The embattled Gambia President Yahya Jammeh is becoming more isolated as more trusted aides have continued to desert him for refusing to step down from power.
Jammeh’s lawyer has fled the country and told him to step down immediately.
The latest to desert him is Edu Gomez, the lawyer representing him and his party Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC) in their attempt to have the country’s Supreme Court overturn the victory of Adama Barrow and stop his inauguration as President.
The lawyer, who has fled to Senegal, also penned a letter to President Yahya Jammeh asking him to step down in the interest of peace
The letter read: “On Tuesday 17th January 2017, my son and I took a crucial decision to seek sanctuary in the sister Republic of Senegal. This was found necessary due to the mounting fear and rapidly increasing tension at every passing moment,” he wrote.
“The general perception is that after midnight on 18th January 2017, the mandate of President Yahya Jammeh would expire and President-elect Mr. Adama Barrow would be sworn-in as president, in line with the dictates of our constitution. Any attempt to interrupt this ceremony, it is clearly understood, opens the Gambia to attack from ECOWAS forces.
“As a legal practitioner representing President Jammeh and the APRC the party in the ongoing petition filed on his behalf at the Supreme Court of the Gambia, I have to admit that I was working under tremendous pressure and coercion. All the lawyers with established practices in the Gambia refused to be associated with the said petition. As a retainer for the ruling APRC party, I could not refuse the brief on professional grounds, despite my apprehension.”
“Having fortunately eluded the 24 hour military security around me and my family, I managed to arrive in Senegal where I now gained safety, respite and mental stability. In my present situation, I humbly and respectfully advise President Jammeh as the champion of peace he has been known to be to peacefully step aside in the interest of peace and safety of the Gambian people.
“Everything, except God’s Kingdom, comes to an end. I advocate for a peaceful end rather than a violent and gruesome end. Please in the name of Most Merciful God do not allow your legacy to be described as one where “pen of the sword dipped in innocent blood writes its history on the rough page of tyranny."
Meanwhile, Gambia’s army chief Ousman Badjie has said he would not order his men to fight other African troops if they enter the Gambian territory.
He spoke on Wednesday, January 18, as Senegalese and other Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) troops are stationed on The Gambia’s borders.
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