In a wide-ranging interview with The Standard, he said: “Some people do not understand things. Of all the people seeking to be president in The Gambia only Yahya Jammeh has given support to the Supreme Islamic Council. None of the politicians has bought a bag of cement and said, ‘add this to your construction work’. There is a lot more to the work of the Supreme Islamic Council than just sighting of the moon. Yahya Jammeh does not hold us in contempt and he can never do so because we are in pursuit of the perfection of the religion of Islam. There was a Supreme Islamic Council before who were accused of being politicians but never had problem with Jawara. Alhaji Soriba was here during Jawara’s time and used to go up to his office but they never had a problem. So the allegation President Jammeh holds the council in contempt is without basis. Any person who asks you to stay away from politics has both his feet and hands in it.”
Pressed why Jammeh would stop using the title on two separate occasions, he retorted: “Jammeh is a free man. Yahya Jammeh is a free man. Even you, if you want you can tell people not to call you by a certain name. So, it is his idea not to use the name. If it pleases him, he can reinstate the title even tomorrow because he is a free man. Why don’t you go and ask Yahya Jammeh why he does not want to use the title? He is not averse to answering questions and I am sure if you ask him you will get an answer. It is not that he does not appreciate the title but the reason he is not using it would not be known to you unless you ask Yahya Jammeh himself”.
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