The beleaguered army corporal, Omar Sarjo, who was dismissed over purportedly being a non-Gambian and son of a Casammance warlord, has appealed to the government to return his documents seized by the Immigration Department.
Following the dislodgement of the APRC government in 2017,
Omar Sarjo, 38, was dismissed from the army in 2017 and an investigation was launched into his Gambian citizenship.
He has however challenged the allegations levelled against him by the State and said he is a Gambian and has never “returned” to the southern Senegal province.
The Gambia Armed Forces (GAF) has since clarified that the embattled corporal was dismissed in 2017 on the grounds of false pretence by falsifying his biographical and academic documents to meet the entry eligibility.
His dismissal from the Forces, according to the army, was not based on his relationship to Salif Sarjo.
Mr Omar Sarjo said: “I want to ask the government to please return my documents back to me. I am not a criminal. I have not committed any crime in this country that would warrant the seizure of my documents. I urged the president to exercise his prerogative to help regain my documents. I have served this country honourably. I deserve better.”
He said his passport and other national documents were seized by the Immigration Department in 2018 when he attempted to change his expired passport.
“The Immigration department told me they received a correspondence from the army that I am not a Gambian. So, for that reason they took my papers and charged me to court. But for three years the same court case is going in and out without an ending. I now need my documents. I am continuously being harassed for not moving with my documents,” he said.
He denied reports that the case has been withdrawn from the court and that he never committed a single crime in his lifetime.
He said: “It is really painful to consider me a foreigner in my own country. It hurts me a lot. I decided to join the army to serve my country as any other military officers. I served with all my heart to the best of ability until the time I was dismissed.”
