President Adama Barrow of Gambia has rejected the resignation of Justice Minister, Mr. Abubacarr Tambedou.

It was reported that the president is apparently persuading the minister to retract his decision to resign over an argument involving his elder brother.

The minister handed in his resignation as his brother Sheriff Tambedou was entrapped in an argument over a leaked audio in which he was heard talking to the wife of a former spy chief and eight others who are on trial for the murder of election reform activist Solo Sandeng in April last year.

The elder Tambedou has withdrawn himself from the case as a state prosecutor following heavy criticism and spirited calls for his resignation.

Amie Bojang-Sissoho, President Barrow’s press aide said that Ba Tambedou’s resignation was rejected on the grounds that the Gambian leader still has enough trust and confidence in him to handle the country’s justice portfolio, despite the controversy surrounding his elder brother.

Highly-placed sources in government claimed Tambedou has since retracted his offer of resignation after a meeting with President Barrow on the issue.

The Tambedou brothers were reportedly concerned about a leaked audio of a private conversation between Ndura Badjie, the wife of detained former spy chief Yankuba Badjie and Sheriff Tambedou as prosecutor.

What appeared to be Sheriff Tambedou’s voice could be heard saying his brother; the Justice Minister was deisturbed by the idea of prosecuting the case.

The audio quickly went viral, sparking debates on social media, with Gambians calling on Sheriff Tambedou to recuse himself from the case given that his integrity has been compromised.

His resignation as prosecutor was announced on state media on Tuesday.

Mrs. Badjie has not commented since the audio went viral.

Yankuba Badjie and co was accused of carrying orders from former president, Yahya Jammeh in a spate of killings with political opponents and journalists among the victims.

Some remains were unearth months ago as investigations opened into alleged crimes committed through the course of the past 22 years when Jammeh was in power.

NAN