President Adama Barrow has thrown down the gauntlet to exiled former president Yahya Jammeh, daring him to return to The Gambia and face the consequences. Addressing a massive crowd in Sukuta on Saturday, Barrow delivered one of his most defiant speeches yet, taking direct aim at the man who once ruled the country with an iron fist.
“Ex-president Jammeh knows the powers of a sitting president,” Barrow declared to thunderous applause. “And he should know that I am the Commander in Chief, and Jammeh knows what that means.”
The challenge came after Jammeh, speaking from exile in Equatorial Guinea, released another audio message to his loyalists claiming he would return home this month. Barrow, clearly unmoved, dismissed the talk as empty bravado. “Jammeh has been announcing his homecoming for many times,” he said. “Let him come now.”
The statement electrified the crowd but also underscored the growing tension between The Gambia’s current and former leaders. Jammeh’s repeated claims of returning have long unsettled parts of the nation, reopening wounds from his 22-year rule marked by repression, disappearances, and corruption. His supporters continue to press for his return, but Barrow’s comments made clear that any such move would not happen on Jammeh’s terms.
Barrow’s tone on Saturday was both confrontational and calculated. By invoking his constitutional authority, he sent a message not only to Jammeh but to those nostalgic for his era that the state remains firmly under his control. “I am the president,” Barrow said, his voice rising over the crowd. “And the law of this land must be respected.”
After firing his political warning, Barrow shifted to a more unifying message, urging Gambians to “pray for peace and the development of this country.” He highlighted progress under his administration in infrastructure and energy, seeking to remind citizens that the country’s future lies in stability and growth, not in the shadow of its past.
Still, Barrow’s words left no doubt that he is drawing a line. Jammeh’s return, should it ever happen, would not be met with celebration but confrontation. For now, the exiled former ruler’s threats remain only talk but in The Gambia’s charged political climate, talk has a way of igniting real consequences.
Barrow’s rally in Sukuta may have been a show of strength, but it also set the tone for what could be one of the most volatile periods in Gambian politics since the 2017 transition. Jammeh’s next move will test not only the limits of his influence from abroad but also the resolve of a president determined to prove he alone commands the power of the Gambian state.
