Former
Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ensa Badjie, alias Jesus, yesterday
testified before the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC),
disclosing that the former president, Yahya Jammeh had ordered Fula
witch-hunters to the Police Headquarters to engage in a witch-hunting exercise.
Jesus
who was appointed as IGP in June 2008, said he was called by the former
president, Yahya Jammeh, who informed him that Solo Bojang would visit the
headquarters with ‘marabouts’ and everybody should comply or be sacked.
He
added that Jammeh told him that the witch hunters were Fulas and warned him
(Jesus) that his head would roll if he did not comply.
Witness
said 10 minutes after the conversation, Solo came with the Fulas and some armed
soldiers with guns, adding that he saw some PIU officers standing with the
green boys. “When they came to my office around 10 a.m. 11 a.m. on Wednesday,
2009, they were drumming and singing. The Fula man asked me to stand up and
untie my clothes, I did and he took a big mirror pointing towards every
direction in my office. He later said I didn’t have anything. I was ashamed but
I had no choice, no power, but to comply. When they were done, they asked me to
go with them to offices. I went with Ken Mendy and I told him to write down the
names of the pointed individuals.”
Jesus
testified that they couldn’t go through all the offices and later went down for
identification parade. He said he told officers that Jammeh said if anyone
didn’t want to comply with witch hunters, he should sack the person and he thus
begged them to comply.
“The
Fulas demanded us to form a circle and they were in the middle singing and
drumming, while others where pointing mirrors and identified some people. Kumba
Jatta was identified and they asked him to remove the things that he carried
because it was not good.”
He
further indicated that the witch hunters told them that they shouldn’t look at
what Kumba was carrying because it was dangerous. So they decided to go with
him inside and came back with plastic bag filled with Jujus.
“Kumba
was given something like a human hand to hold and when he came back to the
parade ground, they asked him to throw it down and the witch hunter didn’t pick
it up with his empty hands, instead covered it with something.”
He
pointed out that it was only four people that were identified, which included
Kumba Jatta.
He
said witch hunters later came with a brownish goat and a red cock, and one of
the men directing the goat was holding a bottle of liquid.
“They
buried the bottle with the blood of the animals. The Fula said we should recite
after him. I was first to recite and other senior officers. We were told to
swear that we are under Jammeh and the country and we will never betray him and
the nation.”
Witness
explained that they took the oath because of fear and they were angry and
embarrassed but no one could talk because they didn’t trust each other.
He
added that the people captured and taken to Baba Jobe’s compound in Kotu where
there were about 50 people and the way they treated them was very bad.
“Because
of the command given to me, after the 3rd day, I heard that there was one
person by the surname of Ceesay who refused to go with the witch hunters at
their base in Kotu. I was told to dismiss him but I didn’t, I demoted and
transferred him far from Banjul.”
Jesus
said he heard that the witch hunters went to Foni and Essau for witch hunting
but he never went with them.
He
continued that he had problem with Jammeh and that became the reason for his
arrest and charge in March 2010.
“Alhagie
Morr, staff of the NIA and his people wanted to arrest me, but prior to that, I
was informed about their plans. They tried for two to three weeks. Luis, deputy
NIA called me and asked where I was, informing me that DG of NIA told him that
Jammeh ordered to take me at prison.”
“I
told my driver and orderlies to drive me to NIA. We went there and I told the
DG that I knew what was happening but the truth will prevail one day. I removed
my rings and watch and gave it to my orderlies and told them (NIA) to take me.”
The
witness said at that juncture, they started torturing him with his hands
cuffed. He adduced that a stick was put across his hands and legs and hanged
him. He added that they were beating him and later took him to the Mile 2
Prison.
He
narrated that the following day, they arrested his wife’s father and sister and
detained them at NIA. The following day, he added, they took him (Jesus) to the
NIA and signed his dismissal letter and later taken to the prison.
“As
I was in the cell, Alhagie Jobe took me out to David Colley’s office. When they
took me out around the back way, I recognised Bokar Sallah and Korka Bah. That
night, they put me in a vehicle with hands cuffed and a nylon bag covered over
my head. I struggled to breathe and they took me up stairs to NIA conference
room. Omar Cham was the head of the torture team. I was bleeding and saw Koluta
Manneh being brought up as well, while I was taken down.”
Badjie
testified that he was bleeding seriously that if he went to the toilet, blood
would ooze. He said blood comes from his mouth once it’s open.
He
added that they made fabricated charges of robberies and sentenced him for life-line,
37 years, adding that he knew it was from Jammeh.
The
witness disclosed that when he was pardoned, he wanted to say something that he
may be taken back to the prison but his mother advised him not to do such.
However,
Jesus said he has forgiven everyone that wronged him, from the former President
Jammeh to the last person.
On
April 10, 2000, incident, he said he was at Kotu Police Station at the time,
adding that he was wounded and many vehicles were vandalised.
He
added that his former boss IGP Benedict Jammeh never liked him, though they
both hail from Foni. But said he (Benedict) always tried means to incriminate
him by associating him with criminals.
