Political leaders who travelled to Nigeria for a showdown with Goodluck Jonathan were each given 400 euros, it has been revealed.

The nation’s political leaders most of them heads of political parties flew to Abuja, Nigeria last month for talks with the former Nigerian President Jonathan over the draft constitution.

In an interview with The Fatu Network, Gambia Action Party leader Musa Ousainou Yali Batchilly revealed each of them was given 400 euros at the talks.

The talks are now continuing in The Gambia following the arrival of Goodluck Jonathan on Monday.

To win the 2020 Ibrahim award for African leadership, and the $5m (£3.6m) prize attached to it, Niger’s President Mahamadou Issoufou had to leave office.

His decision to step down after two terms means Niger will have the first democratic transition between elected leaders since it became independent from France more than 60 years ago.

But that was not the only reason why he was given the award – the prize committee praised his leadership after inheriting one of the world’s poorest economies.

It said that he had “fostered economic growth, shown unwavering commitment to regional stability and to the constitution, and championed African democracy”.

For a prize that has not been awarded in some years because of the lack of a suitable winner, Mr Issoufou’s credentials should not be taken for granted.

If the 68-year-old wanted to remain in power, he could have copied other presidents across West Africa who managed to get the constitution changed so they could extend their time in office.

But his convictions would not let him do so, he told the BBC before last month’s elections.

“I respect the constitution. I respect the promise I made to the people of Niger who have given me the honour of leading them for two terms. This decision is in line with my convictions and my vision of what Niger’s democratic future should be,” he said. (BBC)

By Sarjo Brito

PDOIS front-man Halifa Sallah during his party’s congress on Sunday boasts of how his party has not become a tool for anyone, alleging that many political parties in this country take millions from individuals with strings attached, hoping to pay them back once they assume office.

“A party will emerge today, have a number of seats in the National Assembly and they will say but PDOIS was here for 30 something years, what are they here for? And PDOIS could have accepted to be a tool. You will see parties going to an individual, who will give millions, with strings attached. Governments will do that, individuals will do that so that ultimately when you take over power, you will owe obligations. PDOIS refused to do that, and you are blaming PDOI but today that refusal is yielding something. That refusal is yielding fruit, that PDOI will do owe any obligation to anyone on the face of the earth,” Sallah said.

Halifa Sallah furthered that the only people his party owes an obligation is the Gambian people who will entrust the party with power, adding that his party will continue defending the interest of the Gambian people to the grave. Sallah also shared the role his party played in the 2016 elections debacle and how he came up with tactics and strategies to ensure a peaceful transfer of power.

“PDOIS participated in effecting the change and stabilising the nation in order to ensure the peaceful transfer of power. Do not judge the party by the number of seats we have in the National Assembly, do not judge the party by the percentages. That does nit define PDOIS, it defines you. Because for us we know our national duty and we are ready to sacrifice our lives for the sake of our people and country. And we do so without any expectation, no obligation. You hate us, we will serve you, you love us, we will serve you,” he said.

Kalilou Camara has joined Gambia Action Party and has been elected deputy national president of the party at the party’s congress held at the weekend.

US-based Camara announced late last year he would be vying for the top job of president of The Gambia in a massive move.

He is currently in the country and attended GAP’s Sunday congress where he got elected into the party’s executive.

He is GAP’s new deputy national president.

ML Fatty has told said GMC is a party that is not growing which informed his decision to leave the party.

Fatty who served as a GMC top official in the diaspora officially joined UDP on Monday meeting with UDP foot soldier Momodou Sabally.

He confirmed to The Fatu Network on Tuesday he has left GMC for good.

“GMC wasn’t moving. There was only one person and that’s the leader. Everything revolves around him. And almost all of the media activities do not sit well with me.

“Can you imagine the party leader was in Abuja but did not consult any party official and went ahead to hold a media briefing,” ML Fatty told The Fatu Network.

He’s agreed he will appear on The Fatu Network News Review on Thursday.

Fatoumatta Njai has kick-started the process of meeting with PPP officials across the nation, as she brushes aside Kebba Jallow’s leadership of PPP.

PPP is at a crossroads following a disaster congress in Brikama-ba last month which Touma Njai refused to take part in an election alleging fraud. She then went ahead to declare herself leader of PPP.

She wrote on Sunday while meeting with PPP supporters in Foni: “Received at Foni today and recognised as the SG and Party Leader of the PPP pending free and fair elections.

“In the coming week we shall be received by all other Regional Chairpersons of the PPP as their choice of Party Leader  … Gambia loves the PPP it was the leadership that was to be desired …..

“My leadership shall be for the People …. Leadership to empower the women and the youth….. An inclusive leadership in which transparency and accountability would be of priority.”

The health ministry has announced all intending travellers requiring COVID 19 testing and certification will pay D3,000.

“Every traveller is required to pay this fee and present receipt at sample collection sites,” the ministry said in a statement Monday evening.

The ministry then explained: “The public is informed that, the COVID 19 pandemic continues to pose challenges, considerably overwhelming our health system.

“Besides, since the reopening of airports and subsequent introduction of new protocols such as mandatory provision of negative COVID 19 viral test by travellers within three days of travel period, the cost of testing has exponentially been on increase.

“It thus becomes imperative to effect this payment scheme to help manage the cost efficiently. The fee can be a reflection of the resource cost the national reference laboratory faces for completing COVID 19 diagnostic test in a timely manner.”

Persons travelling will pay the sum at Ecobank.

The absence of an interpreter has sparked the adjournment of the rape trial of businessman Bubacarr Keita.

Keita, 29, is standing trial after being accused of raping his ex-wife’s 15-year-old sister, a charge that he denies.

The trial was supposed to resume on Tuesday but got quickly adjourned after it was made known that the interpreter was absent.

The case will now go on, on Wednesday.

President Macky Sall of Senegal has broken his silence over the series of protests witnessed in Senegal for days, over the arrest of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko.

The president called for calm and serenity in the country, saying, “each life lost is a mourning for the Nation. This is why the state will come to the aid of bereaved families and facilitate access to care for the injured.”

Sall further commended the Defense and Security forces saying, “In the face of such incredible violence, where children and women were put, in an organized manner, on the front line in the scenes of breakage, our Defense and Security Forces demonstrated professionalism and restraint. Otherwise, the toll would have been heavier.”

Ousmane Sonko was on Monday released on bail after being arraigned, he faces a rape charge which he has since denied, saying the accusations are politically motivated.

After his release, Sonko asked his supporters to continue with peaceful demonstrations.

“We are not asking the people to go and unseat Macky Sall,” he said at a news conference.

“But let’s be clear, the revolution is marching its way to 2024,” Sonko said in reference to the next presidential election.

The protests which commenced Wednesday as a result of Sonko’s arrest have led to the death of at least 5 people including a 17-year-old boy.

Schools in the capital were also ordered to close for a week following the unrest. (CGTN Africa)

UDP has taken ML Fatty from GMC in a stunning win for the yellow party – and dealing a blow to the red party.

UDP top-shot Momodou Sabally met with the Europe-based GMC stalwart on Monday where he officially joined UDP.

Fatty said he was not forced into leaving GMC for UDP. Fatty and GMC leader Mai Fatty share the same surname but it is not immediately clear if they’re related.

The Fatu Network contacted Fatty for comment but he said he was driving.

Meanwhile, in an audio obtained by The Fatu Network, Fatty said he was not coerced into joining UDP.

His decision to join UDP will come as comfort for UDP amid the dramatic desertion of Abdoulie Suku Singhateh who went ahead to join President Adama Barrow’s National People’s Party.

Senegal President Macky Sall will address the nation on Monday evening as protests sweep through Senegal.

According to local media, the Senegalese president will address the nation at 8pm Monday.

His speech will be around protests that have swept Senegal amid the detention of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko.

Dr Baba Galleh Jallow of the TRRC said Monday afternoon his house has been ransacked by an intruder.

Dr Jallow said in a statement posted to his Facebook: “I came home from work today and found my house ransacked. The pictures below show some of the mess created by the intruder. With the exception of a cell phone, nothing was taken from the house as far as I can tell. It seems to me that the intruder was searching for something – documents maybe – or something else.

“They might also have been trying to do something else in the house. Or they might just have been a thief looking for raw cash. I do not know. But the house was ransacked and my papers and clothes thrown around. They entered the house by breaking through the burglar proof window in the back.

“I am sharing this incident publicly just for the public record. I do not feel at all intimidated or threatened; but since I work in the public domain, it is important that I publicly share incidents of this nature just in case.

“Below are pictures of the scene which one of our senior security officers at the TRRC has shared with a senior officer at Brusubi police station. I will be going there to formally report the matter and give a statement.”

Jallow did not immediately pick a call for comment.

Essa Faal pressed Malamin Ceesay prompting the former top police officer to agree to lying over a report he authored.

Ceesay headed a panel that dived into the circumstances surrounding the deaths of scores of West African migrants who were apparently killed on the orders of former President Yahya Jammeh.

In their report, Ceesay who is retired now and his team of investigators said in one instance that the ‘eight African bodies were discovered at Brufut’ but the ‘panel could not link the bodies to any specific nationality as there were no identification documents found on them’.

“That’s a lie?” Essa Faal asked him on Monday.

Replying, Ceesay said: “Yes it is.”

During his testimony before the TRRC, Ceesay said it was the panel that authored the report.

“It’s a panel,” he said but Essa Faal fired back that he was the head of the panel.

“This is a panel investigation report and I was not present during the arrest,” Ceesay maintained.

“My friend all of you who signed this document, you have decided to lie. All of you lied,” Essa Faal told him.

In replying, Ceesay said: “Yes.”

Essa Faal then said: “These Ghanaians were arrested in Barra and all of you knew that. By putting your signature on this document, all of you have decided to lie.”

“Yes, that’s true,” Ceesay responded.

“So if the panel lied, it means you also lied?” Essa Faal asked.

“Yes, I agree,” Ceesay said.

“In fact that would make you the head of the liars because all of you would be liars on the basis of this document?” Essa Faal asked further.

“Yes, I agree,” the witness said.

Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad and the country’s First Lady Asma al-Assad have tested positive for COVID-19, the presidency announced on Monday. The two are said to be in good health condition and stable.

The presidency said the two went for PCR tests after developing mild symptoms similar to those of COVID-19.

The two have proceeded on quarantine and will continue delivering their duties from home for a prescribed duration.

President al-Assad and Mrs. Asama called upon Syrians to continue observing health guidelines aimed at curbing further spread of the virus. (CGTN Africa)

The women of Niani Sukuta of UDP persuasion have stripped Abdoulie Suku Singhateh of his honorary father role and have given it to Momodou Sabally.

The women who had earlier adopted Suku as father announced that they have dumped him after he left their party and also presented cola-nuts and mint in traditional gesture to former Presidential Affairs Minister Momodou Sabally seeking his blessing as their new father.

The event happened in Niani Sukuta on Sunday, March 7, 2021 during a political gathering at the town center convened to present farming equipment worth more than D300, 000 to the UDP women of the area by a group of Niani natives resident in The Gambia and abroad.

Speaking at the event, Mr. Sabally expressed gratitude to the women who extended to him the  honour of being their father and promised that this group of women will never regret their decision to choose him.

Sabally implored the women and the entire town of Sukuta to renew their allegiance to the UDP and their party leader Lawyer Ousainou Darboe and to continue supporting the country’s biggest political party since “victory for the UDP is certain come December 4, 2021. “

It could be recalled that barely a week ago, on February 28, a group of six towns and villages from CRR, NBR and the Kombos formally adopted Momodou Sabally as honourary father during a ceremony presided over by the UDP’s party Leader and  Secretary General at the Party’s Manjai Bureau.