Sheriff Mustapha Dibba (10 January 1937 – 2 June 2008) was a Gambian politician who was the 1st Vice-President of the Gambia (1970–1972) and also served as the country's National Assembly speaker from 2002 to 2006.
[1] When Gambia became a republic after the 1970 referendum, Dibba was appointed as vice president and continuing to serve as finance minister.
He resigned from that position on 15 September 1972, as a result from the butut scandal, which his younger brother Kutubo was arrested for smuggling Gambian currency and contraband goods to neighbouring Senegal in August 1972 and found to have working out of Sheriff Dibba's official residence, No.
He was arrested in August 1981, along with others NCP members and activists,[1] and incarcerated for his alleged involvement in the foiled coup attempt that year, but was freed after 11 months in detention in July 1982.along with others NCP members and activists,[1] A presidential election was held on 4 May 1982, months after a constitutional amendment instituting direct election of the country's head of state.
He was defeated by incumbent president Yahya Jammeh and placed fourth out of five candidates, winning 3.8% of the vote.
His detention was a component of a larger campaign against groups seen to pose a threat to Jammeh's authority..[1][4] Dibba himself was over 65 years old by this time and was therefore not eligible to run.