Captain Martin Moves Into Fort Bullen, Major Njie Redundant
By Ebrima G. Sankareh
In what can be described as apparent readiness to repel a perceived Senegalese threat, we at The Echo can reveal with absolute certainty that Captain Alhagi Martin, the Commander of the Kanilai Training School has moved into Fort Bullen, 7 sea Miles off Banjul with a team of Commandos.
According to unimpeachable sources at State House Cpt. Martin (a.k.a. Lagos) and Lt. Kawsu Camara (a.k.a. Bombarde) two of the most brutal henchmen of the regime have moved into Fort Bullen four days ago.
In a related development reveals our source, Major Sereign Modou Njie, Commander of the Presidential Palace has been left redundant after all his keys to the armory and other major stores and offices were seized by President Jammeh and handed to Major Musa Jammeh (a.k.a. Malia Mungu) nicked-named for that callous hit man in Idi Amin’s Uganda. Major Modou Njie who was among those credited for leaking the failed coup of March 2006 is a former colleague of Jammeh in the defunct Gambia National Gendarmerie created after the bloody rebellion of July 30, 1981. In 2000 while in joint military exercises with soldiers from Guinea Bissau at the Palody Firing Range in the North Bank Davison, an accidental mortar explosion ruptured his belly and caused Njie severe intestinal injury. Two Guinean soldiers died in that accident. Instead of sending him for overseas treatment, laments our source, Yahya Jammeh left then lieutenant Modou Njie to die. Says our source, Njie was fortunate to secure a US visa and was admitted to a New York hospital where he went through numerous surgeries. After his private treatment, Njie returned to The Gambia and continued his life as a soldier. He was promoted to the rank of a Major in the aftermath of the March 2006 coup debacle allegedly led by now fugitive Army Commander, Colonel Ndure Cham.
According to our sources, most of the soldiers at State House are both panicky and confused ever since the government of Yahya Jammeh made public statements about a potential Senegalese invasion. This they say was further compounded with the recent seizure of five Gambian trucks in Senegal. “My brother what we need now is prayers because the entire army is in a heightened state of alert” reveals a source.
Asked what they think led to Njie’s redundancy, our sources say while he may be loyal to Jammeh, it is more probable than otherwise, that he may not be willing to do nasty things that the trio-Martin, Camara and Jammeh have been notorious of. “Major Modou Njie is a very religious man and no one can link him to any murder or operation leading to the loss of human life and we are therefore, not surprised that he is being push aside” says a highly placed source in the army. Reveals our source, “Major Njie himself is confused because since the Senegalese problem began, the President only deals with Major Jammeh and like the rest of the junior soldiers, Major Njie is totally clueless.”
Reveal our sources, Captain Baboucarr Sanyang (a.k.a. Red Carpet) of Bushra village is the Commander of the Kanilai State House. Twice, Jammeh’s Government detained Sanyang. First, he was accused of conspiracy to overthrow his government. In November 1994 he was detained for a prolonged period accused of conspiring with the late Basiru Barrow and in the arrest of Captains Sana Sabally and Sadibou Haidara, Baboucarr Sanyang was detained at Mile II Prisons. Thereafter, as 2IC at the Presidential Palace in Banjul, President Jammeh once accused Sanyang of stealing a piece of red carpet hence the nickname Red Carpet. He was moved from State House following the Red Carpet saga and once again, he is back as the Commander at Kanilai. Sanyang is really a survivor and it remains to be seen what the future holds for Captain Red Carpet.