West African leaders arrive in Gambia to convince Jammeh to step down

The presidents of Nigeria, Liberia and Sierra Leone arrived in Gambia Friday in an attempt to convince outgoing president Yahya Jammeh to step down. Gambia has been in a political deadlock since Adama Barrow, a real estate mogul who was little known before he announced his candidacy, won the December 1 election against Jammeh.

Jammeh, who has ruled the small West African nation for 22 years with an iron fist, refuses to accept the election result and has filed a petition to challenge it to the Supreme Court.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to offer Jammeh political asylum if the 51-year-old autocrat agrees to hand over power.

Buhari, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Sierra Leonian President Ernest Bai Koroma are also expected to meet with president-elect Barrow in the capital, Banjul, later on Friday.

The talks come several hours after Gambia’s ruling party filed a motion with the Supreme Court to prevent Barrow from being sworn into office on January 19.

Barrow should not be inaugurated before the petition Jammeh filed to challenge the election result can be heard, the ruling party argued in the request.

Earlier this week, Gambia's dysfunctional Supreme Court delayed hearing Jammeh's petition until Monday, since only one judge was present. A minimum of five is required.

But experts say it is 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 handover of power could lead to violence