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By Omar Bah
Ousainu Darboe has rejected recent assertions by President Adama Barrow that Darboe’s wife tried to dissuade him [Barrow] from contesting for the presidency in 2016 on the grounds that Gambians no longer supported the UDP.
Speaking recently on GRTS, the president revealed: “Mai Ndure [Mr Darboe’s wife] even urged me to withdraw my candidacy in the 2016 presidential election in favour of Dr Isatou Touray, arguing that the UDP could not secure victory at the polls.”
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Responding to the allegations in an interview with The Standard, Mr Darboe explained: “With all due respect to the high office that the president holds, I think that is a false statement particularly saying that my wife said that Gambian people don’t like the UDP. Nothing can be further from the truth than that. Because of the position he holds, I will not use other words or adjectives to describe him but just to say that, that is false. It is not true. It is far from the truth.
“My wife never called… Look, at that time, I was in prison. My wife’s concern was how I would be out of the prison. My family’s concern was about how to look after the welfare of people who were in prison with me. So that was absolutely false. And I am disappointed that the president can go and face the nation and engage in spreading falsehood. I am really disappointed about that.
“But I am not surprised because whenever Mr Barrow faces the media, he tries to create a mystery about himself. He wants to show himself as a mystical figure; that he is that type of person that he is not. The truth is that in November 2017, on a Sunday, I met him at his residence in Fajara because somebody was trying to mediate between us. And he mentioned that my family did not want his presidency. I said to him I think he was being misled by people who were poisoning his mind and I told him it was Alkali Conteh who told him what he was telling me.
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“I told him Alkali Conteh was poisoning his mind about me meeting with people trying to create a group. I told him yes, I met with some people and I will continue to meet with people as long as they can give us ideas on how to run the affairs of the party. I told him that Alkali Conteh mentioned specifically to him about Sheriff Gomez who was a minister under Yahya Jammeh but he [Conteh] failed to mention to him about Njundu Fatty who was his best friend and has done a lot of good things for him. They were all in that group,” Darboe fumed.
