Yahya Jammeh is a former Gambian politician who served as the President of the Gambia from 1994 to 2017. He came to power through a military coup in 1994 and remained in office for more than two decades. Jammeh’s rule was characterized by allegations of human rights abuses, suppression of political opposition, and a controversial leadership style.

During his presidency, Jammeh faced criticism for his authoritarian approach, including the restriction of press freedom, arrests of political opponents, and reports of torture and extrajudicial killings. In December 2016, he lost the presidential election to Adama Barrow, but initially refused to accept the results, triggering a political crisis.

After mediation efforts by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Jammeh eventually went into exile in Equatorial Guinea in January 2017. His departure marked the end of his long and controversial tenure as the leader of the Gambia. The new government under President Adama Barrow has since pursued efforts to address human rights issues and strengthen democratic institutions in the country.

Yahya Jammeh Quotes

1. “When your neighbor’s house is on fire, you should help with a bucket of water.”
— Yahya Jammeh

2. “Every Westerner is jubilating that the Berlin Wall has fallen. Something worst than the Berlin Wall is in Palestine; and nobody is talking about it.”
— Yahya Jammeh

3. “My fate is in the hands of almighty Allah. I will deliver to the Gambian people and if I have to rule this country for one billion years, I will, if Allah says so.”
— Yahya Jammeh

4. “Anyone who wants to live in peace and freedom will be to live by toil, demonstration of high levels of discipline and tolerance for one another.”
— Yahya Jammeh

5. “Despite all odds we have emerged as one people and one country.”
— Yahya Jammeh

6. “I have never seen homosexual chicken or turkey.”
— Yahya Jammeh

7. “What brought the British to the Gambia in the first place – which was bigger than it is now – was trade in ivory because the Gambia had a lot of elephants. They wiped out all the elephants and ended up selling Africans.”
— Yahya Jammeh

8. “I can cure AIDS, and I will.”
— Yahya Jammeh

9. “I will develop the areas that vote for me, but if you don’t vote for me, don’t expect anything.”
— Yahya Jammeh

10. “Our forefathers used to live longer and healthier lives.”
— Yahya Jammeh

11. “If you don’t show care and love for your children and leave the mothers to take care of all their needs, if they grow up, they will also not consider you.”
— Yahya Jammeh

12. “Apartheid was in South Africa; now it has been transferred to Palestine.”
— Yahya Jammeh

13. “As far as I am concerned, LGBT can only stand for leprosy, gonorrhea, bacteria, and tuberculosis, all of which are detrimental to human existence.”
— Yahya Jammeh

14. “May we be saved from evil thoughts and deeds of enemies of world peace who find pleasure in creating havoc and perpetrating all forms of carnage.”
— Yahya Jammeh

15. “Allowing homosexuality means allowing satanic rights.”
— Yahya Jammeh

16. “The missile that downed the Malaysian plane, they say, is a Russian-made missile. But the weapons that are used in the barbarism in the barbaric act against the Palestinians were made by the West, and nobody is blaming them. Nobody talks about it; not even the U.N. Security Council can pass a resolution against Israel!”
— Yahya Jammeh

17. “Homosexuality is anti-humanity.”
— Yahya Jammeh

18. “Some people go to the West and claim they are gays and that their lives are at risk in the Gambia, in order for them to be granted a stay in Europe.”
— Yahya Jammeh

19. “Homosexuals are not welcome in the Gambia.”
— Yahya Jammeh

20. “You cannot be in your offices every day doing nothing… and at the end of the day you expect to be paid.”
— Yahya Jammeh

21. “Today, the origin of 90% of all the edible food Gambians consume are from places they have never heard of.”
— Yahya Jammeh

22. “Most of the sicknesses we suffer from are from the things we eat.”
— Yahya Jammeh

23. “If I want to ban any newspaper, I will, with good reason.”
— Yahya Jammeh

24. “I am not a witch doctor, and in fact, you cannot have a witch doctor. You are either a witch or a doctor.”
— Yahya Jammeh

25. “I don’t believe in killing people. I believe in locking you up for the rest of your life.”
— Yahya Jammeh