(JollofNews) – President Yahya Jammeh of the Gambia Saturday told his people that he is relinquishing power in their supreme interest and for peace and security of the country.
In a late night televised address, Mr Jammeh said he has always put above and everything else the independence of the free and proud people of the Gambia and will always work together with Gambians to defend that independence they have so dearly fought for and won.
The decision was made following tense talks that lasted for hours with President Alpha Conde of Guinea and President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz of Mauritania.
Troops from regional groups Ecowas are already in the Gambia and have threatened to flush Mr Jammeh out militarily if he refuses to step aside for Mr Barrow, the declared winner of last month’s election.
Mr Barrow, 51, was sworn-in on Thursday as the Gambia’s third president at a ceremony held at the Gambian embassy in Senegal’s capital, Dakar, which was attended by western and African dignitaries.
And as the deadline given to him step down nears with his military commanders refusing to engage the regional soldiers, Mr Jammeh said he took the decision to step down because it was not necessary for not even a single drop of blood be shed as a result of the election dispute.
“I believe in the importance of dialogue and the capacity of Africans to resolve amongst themselves all the challenges on the way towards democracy, economic and social development. It is as a result of this that I have decided today in good conscience to relinquish the mantle of leadership of this great nation with infinite gratitude to all Gambians, women, children, youth and men and friends of the Gambia who have supported me for 22 years in the building of a modern Gambian,” he said.
“My decision today was not dictated by anything else but by the supreme interest of you the Gambian people and our dear country taking into consideration my prayer and desire that peace and security continues to rain in the Gambia. At a time when we are witnessing chaos and trouble in other parts of African and the world, the peace and security of the Gambia is our collective heritage, which we must jealously guard and defend.”
Mr Jammeh added that during his 22 year reign, his first preoccupation, as president and commander-in-chief of the armed forces and a patriot has always been to preserve and uphold at every instance and in every circumstance the lives and dignity of Gambians .
He added: “I have always pride for peace and security of our nation and Africa. During this entire time that Allah ( SWT) in his infinite wisdom has permitted me to exercise power and throughout the time that the sovereign people of the Gambia have put their confidence in me, my primary preoccupation has been to uphold the dignity of our people and the sovereignty of this great nation.
“As a result of all the numerous sacrifices that we have made as a nation, the Gambia has affirmed its desire to determine its own future and destiny. This is a cause that I have always been ready to defend and even with my life. All the actions that we have taken towards building this nation up to this point, have distinguished us among the community of nations and given us a pride of place in history.
“All this while, as a Muslim and a patriot, I believe it is not necessary for not even a single drop of blood to be shed. Since the beginning of this political impasse, that our nation have been through, I promise before Allah (SWT) and the entire nation that all the issues we currently face will be resolved peacefully. I am indeed thankful to Allah (SWT) that untill now not even a single casualty has been registered.
“I am proud and honoured to have served our country the Gambia while thanking all of you men, women and children, members of the armed and security services, humble citizens and all those who have supported me or were against me during this period. I implore them all to put the supreme interest of our nation, the Gambia above all partisan interest and endeavour working together as one nation to continue to preserve the highly cherished achievements of the country, its sovereignty, peace, stability and integrity as well as the economic achievements realised during these years.”
Let’s hope this speech was the last provocation from Mr. Jammeh.
We know that he “always put above and everything else” his own interests and his quest to enrich himself at the cost of the Gambian people.
How can he talk of “building a modern Gambia”, when in reality he plundered our (not his!) to the tune of
$ 900 000 000?
And for the utterance that he “always believed in dialogue” he should be hauled over hot coals.
Mr. Jammeh! Don’t bother us with your hypocrisy anymore!
And for the sake of your personal safety, lie low in your exile! Good bye and good riddance!
Frank
Comment from my wife:
Mr. Jammeh,
may your criminal and atrocious deeds haunt you every second of your short future live.
And may your wife never forget that everything in her possession was stolen from us.
I only feel for your children. How can you see them in the eyes? And tell them the truth before they find out by themselves. There was a time you always waved at our grandchildren on the balcony at Independence Drive when you were driven past. But let me tell you: They can’t stand thieves!
Yes, you are very right Frank Stenner ! The last speech from jammeh in his Monopoly TV was one more cruel PROVOCATION. I am not abel to document that jammeh has plundered the people of Gambia for 900 000 000 US dollars, but I hope one ore more Gambians will write a correct documentary book(s) about what jammeh in reality DID, not only what he said.
I am afraid that too many good Gambians believed into his talking and admired his powerful style. I presume that these good Gambians will still believe that jammeh was a honest person.
Therefore we need a solid book with a title like “jammeh, the most FALSE “president”.
This book also ought to be a learning book for the younger people in the new educational system of Gambia. It is very important to learn HOW the leadership of a nation CAN BE FALSE.
At last! An embarassing episode indeed.
what a crock of shit he always put himself first never the people of the gambia im so elated that his stepping down and leaving the gambia farewell and good riddance to the evil narcistic dictator go dwell in ur shit and may god judge you
what about the blood of Gambias and others he ha had slaughtered during his term,his black magic will not save him now as some relative of some victim will surely exterminate him
Congratulations to the Gambians and Africans as a whole in winning over brutal Jammeh’s dictatorship. Most importantly without bloodshed for which Jammeh was preparing if he was having that capacity instead he found himself isolated and enforced by ECOWASS and international community and Jammeh goes in history as a brutal dictator humiliated by his own deeds .
God blesse The Gambia!!
Glory to Almighty God for hearing the prayers of the innocent Gambians who’s bloods whould have been shared for no reason. May God bless and uphold the ECOWAS for their timely intervention. I pray he will not change his mind again.
it’s great he’s made such a speech but what about accounting for human rights abuses? He seems to have looked at positives only!! Anyway long live gambia, short live jammeh
Mr Jammeh’s ” Don’t cry for me Argentina speech;”
I am immensley proud of The Gambian online media this morning. From small resources in small bedrooms did they save so many lives : A job well done !!!
He quotes: “During this entire time that Allah ( SWT) in his infinite wisdom has permitted me to exercise power and throughout the time that the sovereign people of the Gambia have put their confidence in me,”. Allah gave you power to exercise peacefully And you abused it. Gambians never had confidence in yaya jammeh that’s a big lie from you. You never give us peace only sleepless nights fearing nightly arrests and your tribes people hunting people on the streets when they mention your name. I pray that thieves steal all the stolen properties you took from the Gambia in Guinea
Who am I describing.. evil,thief,liar,torturer,murderer,selfish,greedy,and a coward ?and many more you can add…
U shoud not go and wait for ECOWAS to kill you. You are lie,you don’t do for the interest of Gambian but for ur own self safety. U shall never remember about the history of our great nation. U don’t hear people voice but u hear ECOWAS soldiers voice. U are very stupid and stupid. U are not a good Muslim when you kill for about thousand innocent life
Jammeh is gone thanks to allah, now it’s hard work to rebuild and pass the page, we can not be talking only about the past, we have to change the page and start a new chapter, respect those who have voted and those who do not, coalition Aprc Gdc etc for life there is every taste and democracy will not have a color more parties more colors and less insults especially Gambia we are like a family.Allah has brought Jammeh and has taken so much thanks to allah
Now that Jammeh is gone with his family and few of his supporters, we should not sit back and be naive and pretend that is all ok now. The security of the new government and the security of The Gambia and the publict is at utmost important.
We don’t know what security threats is in the country or out there hiding and waiting to surprise us at later date.We should take all precaution to make sure The Gambia is safe and moving forward. The Ecowas forces should be allowed to stay in the country for a while and help secure the country. I think we should have an investigation team back by the Ecowas to make sure no stone is left unturned to secure the country. I’m not paranoid, but I’m not naive either. We just don’t know what is out there.
Yaya Jammeh should be brought to court as soon ad possible, we should also bring back all the money, cars and everything he stole from Gambia. The Gambian army has failed us, first they let him to occupy the nations highest office when his mandate was over and they let him loot everything. Who is yaya and why our soldier let this happen?. CDs can just shut his mouth, was he not the one saying yaya jammeh pays his salary? Bring back yaya to face justice should be the new slogan