponents with impunity for years. He has no respect for the rule of law hence he thinks he can bend the rules to get his way. Did he wait for UDP’s petition in 2011 and 1996? I don’t thick so. The man is a dictator hell bent on staying on at all cost . All his dirty games have caught up with him and now he is not only cornered but surrounded and there is no escape. He’s finished. Good riddance…

    • He can admit to the whole world and all this time he lost to Barrow but in fact he’s never won sh– in any elections past 22yrs. He ddnt get a terribl heartattack on spot since ’cause Gambians never allowed to vote at their embassies abroad. Jammeh is a hyena. These species are greedy, creepy, corrupt and dangerous.
      If Ecowas lets the lunatic man prance around on his own this time, hes gonna cause mor castastrophe in the Gambia and may be in the rgion.

  6. If u rear a Cobra one day it will bite u. The AU did nothing when President Lungu of Zambia stole Elections under their Watch. Lungu went on to swear himself in power Illegally and manipulated the Court Processes and blocked the Petition Hearing. Jammeh was studying Lungu’s tricks to prolong his Rule. Jammeh sees an opportunity to do the same and stay in power while pretending there is a Petition in Court. We hope ECOWAS & AU will not fall into Jammeh’s trap. After Jammeh is gone the AU and SADC should deal with the Zambian Election Dispute urgently. Four months after elections Lungu is playing around with the Petition in Courts even though Lungu should not have been sworn in b4 the Petition was heard and disposed off. Lungu is a bad example and is encouraging Jammeh to play similar games in Court while prolonging his illegal Rule.AU and SADC must stop this Lungu nonsense. Lungu is a bad example to Jammeh,Kabila of DRC and other African Dictators.

  7. Being English and have been to The Gambia many times I am watching events daily with dismay. It is time for Jammeh to go and I cannot understand why there is all this delay I came to The Gambia on 2 December to dancing in the streets – why are ECOWAS taking so long to decide on this situation many people are now fleeing the lovely country which I call my second home. Jammeh is sitting plotting which he is obviously good at! So come on ECOWAS get this man out of the way – good riddance to bad rubbish as they say in England – keep safe all the Gambian friends I have made over the years – bless you Gambia – Val from London

  8. TRAITORS AND SELLOUTS

    The time is fast approaching be ready to face the consequences. To be frank it is not going to be a cheap and easy battle as you may have expected. Puppet Barrow and his gang of sellouts and traitors will realise that this is not a war between you and President Jammeh alone but rather between you and the Patriotic citizens of The Gambia who loved Babili Mansa in his efforts in buiding a progrossive and develop Gambia. This is between Patriotic Citizens against traitors and sellouts of Senegal backed puppet Barrow who wants to annexed Gambia to Senegal.

    Every good citizen with nationalistic sense will stand firm and ready to die in defending the territorial sovereignty of The Gambia which President Jammeh is protecting. We will fight to death in defending The Gambia against Senegalese invasion of the Gambia with the help of Puppet Barrow and his gang of sellouts and traitors.

    No traitor will be spared in this invasion. You are either with President Jammeh or with the enemies and you will be exterminated like the cockroaches as how it was done in Rwanda and Burundi. The Gambia will rather be doomed but will never be occupied by senegal with their puppet Barrow and his gang of traitors and sellouts.

    Be ready for a castastrophic battle which will be a lesson for Mankind.

    • I hope you have said your goodbyes to your love ones because your death is fast approaching. But I know you didn’t and won’t because you are a coward just like Jammeh so when the time comes you will run and hide under your bed. Everyone knows that you are a coward that’s why you hide behind a pseudonym. By the way pseudonym means false.

  9. peace an love to

  10. Sorry my friend, you are on the wrong side of the fence.

  11. Our Father who art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy name Thy Kingdom come.
    Father have mercy upon us, Your children here in our beloved country, The Gambia.
    We have decided, irrespective of our religious background, to stand together as One Gambia, One People, One Power, under the leadership of our choice President, Mr. Adama Barrow. You stood for us and gave us the courage to make the decision. The result turned out successfully in our favour. We thank You for answering our prayers. Father, we pray for a peaceful transition of power. Bless both Yaya Jammeh and Adama Barrow according to your will. Let there be peace in our land. Oh God, save us in Jesus Name, Ameen.

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