President Adama Barrow of The
Gambia on Tuesday praised President Muhammadu Buhari for his leadership role in
the stabilisation of African countries.
The 51-year-old Gambian president
said that President Buhari played the role of a game-changer in Gambian
politics as his contributions helped to ensure political stability, not only in
The Gambia, but in Africa as a whole.
“When we met in Mali, he (Buhari)
took a decision as a leader in a closed-door meeting, where he made one
statement that changed everything.
“He said that if The Gambian
President (Yahya Jammeh) wanted to challenge the sub-region, he was welcome.
“This was his words and that made
a big difference as a leader.
“And that leadership role was
very important, not just for The Gambia, but for Africa because the problem was
an African problem and the solution was an African solution.
“So we are very grateful and that
is why we have come to say thank you.
“There is a saying in my country
that if you want to thank a farmer for a good job, you have to visit him at his
farm; that is why we are here.’’
On agreements that led to the
smooth transition in his country, Barrow commended ECOWAS, UNDP and the rest of
the international community for the roles they played in convincing the former
president, Yahya Jammeh, to accept the will of the people.
He said: “Basically, the deal was
struck by the ECOWAS, UNDP and the international community.
“In this mediation, Nigeria was
involved; Liberia, as the chair, was involved; the Guinean and Mauritanian
Presidents were also involved.
“The Guinean and the Mauritanian
Presidents were physically on ground for him (Jammeh) to accept the will of the
people and exit to allow us to assume office.
“This was the deal, he accepted
to go on exile because we couldn’t guarantee his security. This was the deal.’’
While fielding question on
possible assistance to be offered to The Gambia by Nigeria, President Buhari
stated that the two countries would soon draw up programmes that would
complement each other’s efforts on development.
He expressed the hope that such
programmes when operational would help The Gambia to overcome some of its
ongoing reforms meant to uplift the quality of life of the Gambians.
“We did our best in the most
critical time, hopefully now the president will raise his team and we will
raise a corresponding team and we will seat together and see how we can draw a
political programme that will complements each other’s effort on development.
So this is the next time we are going,’’ he added.
Barrow, who is visiting Nigeria
for the first time since his inauguration as The Gambian President on Jan. 19,
2017, ended the rule of long-time leader, Yahya Jammeh, who is currently on
exile in Equatorial Guinea.
It would be recalled that
President Buhari played a major role in ensuring smooth democratic transition
in The Gambia even when Jammeh refused to step aside.
The Economic Community of West
Africa (ECOWAS) appointed Buhari as the Mediator in Chief on the Gambian
political impasse.
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