From The Point


Dr. Jobe Is A Man Of Honour - Darboe

The Opposition coalition presidential flag-bearer, Lawyer Ousainou Darboe,
has congratulated Dr. Momodou Lamin Sedat Jobe for dumping his foreign
secretary portfolio with the Yahya Jammeh's government, describing him as a
man of honour, principles and integrity. In his words, Darboe said, "My
congratulations to Dr. Sedat Jobe for sticking by his principles. I have
always considered him as a man of honour, a man of principles and whatever
would not be in the interest of this country, he will not subscribe to it. I
congratulate him and certainly it didn't come to me as a surprise."

Darboe added, "I do not know the reasons for his resignation, but then
coming shortly after the order expelling the deputy British High
Commissioner, I believe that he must have considered that this was a major
foreign policy decision and really it was a wrong foreign policy decision
and he cannot support it and he resigned. And I think, that it is a mark of
a man of integrity and principle." On whether his recent call for Dr. Jobe's
resignation might have triggered his resignation, Darboe had this to say,
"Well not necessarily but when I made the call for him to resign, you know,
I had known that he was a man of principles. We all come from the same
place, you know. I have known him for several years. He is a kind of a big
brother, an elder brother to me.

Really, I believed he had a mission. I believed he wanted to see the Gambia,
at a top foreign policy level, that will be for the benefit of the country.
I think the right thing for him to do was to resign." Darboe added that he
asked Dr. Jobe to resign in order to assert his principle, pointing out
"which I am glad to say that he has done." Further asked what Foreign
Secretary Jobe's resignation meant for the Jammeh administration the
coalition leader said, "well, I cannot assess what effect it will have on
this government but I think one thing that is clear is that those who still
are serving with the Jammeh administration, should take a lesson from Dr.
Jobe, that if the government does anything or takes any decision that they
do not agree with, then the right thing is to resign, rather than hang on
and be gossiping on the sides. I think it would serve as a lesson to others.

The UDP leader told The point that the opposition coalition welcomed
anybody, who have the country's interest at heat. When told by this reporter
that, "Some people are saying that you don't visit your home village Dobbo,
because it is a taboo that if you visit your village, that might affect your
aspiration for the presidency. How do you react to such views?" In response
Darboe said, "Well you know these are superstition and I personally do not
believe in them, but "I belong to an organisation and I have to listen to
what others in the organisation say. After all my father was a member of the
House of Representative. He used to start his campaign from Dobbo and that
he has always been elected as a member of the House of Representatives.

But it is a superstition and people have really pleaded with me not to go
there." The coalition leader added, "but certainly, I have absolutely no
doubt that my going there and not going there does not and will not affect
in anyway my aspiration in becoming president of this country. It doesn't
affect it at all. Further quizzed whether he is implying that his party's
reservations made him not to visit his village any longer. Darboe had this
to say, "well, as of now, yes but then let me say that certainly I will
visit the place. Infact, in January, when the mosque was being opened, you
know, they had to literally dragged me out of the ferry, because, I was
crossing to go, because I thought this is one occasion which will never
happen again but I didn't want to miss it but I was literally dragged out of
the ferry." Reacting to Joseph Joof's latest pronouncement that he (Darboe)
is not eligible for presidency, Darboe said, "what I said, I think, is he is
demonstrating his ignorance of the constitution. It is as simple as that."





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