Like Lauret Gbagbo of Cote d Voire, Samuel Doe of Liberia etc. who brought shame and disrepute to Africa, Yahya Abdu-Aziz Jammeh must be chased out of power if he refuses to leave honorably by January 18, 2017 when his current dubious tenure expires. Jammeh must never be allowed to graduate to the unenviable and ignoble club of Africa’s notorious political evil spirits (sit tight rulers like Robert Mugabe,Yoweri Museveni etc.). The United Nations (UN) must add its voice and military threat to the applaudable position taken so far by the African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on the madness being displayed by Yahya Jammeh in Gambia.
By Igbotako Nowinta
The December 1st 2016 Presidential Election held in Gambia was one of the biggest positive news that has come out of the tiny West African nation for many decades now.
This is so because one character, a dictator of the highest order, one of the bloodiest rulers ever to force himself on a hapless and helpless people on the African soil was disgraced and asked to vacate power by popular electoral decision.
Out-going President Yahya Jammeh has reached his tether politically, like a fabled masquerade that has exhibited all his inherent dancing steps, the only alternative for him now is to quit the stage for a new guy to introduce fresher ideas that will lift the Gambian nation from the abyss of stagnation, ridicule and underdevelopment.
The emergence of Adama Barrow, veteran opposition politician as the president-elect of Gambia is like the biblical Joshua which divine forces have sent to lead the people of Gambia out of the iron-fisted rule established in 1994 by Yahya Jammen.
I remember then in 1994,when soldier of fortune, Jammen led the ‘khaki’boys out of the barracks to snatch political power at gun point and went on to dare the peace loving people of Gambia when he subsequently declared his intension to transmute to a civilian president.
Jammeh’s dramatic egoistic ambition coincided with the strange, but brutal character that became known as General Sani Abacha in Nigeria, who sacked the Interim National Government (ING) hurriedly assembled by ex-military President, General Ibrahim Babangida in August 1993.
It must be recollected that General Sani Abacha, fully conscious of his lack of popularity and illegitimate background brazenly attempted to drop his military attire for civilian regalia in order to become a civilian head of state in Nigeria.
Like Jammeh, Abacha unleashed a reign of terror and horror on the people of Nigeria in an attempt to actualize his demented, inordinate ambition, only for death to stop him in controversial circumstances that stunned the world on June 8,1998,within the confines of the Presidential Palace in Abuja, Nigeria.
Unlike Abacha, Yahya Jammen was lucky to have his way in 1996,when he successfully jettisoned his military clothes for large civilian attire, as the President of Gambia.
Jammeh had his way largely because he deployed heavy barbaric tactics that shocked the people of Gambia and the civilized world, as the Presidential Election that smuggled him to the zenith of political power was one of the worst rigged in electoral history.
Now, since then about twenty two years (22) down the corridor of power, this political manipulator and alleged criminal has been able to hold on to power without the genuine consent of the people.
Jammeh had his way again serially in 2001, 2006 and 2011, in what has become the most damaging charade, called Presidential Elections in the visibly unfortunate West African nation.
On December 1, 2016 the masses that have sorrowfully and painfully tolerated Jammeh spoke mightily with one unmistakable voice by telling him to vacate power via the ballot box.
Today, this man is daring the collective resolve of the people of Gambia; he is saying that he would challenge the results in the Gambian Judiciary, after he had earlier conceded defeat by congratulating President-elect, Adama Barrow.
Why did Yahya Jammeh drop his earlier position on the out-come of the Presidential Election on December 9, 2016,eight days after accepting the results?
Honestly, his actions portray him as an irresponsible, dubious and unstable character; a political lunatic and a mean scoundrel who is not fit to sit a day longer in the Gambian Presidential Palace.
Does he think he is bigger than the mandate given to Adama Barrow? He thinks he can have his way as usual via the Gambian Supreme Court?
Like Lauret Gbagbo of Cote d Voire, Samuel Doe of Liberia etc. who brought shame and disrepute to Africa, Yahya Abdu-Aziz Jammeh must be chased out of power if he refuses to leave honorably by January 18, 2017 when his current dubious tenure expires.
Jammeh must never be allowed to graduate to the unenviable and ignoble club of Africa’s notorious political evil spirits (sit tight rulers like Robert Mugabe,Yoweri Museveni etc.).
The United Nations (UN) must add its voice and military threat to the applaudable position taken so far by the African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on the madness being displayed by Yahya Jammeh in Gambia.
Yahya Jammeh must be stopped by any means available because he is a bad influence on the political scene in Africa today and an affront to democratic change. He is an enemy of democratic Africa!
Nowinta wrote: Where We Are – A Call for Democratic Revolution in Nigeria
