A group of Gambian lawyers belonging to the Gambian Bar Association have called attention to the alleged use of Nigerian judges to pervert justice and keep President Jammeh in power.
Gambia’s President Yahya Jammeh was defeated by opposition candidate, Adama Barrow in the Dec 1 election but over one week later, Jammeh is rejecting the result of the election, throwing the West African nation into potential crisis.
The Gambian lawyers alleged that some Nigerian judges are allegedly currently working assiduously to ensure that Gambia’s President Yahyah Jammeh remains in power.
Gambia has used Nigerian judges in the past, to adjudicate in high profile cases. However, Gambians are beginning to cry out that they are the president’s cronies.
The association claimed in a statement that the head of the judiciary, Justice Emmanuel Fagbenle, a Nigerian national who is alleged very close to Jammeh, has imported Nigerian judiciary officials into Gambia to try to keep the defeated Jammeh in power.
Other Nigerian judges accused are:
- Justice Agboola
- Justice A.N.C. Ikoro
- Justice Uduma
- Justice E.E. Ogar
- Justice E.O. Dada
- Justice Sulaiman
- Justice E.O. Otaba
The judges, the association claimed were appointed this year, 2016 with the sole aim of carrying out Jammeh’s will in the judiciary. The association expressed worries that this group of people are now working to ensure that Jammeh, who has rejected the result of the election after initially conceding defeat and calling Barrow, remains in office.
According to Sahara Reporters, the Gambian lawyers said:
“These persons have never been judges or sat in a judicial capacity. They were imported and appointed and have demonstrated in several high-profile judgments that they will not take any steps contrary to the will of the President.
It is, therefore, a vital priority for the Government of Nigeria and all Bar Associations to condemn the actions and capacity of all judges of foreign nationality currently sitting in Gambia and call for their immediate repatriation to prevent them from undermining the will of the Gambian people.”