Ebrima Sorrie Bah Resigns From UDP, Returns to NPP to Support President Barrow

By Seedy Jobe

Ebrima Sorrie Bah, founder and commander of Operation UDP Laffah, has resigned from the United Democratic Party with immediate effect and announced his return to the National People’s Party, saying he feels an obligation to support President Adama Barrow during what he described as a difficult period for the president.

In a resignation letter dated Sept. 13, 2026, addressed to the UDP’s national administrative secretary and obtained by Kerr Fatou, Mr. Bah described his decision as “bold but necessary,” saying he wanted to support President Barrow, whom he described as his childhood friend and brother.

“I feel obliged to support the president,” Mr. Bah said.

Mr. Bah said he was a founding member of the NPP and previously served as secretary-general of Gambia for 5 Years and Peace Building, a pro-Barrow group that advocated for the president to serve his full five-year constitutional mandate during the political debate over the “Three Years Jotna” movement in 2020.

He said President Barrow should be helped to leave behind a strong legacy despite what he described as the political and socioeconomic challenges confronting his administration. Mr. Bah argued that he could not effectively pursue that objective while remaining in the opposition.

In announcing his departure, Mr. Bah expressed appreciation to UDP leader Ousainu Darboe, the party’s leadership and members of the Operation UDP Laffah national fundraising committee. He also thanked supporters in The Gambia and the diaspora who contributed financially to the group’s activities, including the purchase of an operational vehicle and assistance toward his wedding.

Mr. Bah said he had handed over the group’s Mercedes-Benz ML four-wheel-drive vehicle, registration BJL 3551Z, along with its road tax documents, insurance and keys, to Babanding Trawally, the UDP administrative secretary for the Upper River Region.

According to the letter, the vehicle is to be transferred to the group’s treasurer, Jabou Foon Sanyang. Mr. Bah said it was being kept at the residence of Sambou Fatty, the UDP chairman in Koba Kunda.

Mr. Bah also said that three years ago he helped mobilize thousands of supporters from the NPP to the UDP across Central River Region North, Central River Region South and the Upper River Region. He said he intended to return to those communities to explain his latest political decision.

He rejected the suggestion that his return to the NPP represented an abandonment of his stated opposition to injustice, corruption and unconstitutional conduct. Instead, he portrayed the move as a change in strategy aimed at supporting President Barrow while attempting to steer him away from people within his political circle whom Mr. Bah accused of acting out of greed and self-interest.

“I assure all Gambians that this move isn’t a defeat and departure from my hard-fought struggle against injustice, corruption and unconstitutionality,” Mr. Bah said, adding that he intended to pursue a “renewed strategy” of taking greater responsibility for supporting and advising the president.

Copies of the resignation letter were also sent to Mr. Darboe; Bully S. Jafunen, chairman of Operation UDP Laffah; and Haja Fatou Darboe, a representative of the group’s sponsors in Denmark.