The death of the duo was revealed to Alhagi’s mother, wife, and sister who are all currently in The Gambia by a U.S Embassy official. The sad news effectively confirmed what many suspected already – that the two were among the suspected thousands who through no fault of their own, found themselves in the Yahya Jammeh web of deceit, treachery, scam, and abuse – losing their lives in the process.
Alhagi Ceesay and Ebou Jobe left the United States where they both exemplified an immigrant success story – university degrees, good jobs, stable families and hard work, for their home country, The Gambia.
Their intention being to resettle in The Gambia and start a cashew business – all in an effort to contribute their quota to nation building, they cashed out their 401K retirement and bank accounts in the U.S, said their goodbyes to their families in the summer of 2013 and made their exit.
Arriving in the Gambia with a lot of cash, their presence easily caught the attention of the unscrupulous characters within the security forces Jammeh planted in the general population to keep a watchful eye on all the goings and comings of innocent Gambians. These elements would go to him with all kinds of reports, including ones meant to secure a license to blackmail hardworking citizens. They all figured the easiest way to get anyone in trouble is to tell Jammeh the person is plotting to stage a coup. The dictator swiftly gives orders for such person to be killed and buried “six feet deep.” Such was the fate of Alhagi and Ebou.
Yahya was informed that the two dual Gambian-American citizens have arrived in the country with rocket launchers with the intent to ambush his convoy in a bid to overthrow him. Never mind that these two had no prior military training, and a search party, led by General Saul Badjie, that was dispatched to the house they were renting failed to produce any evidence of such – their fate was already sealed. Yahya gave orders to his “Jungulars” with specific instructions to “finish” Alhagi and Ebou. According to “Jungulars” arrested recently on unrelated cases, the two were buried in the Fonis.
Gambia observers that The Fatu Network reached out to for comment expressed hope that with this new revelation, the U.S will have to act and use its channels at the UN, ICC, EU, and AU to have Yahya extradited to faces charges for killing America citizens. “It will be travesty of justice if the United States stays mute on this matter and not take the steps to prosecute Jammeh,” one of them emphasized.
In reacting to the news, a family member said “We just want for everybody to pray for them and know that they are in a better place. Alhagi and Ebou’s wish was the best for The Gambia, and they are smiling down on us all. They are happy wherever they are.” For their part, how soon the Gambia government will act on these case is anyone’s guess but the expectation is that it will happen sooner rather than later in order to help families bring closure to this excruciating ordeal. The Fatu Network will continue monitoring this case and others.
