By Olimatou Coker
Yaya Jagana, the 51-year-old who was beaten by a mob in Busumbala accusing him of kidnapping children, has said he was wrongfully accused of a serious crime.
In a video he released from hospital, Jagana said: “Anyone who knows me will not associate me with such acts.”
Meanwhile the Gambia government issued a statement on the matter last Thursday:
“In the wake of a story alleging that some Nigerians are apprehended in Busumbala, West Coast Region, attempting to traffic children, please be informed that the entire story is patently false.
Instead, earlier this evening two Gambian brothers with their seven children all under 10, were literally ambushed by a mob of vigilante in Busumbala falsely accusing them of being Nigerian children smugglers.
Unfortunately, one of the men is vocally handicapped (dumb) and could not explain his relationship with the children. His brother, who was nervous, frantically tried to explain to the mob that this was a family headed to Fajikjida after a trip to the provinces to no avail. The Busumbala mob finally seized the men and subjected them to the most harrowing barbarity ever imaginable. The duo has since been hospitalized at Kanifing Regional and Brikama Hospitals with severe injuries to their heads while their children reunited with their mothers, are at Brikama Police Station with social workers comforting them as police unearth this mystery story.
According to police at Farato where the duo and children were first rescued to, the mob also seized the family’s C-Class Mercedes Benz, popped the engine-hood and then set the car ablaze. When the firefighters came to the scene, the mob threatened to fight them as the incinerated vehicle was in flames.”
