By Mariam Ceesay
A confrontational scene occurred in Kombo Lamin on Saturday, as one of owner of one of the households in the area did not allow Essa Faal, TRRC Lead Counsel and his delegation to deliver charitable food supplies to his family.
According to the Freedom Newspaper online the TRRC Lead Counsel and his team were subsequently chased out from the property of Landing Badjie, the leader of the household.
Badjie, 40 years of age, is a former police detective and an APRC staunch supporter. He even had to resign from the force just to support Jammeh’s former ruling party. This followed repeated reprimands he received from his superiors, who had queried about his open support for the APRC. He used to attend the party’s meetings while serving the police, which resulted in the force’s command to give him two options: One, to either leave the force or risked being fired. He opted for the former.
According to the Freedom Newspaper online, Badjie was in his room sleeping late Saturday evening when Essa Faal and his team came to his home. Faal reportedly gave his wife a 25-kilogram bag of rice, a bag of onion, and cooking oil. Just in time, Badjie had woken up from his sleep. He recognized Essa Faal, among the delegation. He then told Faal that he was not interested in his Corona charity gift.
“I was shocked to learn that my wife had accepted the gift from him. I told her that she shouldn’t have received the gift from Essa Faal. I then handed the gift back to them and asked them to leave my property. One of the ladies who were with Essa Faal then insulted me. Essa Faal also made a remark by telling me: Who the hell are you? I responded back to him with the same statement. The guys, who were with Essa Faal ran into their vehicle and grabbed some cutlasses. I ran into my room and armed myself with some local spiritual jujus,” Badjie said.
“We insulted each other, and they left. Essa Faal was with one active serving soldier at the time. The soldier is a sports journalist. He was the one, who calmed me down. The soldier lives in Lamin. He was not in uniform when they came to my home. I don’t know why an active member of the armed forces would accompany Essa Faal in such an exercise. I am really concerned about his association with Essa Faal. Essa Faal has a political agenda. That’s public knowledge. He is all over the place, seeking public recognition,” he alleged.
Badjie said he was photographed and videotaped by the people, who accompanied Faal. His claims couldn’t be independently verified.
When asked why he was opposed to Mr Faal’s gift, Badjie remarked: “I dislike everything about Essa Faal. I do not need anything coming from Essa Faal. I do not need his gift. I am contending with what I got. We are not hungry.”
“He has used the TRRC to ridicule my party leader Yahya Jammeh. He had branded Jammeh as a killer. None of the soldiers (Junglars) who claimed to have been ordered by Jammeh to kill had received direct orders from Jammeh. I do not want to see Essa Faal in my home,” he added.
Badjie added that Faal and his team had recorded the names and phone numbers of people that they supplied food items. He said that he told his wife not to give them any phone number. He also returned the rice, onion, and oil that were given to his wife by Faal.
Badjie said he owed loyalty to Yahya Jammeh. He said his conscience wouldn’t allow him to betray Jammeh and the APRC.
“My blood is APRC. I am ready to give my life to Yahya Jammeh and the APRC. Yahya Jammeh had done a lot of good things for my family. He took my Dad to Mecca for pilgrimage. He also sponsored my sister to study in Taiwan. I also served as a police officer in his government for fifteen years. I was a Criminal Investigation Officer (CID) at the Serrekunda police station. If I can self-discharge myself from the force, because of my love for the APRC, do you think I, will accept a gift from Essa Faal, a person, who hates my leader? I am not going to accept any gift from him. I am also not going to accept any gift from President Barrow’s government,” Badjie added.
The police later paid him a visit at his home. Badjie wasn’t at home. He was out to see off one of his visitors, when Superintendent Suso, came to his Lamin home. Suso and his men later left the property.
“I telephoned Landing Bojang, the Commissioner of Police Operations to inform him about the visit of Suso and his men to my house. I want to believe that Essa Faal is out to get me. I haven’t committed any offense. I told Landing about what happened. He said he was going to get back to me later. I haven’t heard from him since we spoke,” Badjie said. There was no contact phone number available.