Former President Jammeh Announces November 2025 Return: “Nobody Can Prevent Me From Coming In. I Have Missed My Country.”
By Makutu Manneh
Former Gambian President Yahya Jammeh, who has been living in exile in Equatorial Guinea since his departure in 2017, has announced plans to return to The Gambia in November 2025, asserting that “nobody can prevent me from coming in. I have missed my country.”
The announcement came through a recorded audio message played to his supporters gathered in his hometown of Kanilai on Sunday afternoon. In the message, Jammeh revealed that his exile, initially expected to last only six months, has now extended to nearly nine years.
“I can hear you people yearning for me to come back. It is not that I don’t want to come back. I always make it very clear that I want to come back. In Sha Allah, by the will of the Almighty, I will come back in the month of November 2025. I want to come and stay peacefully in my motherland,” Jammeh stated.
He stated that the specific date and travel arrangements for his return would be announced by the party’s executive interim leader, Momodou Yafaye Tamba, adding that the deputy administrative secretary would collaborate closely with them on the process.
In the audio message played to his supporters in Kanilai on Sunday afternoon, former President Yahya Jammeh explained that a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) had been signed, providing a six-month timeframe for his return without any preconditions.
Jammeh revealed that he had initially planned to step down and resume life on his farms, but ECOWAS officials informed him that members of the coalition government were uncomfortable with his continued presence in the country, citing his “massive support” among both the public and the military.
“They said I can come back to the Gambia as a Gambian citizen, and there were so many things that were guaranteed, and as soon as I left, you all know what happened,” he said.
Jammeh told his supporters that the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was drafted in his presence during meetings with Guinean President Alpha Condé and Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz.
He explained that Halifa Sallah signed the MoU because President Adama Barrow was in Dakar at the time. Jammeh added that Chambas signed on behalf of the United Nations Secretary-General, noting: “I signed it, and I believe Alpha Condé and others did as well.”
Expressing gratitude to the APRC for their continued support, he urged party members to remain law-abiding, emphasizing that they are known for respecting the law and should not take justice into their own hands.
“I have a right to stay because the Supreme Court was supposed to judge. That is the democratic and legal solution to the problem. The constitution was disrespected because there was a hidden agenda,” he said.