Yahya Jammeh will be arrested if returned to the Gambia – Justice Minister

The Gambian Justice Minister, Abubacarr Marie Tambedou, has disclosed that the country’s exiled former President would be arrested if he steps his foot in the country.

Abubacarr Marie Tambedou, disclosed this on Sunday at the Law Complex at High Court in Banjul during the 2020 legal year opening.

Reacting to the demand by supporters of the exiled former president of the Gambia for his return, the Justice Minister strongly warned that Jammeh would be arrested should he return to the country.

“If former President Yahya Jammeh makes the mistake of coming into the Gambia, he will be arrested and will face the full force of the law in the most serious form,” he warned.

“We made a choice. We chose liberty over tyranny, democracy over dictatorship, and reconciliation over revenge. The road to sustainable peace and democracy in our country will be a long and bumpy ride but we will not fail,” he added.

On Thursday, thousands of supporters of Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC) party, in a demonstration, unequivocally demanded return of Yahya Jammeh to the Gambia.

Yahya Jammeh was the former president of the Gambia who ruled the country for 22 years, but ousted in 2016 after he lost in the presidential election to Adam Barrow.

Jammeh went into exile away in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.

The supporters have appealed to the United Nations, African Union, and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to honour the agreement they had with Yahya Jammeh during a peaceful transition negotiation before he went into exile.

“Before Jammeh left here for exile, there was an agreement for him to come back into the country after three years.” One of the protesters said.

Jammeh’s years in office as the former president were characterized with dictatorship, high-handedness and numbers of human rights abuses. However, protests have trailed Jammeh’s successor, Adama Barrow after he refused to step down from power as promised. This is a major reason protesters are calling for the return of the exiled former president, Yahya Jammeh.

In a statement by Ousman Rambo Jatta, deputy leader of the APRC, the call for Jammeh’s return was clear.

He said, “We want Jammeh to return to The Gambia. He is only one who can rule this country.”

Protesters also complained of hardship under Adam Barrow and they hopefully call on the former president to take over the mantle of leadership of the country again.

According to one of the protesters, Maimuna Jaju, “This is why we want former President Jammeh to come back and take over the mantle of leadership.”

The protest is believed to have been orchestrated by the former president who was heard in a leaked recorded audio expressing his support for the Thursday’s protest.

In the audio, Jammeh said, “The fact of the matter is to meet the authorities and make it very clear to them that the agreement must be implemented.”