A former Chief Justice of The Gambia, Emmanuel Fagbenle, yesterday, earned the Kwame Nkrumah Outstanding Merit Award for his role in decolonisation and entrenchment of democracy in Africa.
The award was instituted in honour of former President of Ghana, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, who was a proponent of African unity and Pan Africanism.
Fagbenle, who presided over The Gambia’s presidential election petition in 2016, maintained neutrality and declined to upturn petition instituted against President Yahya Jammeh.
Coordinator of Kwame Nkrumah Vision Alive Movement, Dr Felix Okonkwo, said: “During the heated political impasse in The Gambia, he (Fagbenle) discouraged any unconstitutional political solution, including interim governments, because of his staunch belief in democratic process, especially in a nascent democracy like Gambia.”
Fagbenle, in 2009, was appointed a High Court Judge of The Gambia, and later elevated to the Court of Appeal in 2012. He became President of the Court of Appeal in 2014 and was appointed Chief Justice of The Gambia in 2016.