Gambia
Football Federation’s President Lamin Kabba Bajo has refuted newspapers reports
that he had attempted to take part in “illegal football activities” in the
Lower River Region, (LRR), The Gambia.
There
had been widespread newspaper allegations of Mr Bajo’s alleged
participation/involvement in the attempted “illegal congress” in Jarra Soma
over the weekend.
The
former minister of Youth & Sport in Jammeh’s regime Bajo, came under
serious attack, criticism and accusation of holding a secret close door meeting
in an attempt to influence the decision of LRR youth representatives to vote
for Mr Ansumana Sanneh, as president of the regional football association in
that area.
The
report went further to blame the GFF boss of leadership malpractice as he faces
allegation of attempting to use LRR regional sports committee through Sanneh in
his bid for re-election in the helm of the country’s football affairs.
However,
upon receiving the news of his alleged involvement in the matter that has
caused confusion and controversy from certain corners in the region, Mr Bajo
was quick to dismiss the reports.
He
described it as “baseless allegation” intended to mislead and frustrate the
effort of people who wants to work with the FA in order to develop football
across the country.
“The
report of GFF’s involvement in any secret meeting is both misleading and
unfounded. I believe people behind such acts have no interest in the
development of football in LRR because it is clearly written that their
intention is to frustrate our progressive effort and implementation of FA’s
development agenda, policies and ideas as we continue to serve the collective
interest of Gambian football to greater heights,” he said.
Mr
Bajo further gave a detail explanation as regards his role in the matter.
He
said: “I was on my way to attend CRR elective congress in Bansang when I had a
brief stop at LRR to have a joint breakfast with my team that accompanied me to
the tour.
“I
made a phone call to Ansumana Sanneh, to inform him that I was heading to
Bansang for the congress along with my team that made the CRR trip.
“While
at Soma, Momodou Lamin Fofana, divisional sports coordinator for LRR, called
Martin Gomez, third vice president of the FA who informed him (Fofana) that
they were heading to Bansang for the elective congress.
“We got report that Momodou Lamin Fofana and
some other ill-informed youths went to disrupt an executive committee meeting
headed by Ansumana and his team at Soma mini stadium.
“The
reason for disrupting the meeting was based on the false assumption that
Ansumana and his men were holding a secret congress on behalf of the GFF.”
“This
is absolutely false,” Bajo told Pointsport in an interview.
He
emphasised that there’s no football rule in The Gambia that bars him from
participating in football-related matters/activities in the country in his
capacity as the President of the Gambia Football Federation.
Bajo,
who at one-time served as Gambian ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Iran, Qatar and
Morocco, said: “I’m a big advocate of fair play and rule of law as dictated in
our football rules and the development of sports in that area.”
This
stance, he said, has occupied centre stage in his football agenda since assuming
office as GFF boss in a highly controversial election that brought him to the
GFF top seat in 2014.
“I
have a massive interest in terms of supporting the people of LRR and every
other region in my quest to attain sports excellence and football development
in particular, as part of GFF’s continued efforts to decentralise football
across the country,” said the soft-spoken GFF boss Bajo, who previously served
The Gambia as foreign affairs minister in Yahya Jammeh’s government.
Meanwhile,
there were reports of two regional youth members’ alleged involvement in the
saga.
However,
the two men, namely Saikou Darboe and Ansumana Sanneh have both debunked the
allegation, describing it as false fabrication meant to tarnish the image of
GFF and football fraternity in LRR.
Darboe
added that he was nowhere close to Jarra Soma during the aforementioned
meeting.
“I
disassociate myself from reports that I (Saikou Darboe), was part of the
regional youth group who disrupted the meeting at Soma.
“I
have no prior knowledge of such gathering and I condemned this accusation in
the strongest terms,” he said.
“As
a matter of fact, I was taking part in a regional quarterly meeting at Kiang
Sankandi, on Saturday. So common sense would tell you that I cannot be in
Sankandi and at Soma at the same time,” he explained.
Darboe
called on his fellow youths in the region to come together and fight against
fabricators of such “unpatriotic behaviour”.
Meanwhile,
one of the regional youth leaders in the area, who preferred to remain anonymous,
dismissed report of any illegal congress in Soma.
He
further spoke on a long list of development brought to the region by Kabba Bajo
led-GFF executive ranging from creation of football structures, to youth
participation in football tournaments, courses and camps, artificial turf in
Soma and the projected multipurpose sports complex already in the pipeline,
amongst other development initiatives.
