BY Mayowa Tijani
President Yahya Jammeh of The Gambia is insisting that he will not step down.
Jammeh, who recently met with west African leaders led by Presidents Muhammadu Buhari and Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, said the meeting was just a formality.
“I am not a coward. My right cannot be intimidated and violated. This is my position. Nobody can deprive me of that victory except the Almighty Allah,” Jammeh said in a statewide broadcast on Tuesday night.
“Already the ECOWAS meeting was a formality. Before they came, they had already said Jammeh must step down. I will not step down.”
Jammeh lost the December 1 presidential election to Adama Barrow, representative of a collation of opposition parties.
He had called Adama to concede the election.
“I’m calling you to wish you all the best, the Gambian people have spoken and I have no reason to contest the will of Almighty Allah,” he had said at the time.
He then turned around to say “after a thorough investigation, I have decided to reject the outcome of the recent election”.
“I lament serious and unacceptable abnormalities which have reportedly transpired during the electoral process. I recommend fresh and transparent elections which will be officiated by a god-fearing and independent electoral commission.”
Buhari and ECOWAS leaders visited Jammeh and said he was responsive to the talks.
The Gambian coalition who brought in Adama said Buhari has the experience to take on Jammeh.
“We need the experience of President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria in many ways. Like President Jammeh, he is a former military officer, so he knows how the military thinks, and would be able to talk to him appropriately,” the coalition said.
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