Hundreds of supporters and sympathizers of the opposition United Democratic Party (UDP) stormed Banjul early Thursday morning in a bustling crowd showing support for the Chairman of the Brikama Area Council, Yankuba Darboe, who was accused of sedition by police and state prosecutors.
The sympathizers, who entered the capital city in a large crowd, chanted the “Never Again” slogan, condemning the sedition charges against the BAC chairman, and called for the state to discontinue the case.
“This is politically motivated. The state is against development because Yankuba Darboe is doing what it cannot do. Never again. What happened before cannot happen again,” Binta Ceesay, a sympathizer, echoed.
Mariama Bojang, a zealot supporter of the UDP who hails from Sukuta, accused the paramilitaries on the ground of overstepping and throwing teargas. She said that she went to Banjul to raise her voice against injustice.
“We want justice to prevail, and we will not give up even if it will cost our lives,” she uttered, showing her distaste toward the state for bringing up the sedition case against Yankuba Darboe.
Yankuba Darboe, in May this year, was elected by over seventy-seven electorates in the West Coast Region to serve as the Chairman of the Brikama Area Council.
Today, he began his defense against the sedition charges against him brought by the Inspector General of Police, the Ministry of Justice, and the Chief Justice of the Gambia over a remark uttered against the Gambia Judicial System and the president.
The case, which now gathers much attention, has been adjourned to the 25th of this month after Yankuba’s lawyer, LS Camara, made his submission.
