Following rape allegation leveled against ex- President, Yahya Jammeh by a former beauty queen, Ms Toufah Jallow, the interim leader of the opposition Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC) has blasted the former beauty queen for such allegations, saying she should in fact be thankful to the ex-president for all the monetary support.
Fabakary Tombong-Jatta was speaking at a press conference convened by the APRC party at his Tallinding residence on Wednesday.
He said; “We didn’t contact ex-President Jammeh about Toufah’s rape allegation, because you ask somebody about something that has an element of truth. For me, it’s derogatory to ask former President Jammeh about it. The lady should even be thankful to ex-president Jammeh for the monetary support,” he added.
Ms Jallow, who won a beauty pageant in The Gambia back in 2014, made international headlines, when she openly accused the ex-president, Yahya Jammeh of rape during an interview with New York Times.
“Five years ago, the president of The Gambia crowned the 18-year-old Fatou Jallow, the winner of the nation’s top beauty pageant with a lecture to her and other contestants: Do not rush to marry, but use the pageant’s scholarship to fulfil your dreams’’.
However, few months down the line, the ex-president, Yahya Jammeh, began summoning the young girl to State House and even asked for her hand in marriage, which Ms Jallow declined, she told New York Times.
“I thought it was a joke,’’ Ms. Jallow said. “I was very naive. I didn’t know how brutal he was.” she told the New York Times.
Still at the party level, there are strong denials with regards to Toufah’s rape allegation.
FTJ further explains; “In fact, there are clicks all out to tarnish the image of ex-President Jammeh at all levels. These are facts, and there are people who are bent on tarnishing the image of Yahya Jammeh at all cost, so that Gambians can antagonise him. However, the irony is that these remarks and others, serves as fertilizer for the APRC party.”
The APRC party, he claimed, is growing bigger and better by the day. “I even want to believe that, one day most of you here will be part of the party because if you are to follow the truth, we will establish the truth and you will all see.”
The APRC party, he went on, will continue to call for the resignation of the Chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), saying it is not based on enmity or grudge, but a move based on facts that unveil themselves in the process.
“We had the IEC chairman expressing his desire of getting Jammeh out of power. So we are saying for that institution to gain credibility, it’s chairman should go because we will never trust that chairman again,” he stated.
Fabakary Tombong-Jatta also frowns at the government recent decision to ban, the former Secretary General and Minister of Presidential Affair’s – Momodou Sabally for life, based on Janneh Commission Recommendations.
“I can’t imagine the likes of Momodou Sabally, who is among young boys and the future leaders of the country to ban them for life. Is that sensible? Not by any court of law but by a commission of inquiry that was determined by a government white paper as to what they want and what they don’t want based on fact,” he stated, saying this is the situation we found ourselves.
