Faturadio has received news of a very disturbing development at the State House – of course, just as always, the chief culprit is Yaya Jammeh himself whose penchant for pitting people against each other with a divide and conquer objective is all too familiar. But before we delve into the nitty-gritty of the story, let’s take time to talk a little bit about General Saul Badjie and Musa Savage who are the main actors in this latest scheme of deceit, lies, treachery, and above all; abuse of power.
General Saul Badjie, like many Generals before him who were ultimately used and dumped by Yaya Jammeh, used to be the darling of the State House. He was Yaya’s most trusted confidant, at one point prompting observers to opine that Yaya maybe grooming him to be his replacement in the event that his regime crumbles under its own dwindling weight. Badjie was always the go-to guy even deputizing for Yaya in some key state functions and meetings that should have been delegated to the Vice President. Because of this strong connection to Yaya, even soldiers kicked out of the army would always plead with him to prevail on Yaya to let them back in, requests that he dutifully carried out leading to the re-instatement of many. These kinds of favors are now paying dividends for him, and this will become more apparent later in this story.
Musa Savage on the other hand is now the go-to guy and Yaya is quietly positioning him to replace General Badjie. Savage is the typical showman, never shy to exhibit his chest beating bravado. Since the failed December 30 coup attempt, he has been elevated to status of celebrity within the security apparatus, with expanded roles in the area of “Counter Terrorism” in addition to being the snitch for Yaya against his colleagues in the Army.
So since his fallout with Yaya over issues that we haven’t been able to establish, General Badjie has been watching his steps but also forged closer bonds with the men within he security forces he had curried favors for in the past when he had the Dictator’s ears. Yaya, we have discovered wants to get rid of him, even implicate him in some made up scheme just as he had done to others before and either kill him or send him to Mile 2 for good. However, Yaya is also aware of the dynamics of the situation now and very afraid of making a move against Badjie in case he makes the wrong move or at the wrong time – Badjie’s insurance policy is the men in uniform who have pledged their allegiance to him and have vowed to fight to death if Yaya tries to harm him. In fact, according to our sources, Yaya is now very concern that Badjie will stage a coup of his own against him – there is now total lack of trust.
Yaya’s distrust of Badjie is so strong, according to the same sources, during the President’s Agricultural Tour, a senior member of the Gambian military was asked to report back to State House after an attempted coup in Burundi was announced because he (Badjie) was the commander in charge back then and was all by himself at the State House.
This quandary was the motivation for Yaya’s recent move to promote some soldiers to General, so as to create a buffer. Among those promoted to General was Musa Savage. Tensions among the newly sworn in Generals of The Gambia Armed Forces are very high as many of them are not on speaking terms, a confusion orchestrated by Yaya Jammeh. According to sources, General Musa Savage was given directives by the Commander in chief to monitor General Saul Badjie. Those sources have also said that General Badjie is not happy with General Musa Savage’s promotion to the rank of a General and has been complaining bitterly about it. Everyone is on a war footing at the State House as we speak as Generals are devising plans to eliminate each other while in the meantime time, the man who is using them against each other takes a front row seat enjoying the show.
Observers within the Security forces have expressed their bitter disappointment in these Generals for they opine that everyone should be wiser now when it comes to Yaya. These Generals they said should conquer their fears and talk to each other and deal with the common enemy rather than fighting among themselves, a battle that will consume some and ultimately all of them, only to give way to a new batch that will also be used and dumped like everyone before them. This cycle they lamented is what needs to be broken.
