{"id":39991,"date":"2023-08-01T20:42:42","date_gmt":"2023-08-01T20:42:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/banky-drops-presidential-ambition"},"modified":"2023-08-01T22:44:56","modified_gmt":"2023-08-01T22:44:56","slug":"banky-drops-presidential-ambition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/banky-drops-presidential-ambition","title":{"rendered":"Banky drops presidential ambition"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. <\/strong><\/span><b>Bankole Yao Jojo Ahadzie, the dreadlocked scientist and researcher working at the Medical Research Council, also called Banky, has dropped his presidential ambition.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>In 2021, Banky announced his bid to run for president but his candidacy was rejected by the Independent Electoral Commission after failing to meet the ten thousand required signatures for nomination. Since then, he has been quiet and even refused to entertain media interviews, insisting he wants to focus on his work.<\/p>\n<p>But speaking in a Star FM exclusive recently, Banky said he dropped his presidential ambition after realising that he doesn\u2019t have the numbers to make any impact in the country\u2019s political arena.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor me, politics is about being able to have a good number of people who understand your ideology and support you based on that. So, when I realised that I don\u2019t have the numbers because the Gambian electorate is not ready for the change that I am advocating for I decided to quit until such time that the Gambian electorate understands the meaning of politics,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Banky said he was shocked that despite weeks of selling his agenda, he couldn\u2019t even get the required ten thousand signatures for his nomination.<\/p>\n<p>Asked why he didn\u2019t join any of the political parties, Banky explained: \u201cWhen I announced my intention to contest for the presidency, some parties approached me but none of them was willing to incorporate my ideas. I will not join any political party that is unwilling to incorporate my ideology. I have my own opinion on how this country should be governed, and that must be respected.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He said the idea that people would have an opinion and want you to believe in it is misguided. \u201cEverybody is entitled to their own opinion, and the way I see things will be different from how others will see them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Asked about his controversial view that cannabis should be legalised and commercialised in the country, Banky insisted that any political party interested to work with him in the future would have to incorporate his idea that cannabis should be commercialised.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is my position that cannabis should be legalised in The Gambia just like it has been in other African countries. For me, if alcohol can be legalised, then cannabis can definitely be legalised,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>He said the economic benefits of cannabis outweigh the negatives.<\/p>\n<p>Banky said the opposition should come together in 2026 and unseat the NPP.<\/p>\n<p>He admitted that UDP leader Ousainu Darboe will make a good president but argued that he cannot understand why people are scared of voting for him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think he will make an excellent president, but I don\u2019t understand why people don\u2019t trust him, so because of that, I do not think UDP can win a presidential election alone,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\">Gambia<\/a> Follow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/\">Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. Bankole Yao Jojo Ahadzie, the dreadlocked scientist and researcher working at the Medical Research Council, also called Banky, has dropped his presidential ambition. In 2021, Banky announced his bid to run for president but his candidacy was rejected by the Independent Electoral Commission after failing to meet the ten thousand required signatures [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":39990,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[2355,2361,260],"class_list":["post-39991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-gambia","tag-gambia"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Banky drops presidential ambition - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Bankole Yao Jojo Ahadzie, the dreadlocked scientist and researcher working at the Medical Research Council, also call ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/banky-drops-presidential-ambition\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Banky drops presidential ambition\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Bankole Yao Jojo Ahadzie, the dreadlocked scientist and researcher working at the Medical Research Council, also call ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/banky-drops-presidential-ambition\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-08-01T20:42:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-08-01T22:44:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2023\/08\/sm_1690913232.82544.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"853\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/banky-drops-presidential-ambition#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/banky-drops-presidential-ambition\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Banky drops presidential ambition\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-08-01T20:42:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-08-01T22:44:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/banky-drops-presidential-ambition\"},\"wordCount\":488,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/banky-drops-presidential-ambition#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2023\/08\/sm_1690913232.82544.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Gambia\",\"Gambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/banky-drops-presidential-ambition#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/banky-drops-presidential-ambition\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/banky-drops-presidential-ambition\",\"name\":\"Banky drops presidential ambition - 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