The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has said that the House was not supporting the Gambian President, Yahaya Jammeh, but that the lawmakers only want peace to reign in that country.
Dogara spoke when the House passed a resolution calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to extend Nigeria’s readiness to offer Jammeh a safe haven in Nigeria to live securely as a way of ending the political stalemate in that country.
Daily Trust had reported that the House would debate a motion seeking to grant Jammeh asylum in the country.
The motion, sponsored by Rep Mohammed Sani Zorro (APC, Jigawa), initially faced opposition from some lawmakers, but Dogara clarified that the House was not supporting Jammeh but that it was a way of avoiding crisis in The Gambia, which would in turn affect Nigeria as refugees might find their way into the country.
While expressing full support for the Buhari-led diplomatic efforts at stabilizing The Gambia, the House said it stood in solidarity with the parliament and the people of Gambia in this trying times. It mandated the committee on foreign affairs to ensure the implementation of the resolution.
Zorro in his motion said with Jammeh’s resolve not to hand over power to Adama Barrow, The Gambian democracy was under threat, therefore there was an urgent need to intensify preventive diplomacy to save that country from descending into chaos with dire consequences for the West African sub-region.
He said Nigeria could afford to nip such logjam in the bud as the country had in the past played such role in restoring peace and settling conflicts in various central, southern and West African countries like Congo, Chad, Liberia, Sierra-Leone among others.
