The coup plotter

part II

After carefully patching up Lt Sanneh's wounds, the medical officer started throwing insults to his patience, whom he accused of being very ungrateful.



"H.E. promoted you people and made you what you are today but you young boys have betrayed him. You want to overthrow. Do you think we will allow you young boys to succeed," the man said.

Lt Sanneh started to protest his innocent and that the medical officer should call his superiors so that he could explain to them, but was told to shut up.



Sometime around mid-day, Lt Sanneh's cell was opened again. This time, five heavily armed entered and escorted out into the back of a waiting military pick-up. More soldiers jumped into the back of the pick-up and as it headed towards Banjul, one soldier wearing a balaclava placed his foot on his temple while the others started kicking and insulting him.


When they got to the Mile Two Prisons, the prison gates were immediately opened and the vehicle passed through. When it stopped, five men carried him to a prison section he recognized immediately as the maximum security wing. Thinking that he was about to be executed, he said a silent prayer. A prison warden open the door of a dark cell and Lt Sanneh was thrown in and the door was bolted.
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Around 2pm that afternoon, a rumors of another coup started spreading fast like wild bush fire across the Greater Banjul Area.



At Eight O'clock that night, families gathered around their television sets to watch the GRTS news......

Good evening and welcome to the news, I am Neneh MacDoull-Gaye presenting. Soldiers of the Gambian National Army this morning foiled a coup plot organized by some elements of the Gambia National Army led by State House commander Lt Landing Sanneh and Lt Almamo Manneh, a Logistic Officer at State House.



As the pictures of the two Lieutenants were displayed, the newsreader continued....Lt Almamo Manneh was killed on the Banjul-Serrekunda Highway. Lt Manneh was on his way to Banjul on the early hours of this morning to mobilize some support when his car was intercepted on the way by a group of soldiers. He refused to surrender and open fired at the soldiers who were sent to arrest him. There was a shootout in the process of which he lost his life.



Lt Sanneh on the other hand, the newsreader said, refused to come out of his house when the soldiers when to arrest him. He refused to surrender and started shooting at the soldiers. When the soldiers insisted to carry out their orders, Lt Sanneh threw an explosion at them. The soldiers returned fire and in the process, he sustained some injuries which are said to be not life threatening. He is currently helping the authorities in their investigation.



The Department of State for Defense wishes to inform the general public that the situation is under control and there is no need for panic.
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Minutes after the arrest of Lt Sanneh and the killing of Lt Manneh, many soldiers believed to be close associates of the two men were arrested while at work or in their homes.


The following morning around 9, Lt Landing Sanneh was pick-up from his Mile Two cell where he spent a sleepless night on the concrete floor. He was driven under heavy escort to the NIA headquarters in Banjul for question.



With handcuffs on his hands, he was ushered into an interrogation room where he was met by team of interrogators from the NIA, military Intelligence and police. Among the men, he recognized Inspector Aziz Bojang of the police force and Pierre Mendy of the National Army.


His interrogators began by asking him about his involvement in a coup plot and what role he played. When he told them that he had no knowledge of a coup, the interrogators said he was lying. They promised to help him if he cooperate with them by giving them the information they need. A piece of paper was given to him to write a cautionary statement. His request for a lawyer was flatly turned down.



Still in handcuffs, Lt Sanneh managed to write a short statement in which he strongly denied taking part in a coup plot. His interrogators described the statement he wrote as rubbish and threw it in the bin.



They played a micro-cassette tape for him which they said was recorded during a clandestine meeting he had with some soldiers regarding the coup. Although the voice of the tape was not clear, his interrogators said it was him detailing the plan of the coup.


Lt Sanneh quickly denied taking part in such a meeting and that the voice in the tape was not his. Again his interrogators said he was lying.



By 2pm, his interrogators went for lunch. Before they left, they told him to make up his mind and say the truth or else they would deal with him. They reminded him that they have been very gentle with him because they knew each other since their days in the barracks.


When they returned, their mood changed. They became hostile. And when he wrote the same statement denying any involving in a coup, the NIA director-general, Muniru Darboe told him cooperate with the interrogators and save himself from suffering.



That evening, Mr Darboe was schedule to have a meeting with the President in Kanilai. President Jammeh who was expected to make a televised statement was residing in Kanilai at the time as his offices in Banjul were being renovated.

Realizing that Lt Sanneh was refusing to cooperate, some of the his interrogators pulled out their pistols and threatened to kill him. They told him that they would kill him like a dog and no one would say anything to them.



When he told them that he don't know what to write as he knew nothing about the coup, his interrogators said they have all the information about the coup. The information they said was passed to them by Lt Sanneh's deputy commander at State House, Ousman Sonko. Sonko was said to have been among the ring leaders of the coup but later changed his mind.

His interrogators told him that hence he claim to knowing about the coup, he should write down their version of the coup plot. This was dictated to him by Inspector Aziz Bojang. Writing down was being dictated his interrogators told him was the only thing that will keep him alive.



When he finished writing what was being dictated, the interrogators asked him to sign it. When he refused they got mad and started torturing him. One of the men pushed the pistol into his mouth, and threatened to blow his brain.



Realising that his interrogators were serious with their threats, Lt Sanneh agreed to sign the statement. A man sitting in the waiting room was brought to be an independent witness. With his hands shaking, he appended his signature at the bottom of the paper and told the interrogators that the weakness of a man is not in his hands but in his mind.

With the results he wanted held firmly in his hands, Muniru Darboe, took the front seat of his car, which his driver started immediately. They were on their way to Kanilai.

In Kanilai, President Jammeh was briefed about how the men's planned to execute the coup and how it would have resulted in many deaths and destructions. With anger, he addressed the Gambian people.