By Omar Bah
The National People’s Party has said no degree of “irresponsible political brinkmanship” will stop President Adama Barrow from contesting the December presidential polls.
The party’s comment came as a reaction to Momodou Lamin Sedat Jobe, a former foreign minister and now senior member of the UDP, who asked the president not to contest the election.
The NPP condemned Mr Jobe’s comments as “ridiculous and lacking all sense of political logic”.
“No sensible person with a sense of reasonable judgement will make these kinds of comments given all what is at stake. This demonstrates that Dr Jobe’s age has not brought him too much wisdom,” NPP deputy spokesperson Seedy Njie told The Standard yesterday at the party’s headquarters, Churchill’s Town.
Njie said Dr Jobe has “passed his sell-by date and is intellectually confused”.
“You can sense that Dr Jobe is still angry with the president because he didn’t renew his contract as ambassador to France. But the president’s decision not to renew his contract was a result of his ineffectiveness. He couldn’t offer anything meaningful and I want to tell him and his UDP folks that the NPP has given its back to the politics of rhetoric. We are focused and only interested in the politics of development,” Njie said.
He said Dr Jobe’s comments are purely based on “nepotism”. “I can tell you with confidence that he has no sympathy for President Barrow. But Dr Jobe and his UDP cronies will be disappointed in December because President Barrow will win in a landslide. There is no doubt about that,” he said.
Njie further stressed that Dr Jobe’s claim that people around the president are misguiding him to contest the election despite knowing very well that he cannot win “is inaccurate and laughable”.
“But overall, his comments have once again demonstrated how panicked and confused the UDP camp is heading to the election. He is simply telling Mr Barrow that they know he is going to win but they want him to give them a chance,” Njie said.
The former APRC nominated parliamentarian said President Barrow “is focused on the task of achieving his development agenda and has no interest whatsoever in listening to empty political rhetoric coming from the UDP camp”.
“Barrow is aware that the Gambian people are behind him and would not waste time listening to ungrateful people like Dr Jobe who have nothing to offer. This is a guy who was going around begging for Jammeh to reinstate him as minister when he was fired and even when his term expired as ambassador he lobbied for President Barrow to renew his contract,” he claimed.
