The Nigerian Air Force, yesterday, airlifted 200 personnel to Senegal in a bid to enforce the outcome of The Gambia’s December 1 presidential election where the incumbent president, Yahya Jammeh lost to opposition Adama Barrow.
The Air force personnel will join troops of the Economic Community of West States in an operation to force defiant Jammeh to step down.
According to reports, the Nigerian Army, would airlift more than 500 troops on Thursday) to Senegal for the Gambian task.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Navy had on Monday, deployed its newest battle ship, NNS Unity to the smallest West African nation.
The troops’ deployment to Gambia, it was learnt, was a mandate of the Economic Community of West African States,ECOWAS, to enforce the results of the December 1,2016 presidential election in that country.
The Air Force personnel were airlifted from Kainji to Dakar in Senegal.
The troops, reports says, included the Special Forces, Combat Support Group, Technicians, Medical officials, among others, were airborne in the Hercules C-130 military transport plane.
Although, Jammeh has declared a 90-day state of emergency in the country and also got approval of the legislature to tenure extension for him just two days before he was supposed to hand over power, it is unclear if the latest development will force regional bloc ECOWAS to backtrack.
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