By Tabora Bojang
UDP leader Ousainu Darboe has said people who are against party-led coalition or alliance which UDP is calling for are biased against his party because they would have opted for the same if they were the biggest opposition party in the country.
Addressing supporters in Janjangbureh yesterday, Darboe whose party reportedly withdrew from the on-going coalition talks, averred that UDP is still open to an alliance or a coalition but warned it would not allow the process to be “skewed”.
”UDP will not fall for any deception. We want to partner with everyone but nobody will deceive us. We want a fair and honest coalition or alliance, and will not take part in an alliance or a coalition that is skewed against us. I want all Gambians to understand that.
“Anyone who is interested in salvaging this country, in the avoidance of bias, should join the UDP. Those who don’t want to be led by UDP will take the same stance for a [party-led coalition] if they were in our position. Let us be clear that the UDP is never opposed to an alliance or a coalition. We know that there is strength in coming together but we want an alliance that is built on strong convictions and not just for convenience. Negotiations are still on-going and we are not bowing out, but we will continue advocacy and plead with people to accept our position,” Darboe said.
He called on supporters to continue their messaging and grassroots engagement adding that should “a coalition-led candidate” emerge, it behoves all to rally behind the candidate. He added that if there is no coalition-led candidate, UDP will go solo as it has been doing.
The UDP leader cautioned supporters to be mindful of purveyors of “deceptive messages” saying UDP has always stood for the national interest when most of those advocates were silent during the struggle against former president Yahya Jammeh. “Nobody can preach to us what the nation’s interest is. We saw the nation’s interest before some of you were born; we saw the nation’s interest at a time when some of you were hobnobbing with Jammeh and his associates and were calling us all sorts of names… So nobody can preach that to us. We saw the nation’s interest from yesterday. That is why we gave our backs to everything; to every comfort in order to salvage this country,” Darboe said.
