Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Jammeh to ECOWAS: "I will not step down"

Yaya Jammeh, the outgoing but  isolated dictator
The Gambian dictator who suffered a stunning defeat at the hands of a first-time presidential candidate and businessman/real estate agent has announced that he will defy the Abuja ECOWAS Summit resolution giving him an ultimatum to either step down peacefully to ensure a smooth transition of power to President-elect Adama Barrow or else face military action to forcibly remove him from power.

ECOWAS leaders have taken every measure and have issued verbal assurances that all other means of persuasion will be employed to avert the use of force against the outgoing Gambian leader.

Macky Sall of Senegal has taken several steps to assure Jammeh of his safety provided he abides by the decision of the ECOWAS which has the backing of the United Nations, European Union, African Union, the United States, United Kingdom, Spain, Russia and practically the rest of the world have backed the ECOWAS resolution.

Although the ECOWAS resolution was less explicit in the use of force as Macky Sall expressed in his Paris statement of a few days ago, he was quick to add that "words do have meaning", a vague reference to paragraph (h) of the resolution which referred to "all necessary action" to be taken by the ECOWAS authority "to enforce the results of the elections" of December 1st.

The Head of the ECOWAS Commission, Marcel de Souza, on the other hand, was less circumspect in his statement issued a week prior to the Abuja Summit of last Saturday about the use of military force to enforce any decision the regional body was about to take.  He cited the fact that ECOWAS troops were in Guinea-Bissau, Mali and Burkina Faso after similar political crises were experienced in those countries.

The forum Jammeh chose to issue his defiant statement that he will not step down was a curious and it was ironic. Members of an obscure professional lawyer's association that goes by the name African Bar Association that has all the hallmarks of a scam 419 operations.

The President and Vice President in charge of Budget and Finance are both Nigerians,  A third Nigerian Mr. Azuma, a resident in The Gambia was legal adviser to the Assets Management and Recovery Corporation who had a run-in and was detained in 2015 at the National Intelligence Agency (NIA).

Members of the so-called African Bar Association are a threat to the stability of the country.  Their motives are intricately linked to the mercenary judges who are currently in charge of Gambia's judiciary.  These judges and prosecutors from Nigeria and Cameroon have collaborated with Jammeh to successfully weaponize the Gambian judiciary.  Now, the ABA in Banjul to interfere in Gambia's electoral process in favor of the candidate who lost the elections.

President-elect Barrow and his team should not receive these characters who are nothing but a bunch of criminals in the payroll of Yaya Jammeh who can find time to accord official audience and a national platform to a group of 419ers but would refuse landing rights to President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf's plane.