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The Gambia’s Supreme Court adjourns Jammeh’s petition for lack of quorum

By Editor
11 January 2017   |   1:47 am
The Gambia’s Supreme Court has adjourned hearing in a petition filed by outgoing President Yahya Jammeh to challenge the results of the December 1, 2016 presidential election, which he lost to Adama Barrow.
Yahya Jammeh (C) lAFP PHOTO / MARCO LONGARI

Yahya Jammeh (C) lAFP PHOTO / MARCO LONGARI

• UN flays media clampdown
• Information minister resigns, flees country

The Gambia’s Supreme Court has adjourned hearing in a petition filed by outgoing President Yahya Jammeh to challenge the results of the December 1, 2016 presidential election, which he lost to Adama Barrow.

The court’s registrar said: “the case has been adjourned until January 16, since only one of the required minimum of five judges is present.”

Barrow, a former real estate agent, who was little known before he announced his candidacy, was scheduled to take office on January 19.

The postponement came a day after the Information Minister, Sheriff Bojang, stepped down and fled the West African nation.
Bojang said he resigned because Jammeh’s refusal to accept the outcome of the presidential election was disregarding the will of the people.

West African heads of state, which include President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday resolved to intervene in Gambia’s political crisis after meeting in the Nigerian capital of Abuja. They are expected to arrive in Gambia Friday.

In its reaction on the Gambian impasse, United Nations has denounced the ongoing clampdown on the media by Jammeh.

Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, Stephane Dujarric, said the UN condemned the ongoing desperation by Jammeh to unconstitutionally hold unto power.

According to Dujarric, “We are against any and all forced closing of radio stations. The free media is an important component to any democracy. The situation in the Gambia is of continuing concern to us.

Jammeh’s administration, over the weekend, closed a fourth radio station, Paradise FM, in the latest clampdown on the media.

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