State House Insiders Say Gambia’s intelligence wing has admonished President Adama Barrow of very tense situations, fearing that some security personnel in the country might be part of agitations generally feared to be forthcoming. The embattled Gambian president, has been cautioned by his intelligence division NIA, now renamed SIS to be wary of high tension in the country that has potential to be violent, deeply-placed sources told forGambia Thursday.
The President was also briefed to caution his surrogates against using foul language against UDP leader Lawyer Ousainou Darboe as well as the gadfly Three-Years Jotna group. By November, sources say, the Barrow government is planning to shield the borders of the country so that certain activists may not be able to enter.
Sources continued that the Barrow government imbibes fears that some security personnel in the unhappy and estranged Gambia National Army might be joining agitations planned for December. Various sectors of the economy may suffer in the wake of mass uprising, a somewhat rehearsal of which was witnessed in last month’s youth rattlings in both Brikama and Serrekunda, the country’s largest commercial nuclei.
Earlier this week, reports said some 150 Gambian presidential guard soldiers were sent to Senegal for some training. In June, a similar undertaking was completed by the Barrow government when some French security personnel arrived in Kanifing, few miles outside the capital, for some crowd-control training. The bilateral efforts did not save Gorgui Mboob’s house from an arsonous mob. Mboob is police anti-crime skipper.
The NIA in a short but precise memo warned that the country’s political situation can turn into violence if the authorities fall short of exercising caution. “The situation in the country is very tense and we’re gathering intelligence that some senior security personnel are part of this movement,” insiders say.
The NIA also cited in the memo that the Three-Year Jotna is bigger than what is being circulated in the media. “They should not be underestimated,” the intelligence memo warned.
Just few days ago, this medium published a leaked information emanating from the statehouse in which Barrow is allegedly contemplating on resigning at the end of his promised three-year term. A circulated audio, not from our sources also showed presidential adviser Dodou Sano going verbal on Imam Ba Kawsu Fofana, who of late joined the preacher voice urging Barrow to honor his promise of three years—a topic inserted into the country’s religious discourse by this medium’s founder in segments of radio programs earlier this year.