“Gambians are tired and the “intimidation is uncalled for and we can’t go back to the Yahya Jammeh days. This has to stop and it has to stop now. We are calling on every serious minded Gambian to rise up to the task. We are not people that are unlawful and we will follow the law as much as we can. However, we can also engage in “civil disobedience if it call for” and we are not afraid to do it if we are pushed to the corner. Let nobody try our patience.” he warned.
Mr. Njie was speaking yesterday morning at the Kanifing Police Station where Madi Jobarteh who is currently facing two counts of false publication and broadcasting was asked to report. He has now been asked by the police prosecutors to report back next Monday 13 July 2020.
“Let me say this clearly that we will never be intimidated. It’s very “shameful” that Vice President Isatou Touray who was a member of The Gambia civil society organisation keeps silent on Madi Jobarteh’s case. In fact, Madi Jobarteh was among the first Gambians to support her candidature.”
He added: “It’s a shame that she is keeping quiet. In fact, I don’t have a problem with Adama Barrow now. But let me talk to my Vice President who was a member of the CSOs. The one that we believe will epitomise the ideal of civil society.”
“But let me also make this clear that it’s also disheartening to know that public officials become dictators whenever they get to public offices. However, when they leave offices they slide back into civil society. We’re not going to accept that anymore. We will shame them and disown them and we will make sure that they don’t have any space within us.”
“Enough is enough. We’re not going to take this anymore. No public official is going to step on our rights. We will do everything in our powers to make it stop. We will either go to the conference room and discuss or get into the boxing ring and fight.”
Ousman Yarboe, TANGO director said: “We are getting a little bit worried about this go and come and I think we need to do something and that is my take on the issue. Of course we can’t discuss that here but we will meet and discuss on the next step because this was the same tactics that has been used during the Jammeh era,” he added.
“We can’t allow that now, and never again in this country that people will be humiliated or people be “tortured or killed”. Now if we allow this thing to continue, it will go out of hand and we are citizens of this country and we must stand to ensure that this thing doesn’t happen.”
Madi Jobarteh said: “No self-respecting Gambian and no patriotic Gambian should accept any public office from the president to the last primary school teacher at Boraba to abuse you. It’s not going to happen. Be rest assured that the battle is just beginning. I am not a foreigner in this country and I am not a tenant in this country and I didn’t drop from the sky. I am a citizen of this country like any other Gambian.”
“The people who occupy public offices are my servants. They are there to protect me and they are there to protect every citizen like Haruna Jatta, Ousman Darboe and Kebba Secka. They have duties to make sure that there is justice and if they don’t do it, we will tell them, and if we tell them they need to act on that.”
He went on: “I feel insulted and abused for moving from one police station to another. My sovereign right has been at the first place damaged by the IGP for having the audacity to call me to go and answer for my opinions. That is a clear blatant abuse of power by the IGP and also a violation of our constitution. I feel insulted that I am standing here because of my opinion. So the IGP will be held to account for that.”
