Ousman Rambo Jatta, former Deputy Party Leader of the Alliance for Patriotic Re-orientation and Construction (APRC) Now consular At The Gambian Embassy In South Africa
By Buba Gagigo
Ousman Rambo Jatta, former Deputy Party Leader of the Alliance for Patriotic Re-orientation and Construction (APRC) has called on both the inspector General of Police and the Interior Minister to arrest one Sheriffo Sanyang who confessed to burning down the APRC political bureau in 2016.
Rambo said When the bureau was burnt in 2016, he was the person who was asked to go to the bureau to take photos. He said he was the only cameraman in that building that day.
Rambo took issue with Sheriffo Sanyang’s accusation that Fabakary Tombong Jatta was complicit in the burning down of the APRC bureau.
“Sheriffo Sanyang said among the people who asked him to burn down the Bureau was Fabakary Tombong Jatta. That’s a lie. I don’t know why the IGP didn’t arrest you still now. This time should not have met you in your house, you should have been in a cell. Because you confessed that they told you to go and burn the GNPC, and the GNPC is National property. It doesn’t matter when the act was carried out, but it was done by you because you have confessed. If IGP is listening he should know that this boy should be arrested because had he succeeded in burning these petrol stations, a lot of people would have been affected,” he said.
The former APRC Deputy Party leader denied that Yankuba Colley was involved in the act, as alleged by Sheriffo.
“He said Yankuba Colley was involved in the burning of the bureau. I appeal to the inspector General of Police to call this man in for questioning to tell the truth. This man has to be arrested. He has to be charged with arson. He burnt down two petrol stations in 2016. Even if General Badjie and others he mentioned were part of it, we didn’t hear from them, but for him, he confessed, and he was not under duress. There was no pressure on him, but he was talking to somebody, and that was the former president of the Gambia. This guy is going to rot in jail,” he said.
Rambo also took exception to the allegation that it was Saul Badjie and former minister of Interior Ousman Sonko who gave Sheriffo money to burn the Political bureau. Sheriffo alleged that Saul Badjie told him, it was an executive order from Yahya Jammeh;
“I can swear I was the one who passed the information of the burning of petrol stations to General Badjie in his office in 2016. Ask General Badjie. He is in the Gambia. General in those days had no business in the bureau and has no documents in the bureau. Even though the government did not take action against you (Sheriffo Sanyang), we are going to take action against you because you put our party materials to waste. I have all the photos in my 2016 diary. If the Gambia Government cannot get you to answer, we will get you to answer,” he said.
The former APRC Deputy Party leader said that he had received information that Sheriffo Sanyang had been reinstated in the security service. Sonko called on the interior minister to remove Sanyang from the security forces.
“The Minister of Interior, again, you are harbouring a criminal. If he is capable of taking money from General Badjie to do such an assignment, then why should you keep him in the security force? Gambia! You are cooking something that will affect everyone when it comes out. I don’t pray for it, for me, I lived with my family out of the country. The reason we release audio when we see security threats is that we have our mothers, aunties, uncles, our grandparents all in the Gambia. They cannot run anywhere because Gambia is one door. You are observing, but the Gambia is sitting on a ticking time bomb and if it explodes it will not leave anyone. You don’t even know what you are sitting on in the Gambia. You believe that everything is fine, but honestly, everything is not fine in that tiny country,” Rambo Jatta said.
Rambo also asked President Adama Barrow not to even think of withdrawing the Senegalese Security Forces in the Gambia. He said their presence is good for the security of the country.
“Belie, I can swear some other things didn’t happen because of the presence of the ECOMIG troops in the Gambia. I heard former President Jammeh say he is linking with Sanna Manjang. Sanna Manjang is a wanted man in the Gambia. Sanna Manjang has done a lot of atrocities when we were in power. And we all previously listened to Baitoulie say when president Jammeh returns, he is going to State House,” Rambo Jatta said.
In former president Yahya Jammeh’s leaked Audio, he said he was informed that Yankuba Colley told people not to vote for him in 2016. Rambo Jatta also denied the allegations by the former president;
“It seems he believes the information. Don’t mean to disrespect, but if he believes that, that is his problem. The time he’s talking about, Yankuba Colley was the National Mobilizer General of the APRC. So the person who is supposed to mobilize people to vote for you, how can that person tell people to vote against you? It doesn’t even make sense,” Rambo said.