President Muhammad Buhari will today, join other West African leaders, led by Liberia’s president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in The Gambia, in a push for peaceful democratic transition in the country.
The delegation is expected to prevail on The Gambia’s long-ruling leader Yahya Jammeh, to accept his election defeat and step down.
The UN Security Council made the plan known while briefing newsmen after a closed-door meeting by the 15 members on the political situation in The Gambia.
Deputy Permanent Representative of Spain, Mr Juan Manuel De Linares, said the members of the council stood by their unanimous statement on December 10 that Jammeh should commence the peaceful transfer of power to Barrow without further delay.
“A delegation by the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General to ECOWAS (Mohammed Ibn Chambas) and other ECOWAS and AU leaders will lead high-level delegation to Banjul tomorrow,” he said.
The Presidency had yet to confirm President Buhari’s trip to The Gambia at press time yesterday.
Senior special adviser on media to the president, Femi Adesina, while responding to inquiries by LEADERSHIP, yesterday, said a statement would be issued.
Jammeh, after ruling Gambia for 22 years, lost his 5th reelection bid to coalition candidate, Adama Barrow.
The show of unity by regional leaders came as diplomats said the United Nations Security Council would meet behind closed doors later to discuss Jammeh’s refusal to hand over power.
Jammeh had quickly conceded defeat to his challenger, Adama Barrow in the December 1 presidential election, but in a volte-face that drew international condemnation, he then said he would challenge the result in the Supreme Court.
The election was widely regarded as a chance to end repression in a country seen by many as a police state.
Johnson Sirleaf, a Nobel peace laureate and current chair of the West African regional body ECOWAS, will be accompanied by President Buhari, John Mahama of Ghana and Sierra Leone’s Ernest Bai Koroma.
Leadership
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