By Yankuba Jallow
Two of the attackers that mounted an onslaught at the Presidency on the 30th December 2014 have returned to home. The two were met at the Banjul International Airport on Saturday 30th December 2017, by some Government Ministers, family members and well-wishers. Mr. Jallow said the people they were welcoming at the Airport are Gambians who have done a lot for their country; that he sympathize with all those who made the ultimate sacrifice and lost their lives on that eventful day in the likes of Lamin Sanneh and others.
“We have to thank and welcome you” Minister Jallow said.
“10th / 11th April will be commemorated. Lamin Sanneh and others’ death will be commemorated, so that people will not forget what has happened in the country. Solo Sandeng and others’ demise for the freedom of the nation, will be commemorated,” Mr. Jallow said.
Mr. Cherno Njie who spoke on behalf of the attackers, said three years ago on 30th December, a group of Gambians attempted with purpose and principle, to overthrow the illegitimate tyrannical regime of ex-President Yahya Jammeh.
“We paid the price by the loss of three of our compatriots in the names of Colonel Lamin Sanneh, Captain Njaga Jagne and Alagie Jarja Nyass”, he said.
“We are all victims of Yahya Jammeh. But Jammeh did not emerge out of a vacuum. He was in some ways both a product and symptom of our present society”, Njie said. “We are home today to pay tribute to these men. We return to commemorate with their families and loved ones. We return to pay our respect to all those who before and after that date, fought for an end to the 22 years of Jammeh’s rule. We return to offer condolences to those Gambians who since 1994 have lost their lives for the struggle for freedom. We return to sympathize with the many victims left in the wake of the old regime”, he said.
“We return home as but ordinary Gambians. There is nothing special about us. Our imprisonment, the monetary loss of our freedom in the United States was but a small price to pay including our efforts to the long quest to halt the misdeeds of tyrannical power in the Gambia”, he said.
“We recognise evil and together we made our attempt to cast it from our homeland. Let it be known that the victims are in truth, the real heroes. It’s they who struggled against evil and fought for good”, he said.
