Nigeria has offered to accommodate the embattled Gambian President, Yahya Jammeh if he steps down and wishes to relocate to Nigeria.
Spokesman of the House of Representatives, Abdulrazak Namdas told news men yesterday that the House had already communicated the decision to President Muhammadu Buhari who is due in Gambia tomorrow, Friday, to join other leaders of the ECOWAS to convince Jammeh to hand over power to the winner of the December 1st Presidential election, Mr. Adama Barrow.
Namdas said that the decision by Nigeria to offer Jammeh political asylum in Nigeria is to help end Gambia’s political crisis.
Gambia has been in a political lockdown since Jammeh, who ruled the small West African nation for 22 years with an iron fist, refused to accept the result of the December 1st presidential election which saw him lose power to Barrow.
Earlier yesterday, Jammeh announced he will not step down when his mandate ends on January 18.
Jammeh is planning to remain in office until the Supreme Court decides on a petition he filed that challenges the result of the December 1st presidential election, the information ministry said in a statement read on national television.
President-elect, Barrow, a former real-estate agent who was little known before he announced his candidacy, had reiterated that he is planning to take office on January 19, as scheduled.
Earlier this week, Gambia’s dysfunctional Supreme Court adjourned hearing in Jammeh’s petition to Monday, since only one of a required minimum of five judges were present.
Experts, however, believe that it will be highly unlikely that four additional judges will be present on Monday, because the Supreme Court has not been operational since Jammeh fired several of the court’s judges in mid-2016.
All other eligible Court of Appeal judges left the country after the December election. Observers fear that delays to the planned handover of power could lead to violence. [myad]
