By Omar Bah
The NPP National Assembly candidate for Basse Constituency, Saikou Bah, has denied ever being arrested for collecting D5 million from natives of Basse in exchange for diplomatic passports. Bah is responding to a massive social media campaign he said is mounted by political opponents to smear his name.
He was also accused of bribing the NPP selection committee with D150, 000 to be selected as candidate.
Reacting to the allegations in a Standard exclusive yesterday, Mr Bah said: “I have not collected a single dalasi from anybody in exchange for diplomatic passports. That doesn’t even make sense because I have no authority whatsoever to issue diplomatic passports. The allegations are just meant to tarnish my reputation.”
On allegations that he bribed the NPP selection committee, Bah responded: “The NPP Basse primaries was transparent and free from influence. Delegates cast their votes in a secret ballot. I was just lucky to be elected. I have not given money to anybody because even if I wanted to, I don’t have money to give out.”
He said if the selection was not fair, those who lost during the primaries would not have joined his campaign.
Relation with First Lady
On his alleged family relationship with the First Lady, Mr Bah said: “The only relationship I share with the First Lady is we are all from Basse and coincidentally, we are both Bah. But we are from different families and our mothers are not related except from Adam.”
