By: Momodou Justice Darboe
Presidential adviser Dou Sano has said that nothing can prevent President Adama Barrow from seeking another term in office come 2026, adding that Muhammed Jah has the right to become Gambia’s President like any other qualified citizen.
“We [NPP] have one leader and that is President Barrow and nothing can stop him from seeking another mandate in 2026,”Sano emphasized as he reacted to report that President Barrowhad his eyes fixed on the Q-Group’s Chairman as thePresident reportedly worked on his retirement plan.
The presidential adviser was suspicious that the UDP might have been behind the report that President Barrow was devising an exit plan and had business tycoon Muhammed Jah in mind as his successor.
“How can you point finger at only one person among the many? This is a monumental allegation and it’s unwarranted,” said Sano.
“But we are aware of the ongoing succession tension [in the UDP] and they are saying that let us also come up with something as an equalizer so that we can trigger tension among them[NPP] but that would never be possible. It won’t work,” he added.
According to him, all the noises about Barrow’s report planned exit were baseless.
“What I want to tell you is that all these talks about succession are false. President Barrow never entertained discussions about his succession plan. He never gets near that subject with anyone,” maintained Sano.
He pointed out that steering the affairs of the NPP is a collective responsibility.
“Since President Barrow founded the party, he continues to work in mutual respect with party executives. So, for anyone to come out to say the President decided on something that has to do with the party’s future is baseless,” he stated.
According to him, the talk about Barrow’s reported succession plan came as news to the NPP and that it was a well-calculated move to gauge the party’s unity.
“But I want to tell them that we are united. There is no wrangling among us and we have no leadership crisis. Today, President Barrow is the only person we can call our flag-bearer. Apart from that, no individual had either informed the President or the Secretariat about his/her desire to run on an NPP ticket in 2026,” he explained.
Asked as to whether he would not be surprised to know that some NPP bigwigs were talking about the succession issue even before the story was published by The Voice, the presidential adviser said: “That would be a huge surprise to me but everyone is free to speak his/her mind. However, the party has a spokesperson and he officially speaks on behalf of the party.”
Sano pointed out that the utterances of other NPP members should be treated as their own opinions but that the most important thing to point out is that the Muhammed Jah “they are attempting to embroil in this reported succession issue is a Gambian”. He went on:“And, he has the right to seek a mandate from Gambians to lead this country. He is a business tycoon, who had immensely contributed to the improvement of the country’s economic and social wellbeing. He has a right to become President but he is not an NPP member. If at all he wants to be President also, Muhammed Jah is smart and should be able to achieve that but not through the President and the NPP.”
