By Omar Bah
Imam Abdoulie Fatty has said it was Gambians who kept Jammeh in power for long and not him.
Imam Fatty was speaking on Paradise FM in response to Agriculture Minister Omar Jallow’s claims that he (Fatty) helped Jammeh to stay in power for 22-years.
Minister Jallow has also called on Imam Abdoulie Fatty to apologise to Gambians for not doing enough to stop Yahya Jammeh from committing heinous crimes against Gambians.
In response yesterday, Imam Fatty said: “When Jammeh was dropping his military uniform many Gambians including elders and Imams were there but I was not….So how did I help Yahya Jammeh stay in power for 22-years? What kept Jammeh in power for 22-years was his work so OJ and his colleagues should tighten their belts and work.”
He continued: “Gambians believe in working and Jammeh was doing exactly that….He built roads and the University of The Gambia….What was OJ doing in 30 years? Jammeh’s hard work is why young people and Gambians followed him.”
Imam Fatty added that Jammeh used politics to control the country “although one will say he was using power as well. That was why when he killed people the whole nation will keep quiet. OJ should understand that we studied Islam and we will talk about it whenever we deem it necessary…Nobody can stop us from doing that. We have nothing to fear when we are preaching about our religion.”
On whether he should apologise to Gambians as urged by OJ, an unapologetic Imam Fatty said: “Many believe OJ was responsible for the 1994 coup because he made it easy for Yahya Jammeh to succeed. When Jawara said he was going to step down if OJ accepted him to step down in 1991 at the PPP Mansakonko conference somebody else would have taken over from him. Imam Sheikh Hatab Bojang was jailed during PPP regime when OJ was a Minister. What did he do at the time?” Fatty queried.
“It is OJ who should apologise to Gambians for witnessing all the difficulties Gambians went through during the PPP government when he was serving as Minister,” he added.
