The
Gambian Bar has raised alarm over plans by the outgoing President Yahya
Jammeh to use Nigerian judges to force himself to retain power.
President Yahya Jammeh
According to the Gambian Bar Association, embattled President Yahya
Jammeh who lost the Presidential election but refused to accept the
result after he made a U-turn on Friday is planning to use judicial
officers imported from Nigeria to remain in office.
The Gambian Bar accused Chief Justice Emmanuel Fagbenle, a Nigerian
national of planning to impose Jammeh on the people as they both have
close connection.
“There is a total breakdown of the rule of law and the Chief
Justice has been known to carry executive directives in matters of the
state interest,” the Gambian Bar said, adding that it wished to bring this issue to the attention of the Nigerian Government.
According to a report by SaharaReporters, the lawyers noted that
there has been no Session of the Supreme Court of the Gambia for almost
two years, in contravention of the law. It said that the only Judge
appointed to sit on the Supreme Court is Chief Justice Fagbenle, and
that whenever there is an intention to constitute a Supreme Court, he
and the Attorney General would handpick qualified lawyers or judges from
commonwealth countries who would visit the Gambia for a two-week
duration and are appointed by the President for that purpose to dispose
of cases.
“It is clear that Jammeh did not expect to lose the election
and did not deem it fit to have a sitting permanent Supreme Court. This
has inured to his benefit for the last two years during which several
cases have sat unheard by a Supreme Court. Case in point is the appeal
by the United Democratic party against the conviction of its party
leaders.”
They insisted that Fagbenle is “clearly unfit” for the
constitutional role of Chief Justice and will certainly take steps to
attempt to extend the illegal regime of Jammeh, the group pointed out
that there are also seven judges of the high court, all appointed in
2016, and all handpicked from Nigeria.
They named the judges as Justice Agboola, Justice A.N.C. Ikoro,
Justice Uduma, Justice E.E. Ogar, Justice E.O. Dada, Justice Sulaiman,
and Justice E.O. Otaba
“These persons have never been judges or sat in a judicial capacity,” the lawyers said. “They
were imported and appointed and have demonstrated in several
high-profile judgments that they will not take any steps contrary to the
will of the President.
“It is, therefore, a vital priority for the Government of
Nigeria and all Bar Associations to condemn the actions and capacity of
all judges of foreign nationality currently sitting in Gambia and call
for their immediate repatriation to prevent them from undermining the
will of the Gambian people,” they added.
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