The Gambia’s president, Yahya Jammeh’s decision to ignore a call to hand over power peacefully by the Economic Community of West African Communities was following in the footsteps of other presidents within the region, human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, has said.

In a statement on Sunday, Mr. Falana said Nigeria’s Muhammmadu Buhari and Ghana’s former president, John Mahama, lack the moral right to ask Mr. Jammeh to hand over because they ignored rulings handed down by the ECOWAS court last year.

Mr. Jammeh, who came to power in a bloodless coup in 1994, suffered a surprise defeat in the hands of Adama Barrow in the December 1presidential election.

After initially accepting defeat, the incumbent Gambian president, who had ruled the country with an iron fist, reversed his position and called for fresh election.

The ECOWAS in an emergency meeting in Abuja last month set up a Mediation Team co-chaired by Messrs Buhari and Mahama to ensure a hitch free political transition programme in The Gambia.

But Mr. Jammeh has sworn not to hand over power or quit office.

Although ECOWAS is deliberating deploying troops to force Mr. Jammeh out of office if he clings to power beyond January 19, 2016, the head of the regional body, Liberia’s president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, told journalists on Saturday that they would continue to pursue a peaceful mediation and transfer of power.

“While urging President Jammeh to hand over power peacefully and allow the Supreme Court of The Gambia to determine his election petition in line with the rule of law we call on both Nigeria and Ghana to also respect the rule of law by complying with the judgments handed down last year by the Community Court of Justice which indicted them for the abuse of the human rights of two community citizens,” said Mr. Falana, a senior advocate of Nigeria.

PT