Exiled former president Yahya Jammeh has said “even frogs know now they’re no longer safe” in a country he ruled for 22 years.

In a leaked What’sApp audio Jammeh, who was in a telephone conversation with top APRC executive Rambo Jatta from his base in Equatorial Guinea, made the damning assessment of the security situation in The Gambia.

“Even the frogs now know that they’re no longer safe in the Gambia,” Jammeh said in the leaked audio.

“I think even the frogs know what we have done in The Gambia,” he added.

Jammeh urged his party supporters to be law abiding but should “stand to defend themselves at any extent if they are attacked.

“So, if anybody says that 22 years we have been suffering, just say that you have 100 more years to suffer,” the former president said.

Mr Jammeh, a former army officer, seized power in a coup from his predecessor Sir Dawda Jawara in July 1994 and ruled for 22 years. He was driven out of office in January 2017 by a regional military force after he refused to handover power to an opposition coalition following a shocked election defeat.

Jammeh’s human rights record has been seriously criticised by the international community, as his regime was characterised with extrajudicial killings, torture and disappearances of political opponents.

Reporting by Adama Makasuba