BREAKING: Nigerian govt confirms deployment of fighter jets, soldiers to Gambia Tvenews Nigeria

The Nigerian government has confirmed that it has deployed fighter jets and at least 200 soldiers to join their Senegalese counterparts for a Gambian mission.

The spokesperson of the Nigerian Air Force, Ayodele Famuyiwa, confirmed the deployment in a statement sent to the media.

“The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has deployed to Senegal as part of Nigerian contingent of Economic Community of West African States Military Intervention in Gambia (ECOMIG) – a standby force tasked by ECOWAS Heads of State to enforce the December 1, 2016 election mandate in the The Gambia,” Mr. Famuyiwa, a Group Captain, said.

“The NAF today moved a contingent of 200 men and air assets comprising fighter jets, transport aircraft, Light Utility Helicopter as well as Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance aircraft to Dakar from where it is expected to operate into Gambia.”

ECOWAS had indicated its intention to forcefully remove President Yahya Jammeh from office should he decide to remain in power beyond Thursday, January 19, the date he is constitutionally expected to handover to President-elect Adama Barrow.

Mr. Jammeh has remained defiant, saying he would not leave office until the Supreme Court hears his petition challenging Mr. Barrow’s widely acclaimed victory.

The Supreme Court has said it cannot hear the matter as it does not have the 5 judges required to form a quorum Any ECOWAS military mission is expected to be led by Senegal, Gambia’s immediate neighbour, and the country to which the Nigerian troops arrived.

Read the full statement by the Nigerian Air Force spokesperson below.

The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has deployed to Senegal as part of Nigerian contingent of Economic Community of West African States Military Intervention in Gambia (ECOMIG) – a standby force tasked by ECOWAS Heads of State to enforce the December 1, 2016 election mandate in the The Gambia. The NAF today moved a contingent of 200 men and air assets comprising fighter jets, transport aircraft, Light Utility Helicopter as well as Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance aircraft to Dakar from where it is expected to operate into Gambia. The deployment is also to forestall hostilities or breakdown of law and order that may result from the current political impasse in The Gambia.

Addressing the contingent before departure, the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Baba Abubakar urged the troops to maintain discipline and be professional in their conduct. Reminding them to be good ambassadors of Nigeria, the CAS stated that no act of indiscipline by the contingent would be tolerated. The contingent, led by Air Cdre Tajudeen Yusuf, was airlifted this morning from 117 Air Combat Training Group Kainji. Other troop contributing countries include Senegal, Ghana and countries within the sub-region.

You are please requested to disseminate the information through your medium for the awareness of the general public. Thank you for your usual support and cooperation.

Historians should be less sloppy by not marking tonight, the eve of the war with The Gambia, as a failure of diplomacy, because it is not. Rather, it is the failure by outsiders to deploy intelligent diplomacy. At no time did Ecowas deploy anything close to diplomacy. Besides bluster and threat – which have nothing to do with the intelligent activity called ‘diplomacy’ – nothing sensible was deployed by foreign countries in the context of the actual facts presented in The Gambia. Muhamadu Buhari as Ecowas Mediator hardly passed muster. Buhari articulated no position anyone in the world heard or agreed. Or did Buhari say what international law will be violated if the Supreme Court convened in five months’ time and decide the filed and pending election petition against the election of Mr. Barrow on a universally valid ground that insofar as the Gambian Electoral Commission issued and signed two separate and conflicting final election results, there is no way to know who won the Gambian presidential election.

In Nigeria, the Managing Director of Sterling bank, Yemi Adeola, continues his own corrupt tenure in office despite being caught a fortnight ago with 153 million dollars stolen from NNPC. Why then should President Yahya Jammeh in faraway Gambia be threatened with armored tanks to quit office, if Yemi Adeola, as a proved moneylaundering criminal accomplice, is granted impunity for continuous stay in office?

It makes no sense! Even Sanusi Lamido Sanusi has never been asked to quit his own traditional office in Kano on the audit evidence of looting Central Bank of Nigeria in excess of 1.6 trillion Naira. These two examples show the contradictions of President Buhari’s foreign policy in The Gambia.

A good foreign policy must come from domestic principles well-kept at home, not by endeavoring to enforce standards abroad which are routinely violated with impunity inside Nigeria

“The Gambia’s National Assembly has passed a resolution to allow President Yahya Jammeh, who lost an election in December, to stay in office for three months from Wednesday when he was due to leave power. The decision announced on state television will raise tension with leaders of the West African bloc ECOWAS who have threatened sanctions or military force to make Jammeh hand over to opposition leader Adama Barrow who won the election.”

The Nigerian government has confirmed that it has deployed fighter jets and at least 200 soldiers to join their Senegalese counterparts for a Gambian mission. The spokesperson of the Nigerian Air Force, Ayodele Famuyiwa, confirmed the deployment in a statement sent to the media. Read the full statement by the Nigerian Air Force spokesperson below.

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At least 200 Nigerian soldiers have arrived Senegal for the mission.