{"id":91460,"date":"2025-12-06T18:32:06","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T18:32:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/jammehs-ghost-return-and-sana-manjangs-fall"},"modified":"2025-12-06T19:30:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T19:30:08","slug":"jammehs-ghost-return-and-sana-manjangs-fall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/jammehs-ghost-return-and-sana-manjangs-fall","title":{"rendered":"Jammeh’S Ghost Return and Sana Manjang’S Fall"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Rtd Lt Colonel Samsudeen Sarr
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

Africa-Press – Gambia. <\/strong><\/span>The arrest of Lt Colonel Sana Manjang, Yahya Jammeh\u2019s most infamous \u201cJungler\u201d and a fugitive who vanished into the Casamance woods for nearly a decade, together with the spectacular collapse of Jammeh\u2019s loudly advertised November homecoming, has stirred confusion, excitement, and outright delusion among Gambians and observers abroad.<\/b><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with Jammeh\u2019s supposed homecoming. From day one, I treated the entire storyline as pure fiction. How was Jammeh, stranded in Equatorial Guinea without a valid passport, going to miraculously travel by air, land, or sea? No aircraft lifts off without documentation; no border officer waves through a former President in exile \u201cby faith.\u201d And without the explicit approval of President Teodoro Obiang in Malabo and President Adama Barrow in Banjul, the return was never more than a campfire tale, good for entertainment, but devoid of reality.<\/p>\n

What I do believe, without hesitation, is that Jammeh is living a lonely, depressing existence in Equatorial Guinea. His sudden attempt to sound humble and conciliatory reflects not repentance but exhaustion. Yet even in desperation he bungles the basics. Instead of apologising to the APRC members he unjustly purged, he announces that he has forgiven them, calling on them to reunite as \u201cone family.\u201d Everyone knows he tore the party apart; hence, he should be crawling back with an apology, not pretending to dispense absolution.<\/p>\n

Still, his most fanatical supporters, those who insist he can materialise out of thin air, issued a press release blaming his failed return on \u201clogistical delays\u201d and \u201cpending documents.\u201d Meanwhile they were busy selling \u201cashobis\u201d to the unsuspecting for a welcoming ceremony that was never going to happen. In reality, these were hustlers profiting off gullible believers who had been primed for a miracle.<\/p>\n

And the drama didn\u2019t stop there. Social media became a battlefield. Some Gambians, though not Jammeh fans, still fear his fabled \u201cmystic powers\u201d and genuinely expected him to appear like a spirit descending on Kanilai. Others, more reckless, threatened violence against the government should Jammeh be arrested on arrival.<\/p>\n

This sudden frenzy, in my assessment, is what finally jolted the Barrow government into action regarding the long-hunted Sana Manjang.<\/p>\n

For nine years, Sanna moved freely between Guinea-Bissau and Casamance, occasionally visiting fellow fugitive Omar Sanneh (Baitulai) in Barrajassy. Sanneh himself is now behind bars in Casamance for crimes yet to be disclosed.<\/p>\n

If The Gambia truly wanted Sanna earlier, they simply needed to do what they did last Friday by calling Dakar. Once the Senegalese security services were engaged, Sana was apprehended quietly in a Casamance village where he was hustling for survival, some say as a baker, others as a charcoal smuggler. The latter alone could have landed him in a Senegalese jail, but because The Gambia requested him, he was handed over without fuss.<\/p>\n

For once, the cooperation between the two countries worked smoothly. It should continue; cross-border criminals have enjoyed too much comfort for far too long.<\/p>\n

But as usual, after the facts come the fairy tales.<\/p>\n

A fabricated story emerged claiming that Sanna was arrested over a planned coup by Jammeh loyalists in the army, supposedly with the help of MFDC rebels. This theory evaporated instantly when families of the three brothers arrested alongside him publicly stated that the men were not MFDC members, not coup plotters, but simply charcoal workers. National Security Adviser Abubacarr Jeng confirmed that the three individuals were of no interest whatsoever to Gambian authorities.<\/p>\n

So the \u201ccoup plot\u201d narrative belongs in the dustbin.<\/p>\n

Then entered the most outrageous twist, from Senegalese journalist Pape Sane\u0301, claiming that during interrogation, Sana was questioned by the Senegalese authorities about his alleged links to Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko and the Pastef party. Sane\u0301 presented this as insider information, as though Gambian interrogators take breaks to brief him in Dakar while leaving Gambian journalists clueless.<\/p>\n

Even if Sana said such things, what if he was lying deliberately? What if he hoped to stir tension between Sonko and President Faye, whose political chemistry is already brittle?<\/p>\n

This reminds me of 1996 when we captured Balo Kanteh after the Farafenni attack. Out of desperation, he concocted the false claim that the Senegalese state had sponsored their assault, an attempt to spark conflict between The Gambia and Senegal that almost succeeded.<\/p>\n

In this case, either Sana is lying, or Sane\u0301 is manufacturing nonsense. But one thing is certain: no Gambian interrogator is leaking classified information to a Dakar journalist while Gambian newsrooms remain in the dark.<\/p>\n

Both governments in The Gambia and Senegal must step forward immediately to clarify this situation before mischief-makers turn rumor into diplomatic tension.<\/p>\n

Source: The Standard Newspaper | Gambia<\/b><\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Gambia<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Rtd Lt Colonel Samsudeen Sarr Africa-Press – Gambia. The arrest of Lt Colonel Sana Manjang, Yahya Jammeh\u2019s most infamous \u201cJungler\u201d and a fugitive who vanished into the Casamance woods for nearly a decade, together with the spectacular collapse of Jammeh\u2019s loudly advertised November homecoming, has stirred confusion, excitement, and outright delusion among Gambians and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":91459,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[260],"class_list":["post-91460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","tag-gambia"],"yoast_head":"\nJammeh'S Ghost Return and Sana Manjang'S Fall - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The arrest of Lt Colonel Sana Manjang, Yahya Jammeh\u2019s most infamous \u201cJungler\u201d and a fugitive who vanished into the Ca ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/jammehs-ghost-return-and-sana-manjangs-fall\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jammeh'S Ghost Return and Sana Manjang'S Fall\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The arrest of Lt Colonel Sana Manjang, Yahya Jammeh\u2019s most infamous \u201cJungler\u201d and a fugitive who vanished into the Ca ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/jammehs-ghost-return-and-sana-manjangs-fall\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-06T18:32:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-06T19:30:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/sm_1765036421.776775.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/jammehs-ghost-return-and-sana-manjangs-fall#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/jammehs-ghost-return-and-sana-manjangs-fall\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Jammeh’S Ghost Return and Sana Manjang’S Fall\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-06T18:32:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-06T19:30:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/jammehs-ghost-return-and-sana-manjangs-fall\"},\"wordCount\":800,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/jammehs-ghost-return-and-sana-manjangs-fall#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/sm_1765036421.776775.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Gambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"files\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/jammehs-ghost-return-and-sana-manjangs-fall#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/jammehs-ghost-return-and-sana-manjangs-fall\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/jammehs-ghost-return-and-sana-manjangs-fall\",\"name\":\"Jammeh'S Ghost Return and Sana Manjang'S Fall - 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