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Gen. Saul Badjie denies involvement in Dec. 30th attack

May 22, 2020, 12:25 PM | Article By: Momodou Jawo

Lieutenant Gen. Saul Badjie, former commander of the Republican National Guards (RNG) and close aide to former President Yahya Jammeh has strongly denied his alleged involvement in the December 30th attack on State House.

The former most loyal general to Jammeh, who is currently in exile, also denied rumours that he sided with the coalition team during the 2016 presidential election to unseat Yahya Jammeh.

In an recent rare cum suprising video making rounds on social media, the army general, who was believed to be one of the most-feared within the ranks of The Gambia Armed Forces, could be seen performing ablution, praying and swearing on the Holy Qur’an that he (Saul Badjie) had never done anything evil to former President Yahya Jammeh.

He also dismissed most widely held rumours that he stole a huge amount of money from the Central Bank of The Gambia. His denial is in spite of the fact that numerous witnesses who appeared before the Janneh Commission, alleged that it was him, Badjie, who ordered most of the withdrawals from the bank.

However, sequel to the December 30th attack on Sate House, the then government of The Gambia issued a press release and it reads: “On Tuesday, 30th December, 2014, at 2am GMT, the State House was attacked by a well-equipped, well-funded group of Gambian terrorists living in the U.S.A., U.K., Germany and Senegal with support from their collaborators abroad with sophisticated automatic machine guns and assault rifles.”

On the reason why he performed ablution, Gen. Badjie stated: “The reason why I performed ablution and pray on this first Friday of the Holy month of Ramadan, holding the holy Qu’ran on my hand, I want to swear to God that the allegations that they have made against me, that I was part of the December 30th coup, was not only false, but misleading.”

“What I am holding is the holy Qu’ran and that I swear that I have never conspired with anyone to remove Yahya Jammeh from power.”

The former army general maintained that the only coup that he participated in was the July 22nd, 1994.

“Ramadan Karim to all Gambians, both at home and abroad, including non-Gambians. I am also seeking forgiveness to anyone that I have wronged while I was a leader in The Gambia. Leading is not easy. I might have wronged some people without knowing it. If that is the case, I am seeking everyone’s forgiveness.”

“If it is true that I conspired with the opposition to rig the past elections, may God punish me; may God destroy me. I have never conspired with any opposition to rig the past polls. I am also calling anyone, who is falsely accusing me of selling out to the opposition for God to judge between me and him,” he said.

“I heard them saying that I took some money from the Central Bank; that I stole money for Yahya Jammeh at the Central Bank. The allegations are false. If I am lying, may God punish me.”

Meanwhile, Muhammed Marong, a former soldier of GAF, in response to Saul Badjie’s video on social media, also held the Qu’ran and swore that most of the allegations against Karafa Bojang (Saul Badjie) were true.

He added that after the 30th December attack, he (Saul Badjie) went to the State House and told some junglers that they killed Lamin Sanneh.

Mr. Marong also challenged all junglers ranging from Major Nuha Badjie to come out, hold the Qu’ran and deny that what is being said is wrong.