Nigeria’s parliament yesterday authorised President Muhammadu Buhari to offer political asylum to Gambia’s outgoing president Yahya Jammeh if he agrees to step down.
Gambia has been in a political lockdown since Jammeh, who ruled the small West African nation for 22 years with an iron fist, refused to accept the result of the December 1 presidential election which saw him lose power to Adama Barrow.
The approval to offer Jammeh asylum is intended to help end Gambia’s political crisis, parliamentary spokesman Abdulrazaq Namdas told journalists in the Nigerian capital, Abuja.
The decision comes a day before a group of West African leaders, including Buhari, are expected to arrive in Gambia to convince Jammeh to respect the constitution and hand over the presidency.
Earlier yesterday, Jammeh announced he will not step down when his mandate ends on January 18. The autocrat is planning to remain in office until the Supreme Court decides on a petition Jammeh filed that challenges the result of the December 1 presidential election, the information ministry said in a statement read on national television.
President-elect Barrow, a former real-estate agent who was little known before he announced his candidacy, meanwhile reiterated he is planning to take office on January 19, as scheduled.
Earlier this week, Gambia’s dysfunctional Supreme Court adjourned hearing Jammeh’s petition to Monday, since only one of a required minimum of five judges were present.
Experts, however, believe it will be highly unlikely that four additional judges will be present on Monday, because the Supreme Court has not been operational since Jammeh fired several of the court’s judges in mid-2016.
All other eligible Court of Appeal judges left the country after the December election. Observers fear that delays to the planned handover of power could lead to violence.