BANJUL (Reuters) - Gambia’s Chief Justice said on Wednesday that the Supreme Court would hear a legal challenge on Jan. 10 from President Yahya Jammeh’s ruling party which seeks to overturn the result of an election he lost this month.

Gambia has no sitting Supreme Court but Emmanuel O. Fagbenle said that judges from Nigeria and Sierra Leone had been appointed to hear the case.</s>The Supreme Court of The Gambia, the highest court of the land, has been constituted to hear the election petition case filed by Gambia’s dictator Yahya Jammeh, who is contesting the outcome of the December, 1st Presidential election, in which Real Estate Developer Adama Barrow, of the opposition alliance was declared the winner of the elections, the Freedom Newspaper can reveal. Chief Justice Emmanuel Fagbenle, a Nigerian national, said the court was constituted in July of this year and it will start sitting in earnest on January, 10th 2017.

Jammeh’s election petition was briefly heard today before the Supreme court. Mr. Jammeh is alleging electoral fraud, voter intimidation among others against the Independent Electoral Commission. He wants the Supreme Court to annul the results of the elections and declare it null and void. He also wants the court to issue an order for fresh elections to be conducted by a competent and independent IEC.

Judges appointed to serve in the Supreme Court are mainly from Nigeria, and Sierra Leone, the Chief Justice said. The Chief Justice is a member of the Supreme Court Bench. He told the court on Wednesday, that the foreign judges are expected to arrive in the country before January 10th, when the court is expected to formally hear Mr. Jammeh’s election petition.</s>Gambia’s Chief Justice says the Supreme Court will hear a suit on January the 10th 2017 from President Yahya Jammeh’s party seeking to overturn the result of an election he lost.

Gambia has no sitting Supreme Court but Emmanuel Fagbenle said that judges from Nigeria and Sierra Leone had been appointed to hear the case.

Pending that time, President Jammeh says he will not relinquish power to Adama Barrow.

Joy Otuyinka reports that Gambian President Yahya Jammeh has condemned mediation by West African regional bloc ECOWAS that aims to get him to leave power.

His comments on state television late on Tuesday were a hardening of his position after days in which hopes mounted he could be persuaded to hand over power at the end of his mandate on January 18, when Barrow is due to be inaugurated.

Jammeh said: “They said they were going to have a meeting, in Abuja, on Saturday and they asked me whether I’d attend and I made it very clear I’m not attending, what are you sending a representative? Now, already the meeting was a formality, in fact before those people came, the ECOWAS group, you see headline saying the UN saying Jammeh must step down immediately. You’ve still got president-elect Adama Barrow saying Jammeh must step down immediately. I will not step down.”

On his part, President-elect Adama Barrow says he is confident the matter will be resolved and he will be inaugurated next month.

His words: “I believe that unity is power and the Gambian people are united. The whole world is behind us and Jammeh knows that very well. I have no doubt that there will be no problem and that I will be president on the 19th.We believe that the general communication, the door is open very, very, very soon and I think the media will be aware of it.”

Jammeh initially accepted the results of the election but reversed his position on December 9th.

He said he would challenge the election results, alleging that it was riddled with irregularities.

Jammeh is accused by human rights groups of the detention, torture and killing of perceived opponents during his 22-year rule.

The post Gambian Court to hear Jammeh legal challenge on Jan. 10 appeared first on TVCNews: Latest African breaking news, politics, business and sports.</s>Gambia's outgoing president Yahya Jammeh has claimed he will not step down despite the fact he lost presidential election held on 1 December. Adama Barrow, head of a coalition of opposition parties and member of the United Democratic Party (UDP), emerged as winner of the vote.

Jammeh, who took power in a bloodless coup in 1994, originally conceded defeat. However, he now intends to contest the vote at the Supreme Court due to what he says are "unacceptable abnormalities".

"I am not a coward. My right cannot be intimidated and violated. This is my position. Nobody can deprive me of that victory except the Almighty Allah," Jammeh said on state TV, according to Reuters.

"Already the ECOWAS [ Economic Community Of West African States ] meeting was a formality. Before they came, they had already said Jammeh must step down. I will not step down," he said, referring to the fact that four West African leaders – from Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Ghana – met Jammeh and urged him to accept defeat earlier in December.

The leaders left without managing to secure a deal with Jammeh, with the head of Ecowas claiming that a military intervention to remove Jammeh was "possible".

Jammeh's U-turn sent shock waves across the nation, where a climate of fear has now replaced the initial jubilation surrounding the election of Barrow, who told IBTimes UK he considers himself the "rightful leader" of the country.

Barrow is due to be sworn in on 19 January. The president-elect, a former businessman who worked in London, said he will go ahead with the inauguration in spite of Jammeh's efforts to cling on to power.

The opposition coalition has also warned Jammeh will be treated as a rebel leader if he refuses to concede.

Jammeh's U-turn followed an admission by Gambia's Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) that it had erred during vote counting, and Barrow's margin of victory had narrowed from 9% to 4%.

Despite the changes, the commission insists that the new tally leaves the outcome of the election unchanged with Barrow receiving 43.3% of the vote, and Jammeh 39.6%.

On 14 December, security forces initially pledging alliance to Barrow backtracked claiming they were loyal to Jammeh before taking over the electoral commission headquarters. The move sparked fears of possible violence.</s>Banjul, Gambia: Longtime Gambian leader Yahya Jammeh, who initially conceded defeat in a December 1 presidential poll, has lodged a Supreme Court case to challenge the result, despite pressure from the international community for him to cede power peacefully.

The opposition in the small West African country, however, fears Jammeh will use a judicial system — considered by experts to lack independence — to give legitimacy to his attempt to hang on to power.

The ruling Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC) filed a complaint with the Supreme Court on December 13 alleging that opposition leader Adama Barrow was “not duly elected or returned as president, and that the said election was void”.

The court challenge came after Jammeh had surprised observers by conceding defeat after 22 years in power on television, before changing his mind.

It said the country’s Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) had violated electoral law, announced a December 5 recount without the consent of the APRC, and that its returning officers intimidated legitimate voters and turned them away on election day.

The Gambia’s Supreme Court has lain dormant since May 2015 with Chief Justice Emmanuel Fagbenle, a Nigerian, the only current sitting judge.

Judicial independence is “the exception rather than the rule,” said Niklas Hultin, an assistant professor and Africa specialist at George Mason University in the United States.

“Where the Supreme Court and other high-level courts have asserted their independence, there has usually been some kind of retribution on the part of the executive,” he added.

Jammeh fired several judges last year after they commuted the death sentences of former military officers to life imprisonment.

Jammeh needs to appoint four more Supreme Court judges for the constitutionally required panel of five to hear the challenge, and six if the decision requires a judicial review.

Complicating matters, the target of his complaint, the Independent Electoral Commission, is represented by Jammeh’s own attorney-general.

Gambia’s most influential lawyers’ group, the Bar Association, has described any future hearing as therefore “fundamentally tainted”.

A Bar Association statement said the challenge was “tantamount to one being a judge in his own cause considering that the outgoing president has already pre-empted the outcome of court process by declaring the election result as a nullity”.

President-elect Barrow says Jammeh has left cases against the government to stack up by failing to appoint justices.

“There are a pile of cases that are waiting... but he doesn’t care about it,” Barrow told AFP. “And now he has a case, if he appoints judges we will see this is personal interest, and not in the interests of justice.”

Senegalese political analyst Babacar Justin Ndiaye believes Jammeh’s aim is to obtain better terms for his exit, given the universal condemnation of his volte-face and lack of other options.

“It’s a strategy of giving him time, making the situation worse, wearing down the international community and finally to look for some sort of compromise, an arrangement,” he told AFP.

Jammeh has “played his cards well”, Ndiaye said, leveraging his continued support from important sections of the military to keep the Gambian population from taking to the streets against him.

If Jammeh wins the case at some point in the future, new elections could be called with a President Barrow in State House. That would be a “unprecedented” situation in Africa, according to Ndiaye.

The United States has said it does “not believe [the case] will be heard by a credible court dedicated to ensuring the integrity of The Gambia’s democratic process”, a reaction that was notably more hardline than the UN and regional bloc Ecowas.

“It is OK for the legal process to be going on,” the UN’s west Africa envoy Mohammad Ibn Chambas told AFP Wednesday. “That legal process has nothing to do with the term of his mandate,” he added.

Banjul-based diplomats have emphasised that the most important focus now is the handover of power still expected on January 19, rather than the outcome of the legal case that for now remains looming in the background.</s>After the case filed by Gambia's outgoing President Yahya Jammeh, who is seeking to annul the results of the country's presidential elections, was adjourned on Wednesday (21 December) by the nation's top court, Jammeh said that he would wait for the court ruling until January 10 before ceding power.

The country's apex court adjourned the case as the chief defendant of the case – Gambia's Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) – had not been summoned to attend.

After staying in power for 22 years Jammeh lost the election on 1 December to opposition candidate Adama Barrow. Barrow is set to be inaugurated on 19 January.

Jammeh initially conceded the election defeat but a week later said that he rejected the results of the election and filed a court case. His petition to the court is about alleged irregularities in the ballot count by IEC and also charges that his supporters were intimidated in one region.

"My rights cannot be violated and intimidated to a point where I succumb to blackmail. Unless the court decides the case, there will be no inauguration (of Barrow) on the 19 January," the 51-year-old strong man said in a televised address.

"What we are asking for is not for the IEC (Independent Election Commission) to declare me the winner, I cannot do that. will not cheat but I will not be cheated. Justice must be done and the only way justice can be done is to reorganise the election so that every Gambian votes. That's the only way we can resolve the matter peacefully and fairly." he added.

In the monologue, he denounced the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) bloc and other powers for intervening in Gambian political affairs. He further elaborated saying, "ECOWAS is trying to force me out. It will not happen... And let me see what ECOWAS and those big powers behind them can do."

According to an AFP report, Jammeh has bought time by taking his case to the apex court. Interestingly, all the judges of the top court except chief justice Emmanuel Fagbenle were sacked under the president's orders. And, according to court sources six foreign judges, not including chief justice Fagbenle, have been appointed by the president to serve on the apex court. Out of the seven on the panel, at least five judges will hear the petition filed by Jammeh, the AFP report added.</s>The Gambia’s top court on Wednesday said it was adjourning until January 10 a case filed by strongman Yahya Jammeh, who is seeking to annul the results of the country’s presidential elections.

The Supreme Court, presided by Nigerian-born Chief Justice Emmanuel Fagbenle, ordered the adjournment because the chief defendant — the country’s Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) — had not been summonsed to attend.

Jammeh, in power for 22 years, was defeated by opposition candidate Adama Barrow in the December 1 poll.

Barrow’s inauguration is due to take place on January 19.

Jammeh initially accepted the result but then reversed position a week later, stoking international concerns about the future of the tiny west African country.

His complaint to the court is about alleged irregularities in the ballot count by the IEC and charges that in one region his supporters were intimidated.

Jammeh’s lawyer, Edward Gomez, informed the court that the IEC had not been served with a summons by Jammeh, the plaintiff.

As a result, Gomez argued, it was in the interest of justice to give time for the IEC to receive the papers requiring it to attend.

“In view of the case that the Independent Electoral Commission is not served, I hereby order that the case is adjourned till 10 January,” Judge Fagbenle announced.

Gomez told reporters afterwards: “Going to court is a right and is a process, and nobody should deny a party that right.

“That is all we are saying and at the end of the day it is the ruling of the court that matters. And I believe we will all abide by it and respect it.”

Experts say Jammeh has bought time for his bid to stay in office by taking his appeal to a court that has lain dormant since May 2015 and whose judges had been fired under Jammeh’s orders save Fagbenle.

Court sources said six foreign judges, excluding Fagbenle, have now been appointed by Jammeh to serve on the Supreme Court.

Out of the total seven judges, five would hear the petition. If a review of the decision is sought by one of the parties, the case would then be considered by the full seven-member panel, the sources said.

The post Gambia’s top court adjourns Jammeh election case until Jan 10 appeared first on The Independent Uganda:.

This post was syndicated from The Independent Uganda:. Click here to read the full text on the original website.

Also, Like us on facebook</s>The streets of Gambia were dotted with thousands of jubilant people on 2 December, after opposition leader and former businessman Adama Barrow emerged as the new president of the tiny West African nation. Hundreds of thousands in Gambia and abroad rejoiced for what they thought was the end of decades-long abuses, stifled freedoms and economic hardship.

Adama defeated the long-standing President Yahya Jammeh, known to many for his record of alleged human rights violations, persecution of dissidents, journalists and activists and genocide remarks against the Mandinka people.

Therefore, when the 51-year-old leader – who took power in a bloodless coup in 1994 – initially conceded defeat, incredulity and irrepressible excitement inundated the country.

However, the widespread celebrations and the strong conviction Gambia was witnessing a historic moment were soon crushed by Jammeh's sudden decision to challenge the election result at the Supreme Court, citing "unacceptable abnormalities".

Jamme's U-turn sent shock waves across the nation, where a climate of fear has now overshadowed the promising future people dreamed of following Barrow's win.

With the country's imminent future unclear, IBTimes UK looks at the possible scenarios Gambia might face.

When, earlier this year, Gambia announced the country would pull out of the International Criminal Court (ICC), some argued the decision was made to avoid a possible prosecution of Jammeh should he lose election. 



Some have suggested Jammeh's U-turn was prompted after a member of the opposition coalition, Fatoumata Jallow-Tambajang, said the leader would be prosecuted for abuses he allegedly committed during his time in office.

After conceding, Jammeh said he wanted to go back to his farm in his native village in Kanilai, on the border with Senegal. However, Tambajang said the opposition feared Jammeh would try to escape to Senegal, or else start an insurgency.

Tambajang insists she was expressing a personal view and her statement did not necessarily reflect the coalition's position on the matter. Barrow also said he would not prosecute Jammeh and will treat him as a former head of state.

Barrow is due to be sworn in on 19 January. The President-elect, who worked in an Argos store in London, told IBTimes UK he considers himself the "rightful leader" of the country and will go ahead with the inauguration in spite of Jammeh's efforts to cling on to power.

The opposition coalition has also warned Jammeh will be treated as a rebel leader if he refuses to concede.

Meanwhile, Jammeh said he will resist pressure to step down, criticising leaders from neighbouring countries for urging him to concede.

Earlier in December, four West African leaders – from Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Ghana – met Jammeh and urged him to accept defeat.

The leaders left without managing to secure a deal.

On 14 December, security forces initially pledging alliance to Barrow backtracked, claiming they were loyal to Jammeh before taking over the electoral commission headquarters. The move sparked fears of possible violence.

Following the West African leader's failure to reach a deal with Jammeh, the head of the Economic Community Of West African States (Ecowas) claimed that a military intervention to remove Jammeh was "possible".

However, Barrow told IBTimes UK he was confident the issue could be resolved peacefully.

Can the Supreme Court rule in favour of ?

Jammeh's U-turn followed an admission by Gambia's Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) that it had erred during vote counting, and Barrow's margin of victory had narrowed from 9% to 4%.

Despite the changes, the commission insists that the new tally leaves the outcome of the election unchanged. with Barrow receiving 43.3% of the vote, and Jammeh 39.6%.

Jammeh, who is calling for fresh election, said he would wait for the Supreme Court ruling until, eventually, ceding power. The court adjourned the case to 10 January.

During Jammeh's administration, all the judges of the top court, with the exception of chief justice Emmanuel Fagbenle, were sacked.

The opposition coalition claimed Jammeh has no longer constitutional authority to name new judges to hear his petition, however AFP news agency quoted court sources as saying six foreign judges have now been appointed to hear Jammeh's complaint.

A statement published by the Gambian Bar Association (GBA), which appeared on the Sahara Reporters website, alleged Fagbenle "would take steps to extend the illegal regime of Jammeh".

The association said it had no confidence in Fagbenle and said it would bring the matter to the attention of the Nigerian government, which has not responded to IBTimes UK's request for comment.</s>Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari , a retired General in the Nigerian Army cum ‘democratically’ elected civilian president, has finally broken silence on the electoral impasse in the Gambia in his capacity as the chief mediator.

He warned that any attempt by outgoing President Jammeh to stay in power beyond January 18 will be met with fierce resistance as everything has kept in place to forcefully remove him from power if need be, sources disclosed on Tuesday in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.

His position was also corroborated by other West African leaders, under the aegis of ECOWAS who jointly issued a statement and sent an unmistakable signal to President Yahya Jammeh of Gambia that they would not allow him to stay longer than January 18 in power.

The leaders at their meeting in Abuja resolved to attend the inauguration of the Gambian President-Elect, Adama Barrow, on January 18, 2017 in conformity with the Gambian constitution.

According to a communiqué presented at the end of the 50th Ordinary Session of the Authority of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government held in Abuja on Saturday, the out-going President Yahya Jammeh must uphold the result of the December 1 presidential election in the country and must guarantee the safety and protection of the President-elect.

The communiqué said: “The Authority calls on President Yahya Jammeh to accept the result of the polls and refrain from any action likely to compromise the transition and peaceful transfer of power to the President-Elect.” The Authority also appointed President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria and his Ghanaian counterpart, John Mahama, as Chief Mediator and Co-Mediator respectively in the Gambian political impasse.

Four of the ECOWAS leaders – Muhammadu Buhari, John Mahama of Ghana, Ernest Koroma of Sierra Leone and ECOWAS chairperson, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf – visited Banjul on Tuesday to persuade Jammeh to accept the result of the election. Although President Buhari said Jammeh was receptive to their discussions, his obduracy in accepting the result of the poll became a major issue at the ECOWAS talks in Abuja Saturday.</s>Gambia's President Yahya Jammeh attends the plenary session of the Africa-South America Summit on Margarita Island, file. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins/File Photo

BANJUL (Reuters) - Gambian President Yahya Jammeh vowed to stay in power when his mandate ends in January, defying calls from West African leaders to hand over to the winner of a Dec. 1 election.

Regional bloc ECOWAS hopes diplomacy can persuade Jammeh to step down but has also warned him it would take "all necessary actions" to resolve the impasse. Neighbouring Senegal has indicated that military action would be a last resort.

"I am not a coward. My right cannot be intimidated and violated. This is my position. Nobody can deprive me of that victory except the Almighty Allah," Jammeh, who took power in a 1994 coup, said on state television late on Tuesday.

"The ECOWAS meeting was a formality. Before they came, they had already said Jammeh must step down. I will not step down," he said, referring to a mediating visit by West African leaders to Banjul last week.

Jammeh's rebuff places president-elect Adama Barrow in a vulnerable position. He is due to formally end his rival's 22-year rule when he is inaugurated on Jan. 19 in a ceremony that West African leaders say they will attend.

ECOWAS has pledged to provide security for Barrow but bodyguards have not yet arrived.

His unexpected victory and Jammeh's initial announcement that he would step down was greeted with joy on a continent where it is extremely rare for a veteran leader to lose an election and step down willingly.

It quickly became a test of regional mettle, though, when Jammeh reversed course, asserting that he was cheated and would challenge the result in Gambia's supreme court.

The court has not heard cases for years but the chief justice said on Wednesday a hearing would take place on Jan. 10. with judges from Nigeria and Sierra Leone.

In a show of support for Jammeh's legal challenge, the president of the African Bar Association, Hannibal Uwaifo, met him late on Tuesday and in a broadcast statement called for his case to be heard.

ECOWAS has mandated Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari to mediate. ECOWAS deployed troops to Liberia and Sierra Leone during civil wars in the 1990s, setting a precedent for possible regional intervention. It also sent forces to Mali in 2013.

But African organisations, including the African Union, have a patchy record when it comes to putting pressure on leaders after disputed elections.

Human rights groups say Jammeh's government has arrested, tortured and killed perceived opponents.

A first step for raising pressure on Jammeh once the handover date passes might be targeted sanctions by ECOWAS, the United Nations, United States and European Union, diplomats said.

These could involve a travel ban. Diplomats say ECOWAS would probably seek approval from the U.N. Security Council, of which Senegal is a non-permanent member, for the use of force.

Senegal, which has a history of stormy relations with Gambia and sent troops there during a 1981 coup, is a likely candidate for leadership of any African intervention force given its position as Gambia's only territorial neighbour.

In the interim, it may be possible to defuse the situation by offering Jammeh asylum, probably in Morocco or Saudi Arabia, diplomats said.

Barrow is already grappling with preparations for governing. One crucial task is securing the support of security forces who have seized the electoral commission since the vote.

Maggie Dwyer, a research fellow at the University of Edinburgh, said multiple coup attempts in the past suggest the army may be split and not completely reliable for Jammeh.
Gambia's Chief Justice sets January 10, 2017, for the hearing by the Supreme Court, made up of judges from Nigeria and Sierra Leone, of President Yahya Jammeh's ruling party's legal challenge of the December 1 election results.