By Omar Bah

A former member of the APRC Executive Committe and Nominated National Assembly Member, Kitim Jarju, has said former President Yahya Jammeh is issuing empty threats and urged the side of the party loyal to him to disregard his recent claim of leadership and return to the party.
Last week,Jammeh declared himself as the sole leader of the APRC and lamented internal divisions while vowing to restore party discipline.
But according to Jarju, Jammeh should know that Gambians will never take his swearing seriously because the biggest liars in the Gambia are the ones that swear the most.
“Someone should tell him that his swearing will not make anybody trust a word of what he is saying.
I urge some of you who are talking to Jammeh to tell him to analyse his utterances and put them into context. You need to sit with him and give him some advise about the reality of Gambian politics today. A lot has changed now,” Jarju said in a WhatsApp audio shared with The Standard.
He warned that those supporting Jammeh should be careful of falling for his rhetoric because when they get into trouble, he (Jammeh) cannot even afford to hire a lawyer.
“Jammeh should know that The Gambia is bigger than him,” Jarju added.
He said those supporting Jammeh should remember that the same Jammeh restricted Jawara from commenting on Gambian politics for 22 years.
Commenting on Jammeh’s reclaiming of the APRC, Jarju said: “I think Jammeh is putting himself and his supporters in a big mess. How can you be in Equatorial Guinea and want to dictate how a party is run in The Gambia? What he is doing now, would he have allowed Jawara to do when he was president at the time? I think he is trying to put himself in a very funny situation, which is going to be very difficult for him.”
“Jammeh should understand that there is a new government running things in The Gambia and that he is no longer the president. He is an opposition. Jawara went through the same torture of having to be forced to stay in exile, but despite all the stress, he (Jawara) never attempted to interfere in the country’s politics.
“I want to advise all my family members in the No-To-Alliance group to be very careful because if any of them violate any law, they will go to jail. Jammeh and his supporters should know that the current government is led by President Adama Barrow, whether anybody likes it or not. When Jammeh became president, he sent Jawara into exile for eight years. What didn’t happen then should not happen now under the leadership of Barrow. If you want to mess around here because Jammeh said this and that, Barrow will send you to jail, and Jammeh will not do anything about it,” he warned.