By Omar Bah
Fabakary Tombong Jatta, the former majority leader and current chairman of the opposition Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC) has said as a party the APRC would love to have their leader Jammeh back since he is a citizen of the Gambia. “But whether he comes or not APRC is here to stay,” Jatta said told journalists Tuesday.
“If you ask me if as a party we want Jammeh back, of course as a party we would wish our leader to be with us as a citizen of the country. After all I have never heard or seen anywhere that Jammeh has lost his citizenship. But we all know the circumstances in which he left. He left the country because of the impasse, which was as a result of his rejection of the election results when they were announced for the second time,” Jatta said,
He however defended Jammeh’s right as a citizen to contest the election results like every other contestant who may deem it necessary.
He continued: “But what baffles me is how did the international community find it difficult to facilitate the coming of just a few judges to decide the petition, yet it took them no time to mobilise thousands of troops in the name of Ecomig to come to the Gambia,” Jatta asked.
He said the APRC takes the sovereignty and integrity of the country very seriously stressing that the independence of the country should never be mortgaged. “Another thing that is important to note is that, whether President Yahya Jammeh comes back or not the APRC is here to stay because Jammeh is not the owner of the party. It is owned by every Gambian,” he said.
He said the APRC as a party is here to stay and although they will work with the new government on issues that are in the interest of the country and they will not hesitate to criticise anything that is not right.
