Former President Yahya Jammeh

Abubakar Hashim/ Monrovia

Last December 1, 2023, marked seven years, after a strong ECOWAS-led international intervention, to send Gambia’s former President Yahya Jammeh to exile in Equatorial Guinea, after weeks of political standoff.

He failed to concede electoral defeat to current President Adama Barrow in the December 1, 2016 Presidential elections.
President Barrow had to be inaugurated in neighbouring Dakar, Senegal, because of the post-election crisis in The Gambia, after Jammeh’s 22 year dictatorship.

Jammeh was finally persuaded to bow out, first, by a tripartite ECOWAS delegation, that included former Sierra Leone’s President Ernest Bai Koroma, who is now on medical leave in Nigeria.

Though bowed out seven years on, thanks to ECOWAS, Jammeh, though still in exile in Equatorial Guinea, has a strong follower-ship in The Gambia.

Last ditch negotiations led by Nigerian, Moroccan, Mauritanian and Guinean leaders, finally boxed Jammeh into a cubicle, for his final exit to exile in Equatorial Guinea.

Liberia, prevented similar chaos, when aggrieved Weah’s supporters prevailed on him not to concede tightly contested election results won by Boakai. Weah was adamant, conceded and congratulated Boakai on his victory to prevent imminent chaos, like what happened in The Gambia in 2016.

President-Elect, Boakai, will be inaugurated tomorrow, Monday 22, 2024, putting Liberia on the world map of meeting smooth transition of democratic rule.