President Muhammadu Buhari will travel to Gambia on Tuesday, December 13, 2016 to meet with and persuade President Yahya Jammeh to hand power over to Adama Barrow, the president-elect of the West African country.
According to BBC, Buhari will be joined by other West African leaders, in a bid to end the political crisis brewing in the West African country.
Jammeh lost the just-concluded election in the country, and conceded the elections to Barrow, a real estate mogul who has never held a political office.
“I’m calling you to wish you all the best, the Gambian people have spoken and I have no reason to contest the will of Almighty Allah,” Jammeh had said at the time.
The December 1 vote saw Barrow win 222,708 votes (43.3%), while Jammeh polled 208,487 (39.6%).
Jammeh made an about-turn on Friday, December 9, 2016 addressing the country in a televised broadcast in which he announced the annulment of the election and alluded to foreign influence on the electoral body.
“After a thorough investigation, I have decided to reject the outcome of the recent election,” President Jammeh said.
“I lament serious and unacceptable abnormalities which have reportedly transpired during the electoral process. I recommend fresh and transparent elections which will be officiated by a god-fearing and independent electoral commission.”
John Mahama, Ghanaian president who just lost and conceded in the West African country, will also join the African leaders in persuading Jammeh to relinquish power.
The UN Security Council has asked outgoing Gambian President Yahya Jammeh to carry out a peaceful and orderly transition of power to the president-elect, Adama Barrow, the opposition leader who was declared the winner of the December 1 election.
In a press statement issued on Saturday, December 10, 2016, the 15-member Council “strongly condemned the outgoing Gambian President’s rejection of the official election results proclaimed by the country’s Independent Electoral Commission”.
The UN Council asked Jammeh “to respect the choice of the sovereign people of Gambia, as he did on December 2, and to transfer, without condition and undue delay, power to the President-elect, Mr. Adama Barrow.”
