By Ndey Sowe
Lang Balla Sawo, a ward councillor from Njaba Kunda, in Central Badibbu Constituency of North Bank Region, has called on 
President Jammeh to hand over power in peace and tranquility to safeguard the sovereignty of the Gambia. “Let President Jammeh accept defeat and let us live in peace as peace is our asset”. He said for the interest of peace, Jammeh should respect the law of the land and accept the outcome of the election result.
“I am not speaking in the interest of either my family or my ward or the party but because of my conscience,” Councillor Sawo added.
A very active militant of the APRC party and also a founding member of the July 22 movement in the country, Sawo said in1994, just after the military took over state power, he was among Gambians who formed the July 22 Movement so that the movement can be the second layer of the revolution to help them to come to power.
“We have done a lot and I was a diehard APRC supporter and I went further to vote for him this election,” Sawo explained. He applauded Jammeh’s regime for ‘the socio-economic development of the country’ but expressed concern for the current situation of the country following his rejection of defeat.
He said that politics is a game and asserted that this is not the end of APRC because the party is here to stay as PPP stayed for over 50 years, NCP over 40 years and PDOIS over 30 years and they are still existing. He noted that even though the APRC is split, they will try to bring back the party to unite and become stronger than before.
He hopes that the President will step down as a pious Muslim and will not allow deaths to occur in the country. He urged all political leaders to observe peace in the country as peace is an asset of the country.
From his perspective, he believes that APRC party will one day unite and join Hon. Mamma Kandeh of the GDC party and select him as the party flag bearer as Kandeh was once a APRC strong militant and those who voted for him in the December 1 election were all APRC supporters. He added that everything seen on this earth has an end and the time has come for the APRC to leave and president Jammeh should have faith in God because it is God who decides and also Gambians need a change and this is the time for his regime to end. The election was transparent and the results were well announced by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), Sawo concluded.
