Africa-Press – Gambia. Special adviser to the president and NPP youth leader Momodou Sabally has said there will be no united opposition front to challenge President Barrow in the December election because they are highly “divided, fractured and lost direction”.
“The opposition have lost their way. They don’t know which road to take. All these different factions, they want to come together but they cannot talk to each other. Instead, they are talking about each other, back and forth, quarrelling here and there. I am only focused on my president’s agenda and to tell you the truth we [NPP] are not their match and if they said this election is everything to them, how about us who are the incumbent? Government is sweet. I was in government, I left and I returned and we are not going to vacate this place,” Momodou Sabally said in an interview with US-based Gambian podcaster Nfally Fadera.
He said the opposition do not have the means to prevent a third term victory for President Barrow whose development he said is “unrivalled”.
“So, instead of a coalition of distraction, we just might see a coalition of development, peace, solidarity and national progress and that coalition will rally behind President Barrow,” Sabally said.
He dismissed as a “dream talk” the emergence of a third opposition force similar to Mamma Kandeh in 2016 which observers said could tip the balance in favour of UDP against NPP.
“Mamma Kandeh cannot be likened to Talib who cannot even register a party. So that third wave option is not going to happen. Essa Faal thinks he’s the most educated person, Talib thinks The Gambia is his patrimony. So we are not thinking of a third wave scenario. We are focused,” Sabally added saying the governing NPP is well-prepared ahead of the opposition parties.
“We already have our coalition, held our meetings, rolled out our strategies and our alliance partners and lawmakers have all embarked on their tours. We are ready to go and we are not just talking but bringing concrete deliverables to impact the lives of Gambians,” he added.
Sabally, a former UDP campaign manager dismissed his former party’s chances against Barrow, saying Talib’s departure has not strengthened but reduced the party to some extent coupled with other divisions within the opposition.
