Gambia Crisis: House of Reps seeks asylum for Yahya Jammeh in Nigeria
The House of Representatives has proposed a motion that, in the eventuality Yahya Jammeh accepts to vacate his seat of power, he would be offered asylum in Nigeria.
The lawmakers admitted the motion at Wednesday’s sitting. The idea will be debated on Thursday (today).
Yahya Jammeh has refused to give up power in Gambia despite losing to opposition, Adama Barrow. He has called for a rerun of the presidential election, citing irregularities in the December 1 polls.
Barrow however, insists he will take over the reigns as President come January 19, whether Jammeh likes it or not.
Jigawa State representative in the house, Mr. Sani Zoro, moved the motion that Nigeria provides Jammeh a safe haven, in order to ensure that there was a crisis-free transition in The Gambia.
House of Reps Speaker, Mr. Yakubu Dogara implored members to wait till Thursday’s plenary to either reject or accept the motion.
President Buhari has been meeting with other members of ECOWAS in a move to convince Jammeh to bow to the wishes of the country’s citizens, but the strongman has lashed out at “an unprecedented level of foreign interference in our elections and internal affairs and also a sustained smear campaign, propaganda and misinformation.”
“I believe we can ask Gambians to come together to resolve this and any other matter without undue external interference,” Jammeh said recently.
