Captain Bubacarr Bah, of the Gambia National Army, has alleged that former General Saul Badjie, ordered him to stage a campaign of violence during the political impasse in 2016 to derail the transfer of power to the opposition Coalition led by Adama Barrow.

Captain Bah, an explosive expert, told the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission yesterday that General Badjie, a staunch Jammeh loyalist, ordered him to “plant explosives” around key installations including the Petroleum House and to “create fighting zones” in the Greater Banjul Area.

He said General Badjie, who is currently exile in Equatorial Guinea, told him that the opposition Coalition and others had connived with the IEC to rig the election and they were expecting foreign forces to invade the country.

“Saul Badjie told me that the coalition members are bent on revenge and vengeance. He gave me tasks to plant explosives at the GNPC and they will put the blame on them (coalition).”  

Bah said he refused the general’s order out of respect for the Gambian people who had voted decisively against the Jammeh regime.

“I told my officers that I am not going to follow this man because he has been here for 22 years and Gambians have voted him out.”

He said he was arrested and detained shortly after at the NIA Headquarters after attending a meeting organised by his commanding officer, Colonel Essa Tamba.  He added that he was detained along with Captain Demba Baldeh, Major Sidi Joof and Yusupha Jammeh and were only released after Jammeh left the country for Equatorial Guinea.

Captain Bah had earlier apologised to Omar Jallow or O.J, the former agriculture minister during the Jawara regime, for his role in his torture during his detention at the Fajara Barracks.

Bah, who was also an army instructor, said that on the morning of the coup, he saw officers of the army and gendarmerie running for their lives when the Fajara barracks was attacked by the mutinous soldiers.

He said he was arrested with other soldiers by Sana Sabally and Sadibou Hydara and taken to the Yundum barracks where they were detained for several days.
Bah added that after his release he returned to his former role as an instructor at the Gambia Army Training School.

Bah also recounted the event of 11 November 1994. He said the day should have been the passing out ceremony for a group of trainee soldiers but the barrack was attacked before the ceremony by unknown people who fired from different locations.

He added that he later realised that the attackers were the AFPRC junta leaders and their soldiers.