By L Sillah
Security risk management consultant
Executive Summary
Lawyer Ousman Fafa M’Bai’s petition for transparency in the offshore oil dealings between The Gambia and FAR Ltd is more than a legal matter. It is a national security alert, an economic emergency, and a constitutional wake-up call. This statement supports Mr M’Bai’s noble stand but expands the view: The Gambia’s real issue is not just secrecy in resource contracts—it is the silent surrender of sovereignty to Senegal through failed statecraft, economic dependence, and misinterpreted geopolitics. And worse—the Gambian public’s limited understanding of security leaves the door wide open to quiet colonisation.
As shared by Mr M’Bai himself: I urge all citizens to affirmatively and publicly join lawyer Ousman Fafa M’Bai in his very important quest for transparency and full disclosure regarding offshore oil prospecting in our territorial waters. Our manifestly corrupt Gambia government has not ever fully disclosed the transactions it entered into with Australian oil company FAR Limited. We the citizens don’t know the scope of work FAR was contracted to do, seismic and drilling data, terms of their exit and other crucial financial and operational details. The press release issued yesterday by the Petroleum Minister Nani Juwara provided no substantive answers to the important questions Lawyer Mbai has been asking on behalf of the Gambian people.
We are grateful for the sense of duty Mr M’Bai is bringing to bear on this important matter. He has made legal filings with regulators in Australia where FAR is based requesting required disclosures as well as demanding transparency from The Gambia government on all issues regarding this very important matter. The rest of us ordinary citizens also have a duty to stand with Mr M’Bai who brings knowledge, experience and commitment to finding answers. We are entitled to know what was undertaken on our behalf by our government in dealings with foreign companies regarding our patrimonies. I urge our local media to invite Mr M’Bai to all their platforms so that he can explain in layman language what questions he is asking and why it is important to have answers to them.”
The root problem: patterns, not incidents
The strategic presence of Senegalese forces in The Gambia, extending beyond initial ECOMIG deployment, has gradually evolved into a quiet overreach—militarily, economically, and diplomatically. Reports of misconduct, economic redirection, and operational interference have raised deep concerns that can no longer be ignored.
Yet the most critical issue is this: Gambia outsourced its protection to a competing regional power without a proper national conversation.
This is not just a tactical error. It is a geopolitical misstep with generational consequences.
As someone who has worked in global security environments and has conducted high-level threat and risk assessments in regions such as Nigeria (Port Harcourt), Kenya (Wajir), the United Kingdom, and Pakistan—particularly on projects simulating the exploration of shale gases, from the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to more conventional crude outflow operations—I have come to understand one universal truth: proximity without boundaries becomes control.
Senegal is not the enemy. Nor is Gambia a victim.
But the current imbalance is unsustainable.
If we do not rethink the terms of engagement between these two nations—particularly around: Trade equity, cultural diplomacy, military presence and economic sovereignty …then we risk hardening an alliance built on illusion rather than mutual interest.
Let me be transparent. I have spent years offering insights, solutions, and warnings on these issues—not for fame, not for politics, but because I saw the fog long before the storm.
I have written national-level threat and risk assessments. I have published strategic frameworks. I have developed strategic frameworks—and quietly laid foundations for technologies that, when the time is right, could help both nations transition toward sustainable sovereignty. But only if there is genuine will for balance.
I do this not for applause. I do it because I care deeply about the future of this region.
But that future must begin with truth. And that truth begins with recognising the imbalance, and realigning the scale.
In every shale gas extraction or oil exploration project, there are always cover stories—not necessarily to deceive, but to allow the project to mature before external interference can destabilise operations. However, this does not excuse excluding local communities. When exploration uses public waterways, roads, or coastal areas, the people must be informed.
Lack of awareness leads to suspicion, traffic disruptions, and even unrest. If the project is offshore—as seen today in Nigeria’s Niger Delta—affected communities deserve transparency, basic respect, and tangible benefits. Build a school. Sponsor a hospital. Upgrade a port. Let them feel the reward of national participation.
This is no different from preparing for war: you need public support. Inform them, involve them, compensate them—and the project will gain natural security from its own people.
To my Senegalese brothers and sisters: this is not an attack. It is an invitation to reset. To my Gambian people: sovereignty is not a gift. It is something you maintain, or you lose it slowly, politely, and completely.
We need a new model—one based on mutual respect, transparency, and shared strategic vision.
Until that happens, I will continue to build and write and invent in silence—because no true solution thrives in fog.
But the moment clarity arrives, I am prepared to deploy solutions that can benefit both nations without interference.
To the Gambian People and Media: Understand Security Beyond Guns
Gambians overwhelmingly associate security with guns, uniforms, and the army. But the reality is:
A nation cannot protect its borders if its economy is compromised.
A well-equipped army cannot defend a starving population.
You cannot call yourself sovereign if your data, energy, presidency, and currency are in foreign hands.
Security is not just tangible (guns, guards, walls). It is intangible (food supply, national morale, digital sovereignty, policy-making, and cultural confidence).
We must educate ourselves to understand what sovereignty really means—or we will lose it in the name of “peacekeeping.”
Closing statement
Gambia will not be saved by silence. Nor by soldiers alone. Sovereignty is not a slogan. It is a structure—a layered architecture of self-control, strategic awareness, and collective courage. And it begins by telling the truth, even when it stings.
To the media houses: stop gatekeeping patriotism. To the government: stop confusing diplomacy with dependency. To the people: stop sleeping on your republic.
Sovereignty doesn’t scream. It slips away quietly.
Let this be the generation that wakes up.
Respectfully.
