The Gambia government has dismissed report that former President Yahya Jammeh is on his way home. 

The government said the report widely shared on social media was “baseless” and that it had “provoked anxiety and tension among members of the public”. 

“The misinformation has given rise to acts of deception particularly, among supporters of the former President, who have been terribly misled to believe in these fairytales over the purported imminent return of former President Yahya Jammeh,” Ebrima Sankareh, government spokesman said in a statement.

“The public is reminded that former President Jammeh’s asylum in Equatorial Guinea is an ECOWAS/AU arrangement. 

“Under these arranged diplomatic circumstances, the host country is obligated to ensure that the former President remains in Equatorial Guinea until agreed and decided otherwise by the parties in consultation with The Gambia Government.

“The Gambia Government hereby assures the public, members of the Diplomatic and Consular Corps, that Mr. Yahya Jammeh remains in Equatorial Guinea and rumours of his recent flight to Guinea Conakry as well as his planned return to The Gambia are meritless tales being peddled by detractors. 

“In the same vein, The Gambia Government urges those detractors to desist from rumour mongering and spreading of false information calculated to cause public anxiety and undue alarm.”

President Yahya Jammeh has been living in exile in Equatorial Guinea since he lost the 2016 election to President Adama Barrow. 

Reporting by Adama Makasuba