Yahya Jammeh, Gambia’s exiled former president, has re-entered the national conversation with a barrage of accusations against President Adama Barrow and Senegalese leaders, alleging theft of Gambian offshore oil. But like many of Jammeh’s dramatic claims, these come without a shred of evidence and appear politically charged.
In a series of voice notes shared recently, Jammeh claimed that Gambia holds some of the world’s largest gas reserves, on par with Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. He accused Barrow of colluding with former Senegalese President Macky Sall to secretly drill and divert oil to Senegal. Jammeh went on to say that this “theft” has continued under the new Senegalese leadership, urging Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko to come clean to the Senegalese public.
“If Sonko is a Muslim who stands for justice, he must stop this,” Jammeh said, without offering any documentation, contracts, or data to back his words.
He further alleged that Gambian oil is being exported under the radar using petrol tankers flying Gambian flags—implying a covert operation involving foreign powers and local collaborators. The claims, however, remain unsubstantiated.
Jammeh’s intervention has stirred political waters at home. Musa Ousainou Yali Batchilly, leader of the Gambia Action Party (GAP), said the allegations, though lacking evidence, raise questions about transparency in the management of the country’s natural resources.
“This has sparked renewed public interest and skepticism about the fate of our natural resources,” Batchilly said in a statement. GAP is now calling on the Barrow government to publicly clarify the status of any oil reserves, the nature of deals with foreign oil companies, and whether Gambian interests are protected.
Meanwhile, a senior Gambian official dismissed the ex-leader’s accusations as “desperate” and not worth a formal government response. Senegalese officials have remained silent.
Jammeh, who ruled The Gambia for 22 years before being ousted in 2016, has a long history of making grandiose claims. He once declared he could cure AIDS with herbs and was known for authoritarian rule and human rights abuses. His latest oil allegations appear timed to rekindle relevance amid growing domestic frustrations with the current administration.
In his recordings, Jammeh also took aim at the political coalition that forced him out of office, accusing them of enriching themselves with oil money at the expense of the public. He claimed that under his leadership, oil drilling would have started in 2018 and higher education would have been free.
While oil exploration in Gambian waters has long been a topic of interest—with several international companies conducting surveys—no major discovery has ever been confirmed, let alone production-level drilling.
Until concrete evidence surfaces, Jammeh’s latest claims are likely to be seen as political theater aimed at destabilising an already tense landscape. But with growing public concern and political pressure, the Barrow administration may eventually need to provide more transparency about Gambia’s oil prospects, real or imagined.
