In treason trial Alieu Jobe opens testimony

Alieu Jobe, former Accountant General and the sixth accused person in the ongoing treason trial on the March 21 foiled coup, yesterday opened his testimony at the High Court in Banjul.

Appearing before Justice Avril Annin Yeboah, Mr Jobe recalled that he was arrested on 23rd March, 2006 at his office by three officers led by Lt Musa Jammeh of the State Guard. “I did not resist and I followed them down to the stairs, where I was ordered to board a vehicle. I got in the seat and two officers flanked me”, he said. However, he told the court that he was not informed about why he was under arrest until they passed RVTH, when Lt Jammeh started talking to him. “Lt Jammeh told me that he has been hunting for me for a long time and now I have fallen under his roof. I asked him why I was being hunted. He informed me that I (Jobe) aided and supported one Kaddy Jammeh to travel to the UK”, he added.

According to him, it was at around the NIA headquarters that Lt Jammeh asked him what he knew about the foiled coup. He said he told him that he knew nothing about the foiled coup. “I was eventually taken to the State Central Prisons at Mile II. I was not issued a document or a warrant paper to assure me that I was under arrest. I was taken to a cell at the Maximum Security Wing, where I was admitted as a prisoner”, he said.

He said Lt Musa Jammeh instructed his men to search him (Jobe) and detain him in a single cell “incommunicado”. He said during the night of 24 March, 2006, one warrant officer, Omar Colley, knocked his cell door and told him to dress up. “I was later handed to a group of soldiers dressed in black uniforms, who handcuffed and ordered me to join a black tinted car to the NIA headquarters. Upon arrival at the NIA headquarters, I met Lt Musa Jammeh, before I was taken to the first floor of the NIA building. At the NIA office, I was interrogated by a panel of 25 members sitting around a rounded table. I was asked to narrate what I knew about the foiled coup”, he told the court.

According to him, he told the panel that he knew nothing about the foiled coup, a 30 minutes argument between him and the panel ensued. He claimed that at that juncture, Lt Musa Jammeh said “don’t worry, he is wasting our time.” Lt Jammeh told me to follow him down to the stairs of the NIA building, where he handed me over to soldiers dressed in black uniforms. He said the soldiers told him to kneel down on handcuff. “They started beating me with sticks and pipes. This continued for 30 minutes,” he explained. He said he was beaten until Lt Jammeh had to order them to stop. He said the same questions about his knowledge of the foiled coup were recounted to him. He said he insisted that he knew nothing, before he was told by the soldiers to accept “what they told him. They wanted me to accept knowing something about the foiled coup and I was beaten until I complied. Boto Keita (a police officer) told me to comply otherwise the officers will not stop beating me. Lt Musa Jammeh also wanted me to comply that former Chief of Defense Staff, Ndure Cham, who they regarded as my relative, did inform me about the foiled coup,” he said.

According to him, on March 25th, he was asked to make a statement but replied that he wanted to see his lawyer first. He said Momodou Hydara told him (Jobe) not to waste their time or he would be taken back to where he was. “I complied to write a statement and sign. The statement was taken to the panel which claimed that the signature I appended was not my real signature. A specimen photocopied signature was brought for comparism,” he added.

When asked by his counsel Borry Touray whether Babou Loum, the independent witness was presented at the time he wrote his statement, Mr. Jobe said the first time he saw Babou Loum was when he testified in the case of Tamsir Jasseh, the fifth accused person.
The Former Accountant General told the court that he was tortured by Lt Musa Jammeh and his men until he sustained some bruises on his body, saying this gave him no choice but to comply with what he was told to write.

He said he has never seen Bakary Wharf Kujabi, a prison medic who claimed to have visited him at his cell during a routine check on the health condition of the inmates. He said he has received no medication at Mile II except at the RVTH. He said during the night of March 27, he was taken to the NIA by the same warrant officer, Omar Colley, who handed him over to soldiers wearing black uniforms outside the Maximum Security Wing to the NIA. According to him, on this date, he bleed from his nose and mouth and his white shirt turned bloody. He said one of the soldiers had to go to his (Jobe) house to collect a shirt and a trouser, which he was told to wear at the NIA headquarters
Earlier on, Sgt Pa Omar Jah of the State Guards, who was the Commanding Officer of the escort team from the State Central Prisons to the NIA, gave in his evidence and was later cross examined by Lawyer Touray.