By Binta A Bah
The judge presiding over the appeal case of the UDP Busumbala aspirant, Momodou Sabally, has told dozens of his supporters to ‘behave’ themselves in court else he will not hear the arguments of the appeal.
Justice Achibonga gave this admonition to noisy placard-wielding supporters of Sabally, who is seeking an order to set aside the decision of the IEC to disqualify him from contesting in the April 9 National Assembly elections.
The supporters marched into the courtroom escorting Sabally and chanting ‘justice for Sabally’ with their party’s yellow flag in display.
“Behave yourselves or I will not come to court. If you don’t behave yourself, you can do the case by yourselves,” the judge warned the crowd before leaving the courtroom.
At this juncture, Sabally’s lawyer Aboulie Fatty who looked somewhat unhappy with the supporters’ actions, stood up and told them to be quiet. “Bring that flag down. This is a courtroom,” Lawyer Fatty ordered the supporters.
Sabally, who was dressed in light-blue haftan told his supporters to respect the judge immediately Justice Achibonga left the courtroom. “He is the boss of this court and you have to respect that. If you cannot maintain silence, please leave the courtroom,” Sabally advised his supporters.
Minutes later, armed para-military officers were deployed and two officers came into the courtroom and asked some supporters to leave to give way to the judge, who was waiting in chambers for things to settle down.
The judge eventually came to the court after an hour’s delay to hear the arguments of Sabally’s lawyer against the IEC and the Attorney General.
