By Omar Bah
The deputy national organising secretary of the UDP, Ebrima Dibba, has told The Standard yesterday he will file a lawsuit against the police for “unjustifiably denying” him a permit to protest.
Last week, Dibba applied for a police permit to stage a protest at Westfield against the IEC’s decision to reject Momodou Sabally’s nomination. The IGP refused his request on Tuesday citing security reasons.
But speaking in a Standard exclusive, Dibba said: “I am going to court tomorrow [today] to file a petition for them to allow me to go ahead with my demonstration because the reason given by the police for denying my request is unjustifiable. They are basically telling me I don’t have a right to protest.
“We all know what happened to Momodou Sabally is selective justice. I applied for a permit to demonstrate and demand for the IEC and government to do what is just but the police denied me a permit so the only option I have right now is to take the matter to court for them to compel the police to give me the permit,” Dibba said.
In a related development, some supporters of Mr Sabally have also written to the IGP requesting a permit to protest against the IEC’s decision.
In their letter signed by one Buba Sanna Njie, they said they plan on protesting for two days – Friday 18th March and Saturday 19th March.
“The planned peaceful protests are scheduled to take place between Friday March 18 at 3pm and Saturday March 19 at 3pm,” the pro-Sabally group told police chief Abdoulie Sanyang in their letter.
“If approved, the protests will start on Friday at 3pm at the IEC headquarters in Kanifing municipality where protesters will march and submit a written petition to the chairman of the IEC.
