Former Gambian President Yahya Jammeh has issued a defiant statement asserting his continued authority over the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC), amid ongoing internal tensions within the party.

Speaking in a recorded address, Jammeh criticised recent executive meetings, describing them as ending in “acrimony” and vowing not to tolerate such discord.

“Every meeting of the executive ends in acrimony, and I am not going to accept it,” he said. “When I was there, no one dared to cause acrimony.”

Jammeh, who has lived in exile in Equatorial Guinea since 2017, insisted he remains in full control of the party he founded. “The discipline in the party that existed when I was there will be restored. It is the same APRC.”

He went on to dismiss any splinter factions or alternative groups using the APRC name. “The APRC is my party. No other APRC party exists legally. In fact, there is no other party except the one I registered in 1996,” he declared.

Jammeh issued a stern warning to those using alternative labels, such as “APRC No To Alliance” or “APRC Babili Mansa”.

“I didn’t register APRC No To Alliance. I say my APRC,” he said, adding that “anyone who wants a party, go and form a party, but APRC is out of the question.”

By Adama Makasuba