Following media reports of claims made by Ousman Jatta, the councilor elect for Old Bakau and Cape Point ward, that his house was attacked by APRC militants shortly after the announcement declaring him to be the winner, Honourable Khalifa Jammeh, National Assembly Member for Bakau, who Mr Jatta accused of being the instigator of the unfortunate incident, yesterday afternoon walked into our offices to disprove the allegations and countered that it was in fact his family that had been attacked by the jubilant UDP supporters.
Honourable Jammeh recounted that immediately the ward’s results were made known, jubilating UDP supporters started provoking his family by using abusive language while they drummed, later on throwing stones into his compound. According to Honourable Jammeh, he was at home at that time.
He further recalled that he was at the Independence Stadium awaiting the mayoral results when the incident started. He said he received a call from one of his sisters to inform him of the incident, adding that he has over 50 witnesses to attest to that. He maintained that before his arrival at the scene there was already security presence there, noting that OC Bakary Sanneh, the PIU Commander, was even present.
“Last presidential elections, because of his unruly behavior, interrupting voting process for more than two hours, he was arrested. Now that he and his supporters went to my family to provoke, he is scared of being arrested again. That is why he rushed to the police station to report that his house was attacked by APRC militants. That move was just to deceive the authorities,” he stated. “Am I the one that contested the elections? What would warrant me to do such,” Hon. Jammeh enquired.
Hon Jammeh concluded by emphasising that the claims by Mr Jatta were unfounded and untenable by available facts.