Jammeh, it’s understood, received millions from Libya’s then leader Momar Gaddafi for the release of Baba Jobe.
Jobe was apprehended, trialed and allegedly killed by a government he helped secure international recognition whom he would eventually fall out with.
A bosom of the erstwhile Libyan ruler, Gaddafi appealed to Jammeh during his 2009 visit to the Gambia and reportedly gave him millions for the release of Baba Jobe – a thing the then Gambian leader agreed to but purportedly never implemented.
“Gaddafi gave a lot of money to Yaya Jammeh for the release of Baba on Libya’s Independence Day. Not long later Gaddafi got into trouble in Libya. Gaddafi died about a month later Baba was killed,” 45-year-old Tida Jobe, wife of Baba, reveals today to Gambia’s truth and reconciliation committee.
Revealing how Jammeh’s mother Aja Asombe Bojang gifted Baba’s family money up until the former parliament majority leader’s burial, Tida said she was virtually rendered homeless as government operatives pursued her.
Narrating lengths she went to in efforts to appease Jammeh for the release of her partner while serving his 7-year prison term to extent of bribing prison wardens and their boss David Colley, Tida said, her 9-year-old son would be arrested and interrogated at the state secret agents headquarters over properties of her would-be late husband.
Baba Jobe, in testimonies heard by the ongoing investigating commission, was poisoned at his prison cell and suffocated to death in his hospital bed by the previous government’s henchmen.
The Karantaba-born fell out with the then regime leading to his trialing on economic crimes and denial of release even after he’d finished his term amid concerns Jammeh feared his dealings could be exposed should Baba leave prison alive.
