THE House of Representatives on Thursday called on President Muhammadu Buhari to extend the country’s readiness to offer outgoing President of Gambia Yahya Jammeh a safe haven in Nigeria to live securely as a way of ending the political stalemate in that country.
The House also expressed full support for President Buhari-led diplomatic efforts at stabilising the Gambia as it faced the difficult stage of transition from one political regime to another;
The House equally said that it stood in solidarity with the parliament and people of The Gambia in their trying times.
The House resolution was sequel to a motion moved by Hon Muhammed Sani Zorro, entitled, “Call to Offer a Safe Haven to President Yahya Jammeh as Part of Nigeria’s Mediation Initiative for the Gambia.”
While commending the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) for its regional mediation efforts led by President Muhammadu Buhari to find lasting solution to the political impasse in the Gambia, the lawmaker said that all efforts should be made that there “is peace in the West African country.”
According to him, “the clock is ticking fast for the survival of democracy in the country and there is therefore the need to intensify preventive diplomacy to save the Gambia from descending into chaos with dire consequences for the West African sub-region, as a result of a likely armed conflict and mass displacement of persons.”
He said that Nigeria should continue its big brother role in Africa, saying, “Nigeria’s past leadership roles in restoring peace and settling conflicts in various Central, Southern and West African nations, including the Congo, Chad, Southern African countries, Liberia, Sierra-Leone, etc” should be sustained.
According to him, “Nigeria’s policy of extending safe-haven status to endangered African leaders as part of dispute settlement and that such gestures had, in the past been extended to Presidents Felix Malloum of Chad, Siad Barre of Somalia, Thabo Mbeki of the ANC, Messrs’ Charles Taylor and Yomi Johnson of Liberia and several other leaders”.
Hon Mojeed Alabi in his contribution cautioned the House on the move, saying that the House should not be seen as supporting President’s Jammeh’s dictatorial tendency.
He however said that he supported the motion, but, “we need to be careful to let the citizen of Nigeria and the outside world to know what we intended to do with the motion”
On his part, Hon Obinna Chidoka, said that, the Gambia’s president should vacate the seat as soon as possible, saying, this (Gambia) is a democratic country, we should not be seen as supporting dictatorship”.
However, Hon Nasir Ahmed, while kicking against the motion, said that the embattled President did not ask for asylum stressing that, “we should not send wrong signal Africa leaders that dictatorship pays.”
The motion was supported after the Speaker, Hon Yakubu Dogara, said that it made more economic sense to give the embattled President soft landing in Nigeria, saying that, “if there is crisis in that place we cannot afford to take refugees”