Gambia’s ruling party, Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC), has filed a motion at the Supreme Court seeking to stop the intended inauguration of Adama Barrow as the next president of the country.
The Supreme Court Chief Justice Emmanuel Fagbenle is quoted by Reuters on Thursday to have confirmed receipt of the petition. Fagbenle said “It is filed today with the court registrar,” but failed to indicate when the petition will be heard.
President Yahya Jammeh has vowed to stay in power until the country’s top court rules on an earlier petition filed challenging the declared results of the election he lost.
Mr. Jammeh’s tenure ends on January 19, and the president-elect, Adama Barrow has announced that he will be sworn in to take over, inviting people to the event.
The latest move by President Jammeh’s party is to prevent such an inauguration from happening.
According to Reuters the secretary general of the Gambia Bar Association, Aziz Bensouda said “The inauguration of the president-elect should be held when Jammeh’s term officially ends. The court does not have any mandate to put an inauguration on hold”.
Lawmakers in Nigeria on Thursday voted to allow Gambia’s president, Yahya Jammeh a safe haven in their country.
Mr. Jammeh can only enjoy this asylum if he accepts the outcome of last year’s elections which he lost to Adama Barrow.
The Nigerian lawmaking chamber is hoping this offer will help bring an end to the current political crisis in The Gambia.
The president of Nigeria, Mahamadu Buhari is leading a delegation to Gambia on Friday to try and resolve the political crisis.
An earlier delegation from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to the Gambia last year failed to get Jammeh to agree to step down when his tenure ends.
Source: Africafeeds.com
