By Landing Colley
Abdoukarim Jah, Director of Record of the Army on Wednesday testified before the Truth Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) that he has never by any chance see sunlight for six months when he was at the State Central Prison in Mile II.
“From the day I set my foot in Mile II up to six months I have never been given a rest (chance) to have sun light” saying that early in the morning they normally take bath and clear there pot then go back to the room till around 7 0’clock in the evening.
He said it went up to six months like that before they were given a chance to rest and “according to them this is a tradition to welcome detainee,” he stated.
Talking about his arrest, he said after the attempted coup led by Nduru Cham he explained that “early hours at 3:30am in the morning I was sleeping and I had my daughter shouting that there are people jumping inside the compound. Then I went to the sitting room to check through the window and I saw soldiers then I asked what they are doing in my compound.”
He said those soldiers “saluted me that they were sent by Lan Tombong Tamba second chief in command then. I went inside dress up and took my gun and mobile phone but one of the soldiers told me that there is no need for me to go with my phone. They went further that they are told to take away my Gun.”
According to him on their way going around Kololi that was the time they informed him that Lang Tombong Tamba said they should take him to Mile II.
“They took me to cell number five securing wing and there is no bed, no mosquito net, there was absolutely nothing, except a pot and water. The following day I was taken to NIA headquarter to the conference room upstairs and in the room, there was more than twenty people including Lang Tombong Tamba and Ousman Sonko then the Interior Minister,” he stated.
When he was asked to explain the Nduru Cham attempt coup he said “there was a day I went to Nduru Cham’s office then the Army Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) at that time Nduru Cham used to talk about the government that he will remove Yahya Jammeh because he is misleading the country,“ he recalled.
He continued that “I went there to check a file and before going out he said to me that he is serious that he wants to get this man out because people are tired of the way he is ruling the country, and he asked me if I am interested and I responded negative.”
According to him, he was asked to write a statement about what transpired between him and Nduru Cham after he was taken back to Mile II and which was the end of his going to NIA headquarter.