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Book summary

Yahya Jammeh, Gambia's president from 1994 to 2016, rose to power in a 1994 military coup, initially promising positive change. However, he transformed into an eccentric dictator, forming alliances with controversial figures like Muammar Gaddafi and fostering connections with Cuba and Iran. Accusations of involvement in drug trafficking stained his regime. Surviving a 2006 coup attempt, Jammeh intensified oppression, silencing opposition, imprisoning journalists, and fostering a climate of fear. His extravagant lifestyle included a private estate worth $975 million, complete with a palace, luxury car collection, private mosque, and an exotic animal-filled orphanage. Jammeh's eccentricities reached new heights with claims of a divine mandate to cure diseases using a concoction from the Quran, leading to the dubious Presidential Alternative Treatment Program from 2007 to 2016.