The APRC deputy spokesman Dodou Jah has said Jammeh’s return is part of the political deal the party struck with President Adama Barrow.

Speaking to Sen FM, Mr Jah said: “In a nutshell part of the agreement is to bring back the former president Yahya Jammeh and settle in the country in peace and in a dignified manner. 

“And secondly, part of the agreement is to pave way for national reconciliation. But when we say national reconciliation, many people’s minds go back to the [TRRC] commission and we didn’t say the commission shouldn’t happen because it was established by the law of the country and we are not above the laws of the country.

“Whatever the [TRRC] commission is doing we have no power over their affairs. That’s the responsibility of the government.

“And also, part of the agreement is to work with the Barrow government for the development of the country, because we have lots of projects at hand that we want to implement, but we cannot implement them because we are in the opposition.

“Among [the projects] is security which is something that interest us a lot and we have some good plans for it that once the country reconciled it will benefit it greatly,” he added.

Asked whether Jammeh has been informed about the alliance with Barrow’s party, Jah responded that ex-president Jammeh was fully aware of the coalition agreement, adding that the process of forming alliance with President Barrow started in 2018.

Meanwhile, he gave the reason for concealing the accord with Barrow saying “our reason for concealing the agreement is part of political tactics to win over our opposition who could capitalise on some of the agreement to score political points.”

Reporting by Adama Makasuba