Former President Yahya Jammeh recently accused the Barrow administration of conspiring with Senegal to unlawfully export the oil riches of the Gambia, but President Adama Barrow has officially denied these claims.
President Barrow flatly rejected the allegations, calling them baseless and unrealistic, in remarks made on Saturday at a meeting with Tabital Fulaagu, a Fula cultural organisation.
“They claim that I joined other governments to steal oil from The Gambia,” Mr. Barrow said to the audience. Such an idea is illogical, even in a dream. With my vision for this nation, The Gambia would already resemble Dubai if we had oil.
The accusations were rejected by the president as political ploys meant to mislead the people. “These are the kinds of things that people invent sometimes when they have nothing else to say,” he continued.
Mr. Jammeh asserted in a recent audio message that Senegal has no oil reserves, claiming that France would have already taken advantage of them if it did. In addition, he asserted that his government had spent about $4 million on oil exploration in collaboration with a Canadian business, and that The Gambia possesses some of the greatest oil deposits in the world, on par with Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.
However, President Barrow seemed unconcerned by the charges, indicating that his priorities continue to be national development. He asserted that they would never regain power if their prayers were heard and oil was discovered. “I’ll put in so much effort that they won’t dare reveal their faces.”
