Yaya Tamba, Leader APRC “No To Alliance “
By Buba Gagigo
Yahya Tamba, leader of the APRC breakaway faction, No-To-Alliance, has released an audio in which he distanced his group from rumors making the rounds that they have some kind of understanding with the NPP, saying, they have not designated anybody to talk to the NPP on our behalf.
“Any member has his or her opinion to express, but with the executive, we have never designated anybody to talk to NPP on our behalf not from the executive, nor from any member of the APRC militants. Therefore, I want to assure every APRC Babili Mansa militant that there is no way that we can affiliate ourselves with NPP without the consent of Babili Mansa and we all know the NPP political party and NPP government is our worst enemy,” Yahya Tamba said.
The No-To-Alliance leader went on to assure his militants that they are contesting the forthcoming Local Government Elections on their own. That they have not made any alliances with either the opposition or the ruling party.
“We have never been engaged by any opposition political party or NPP Government for either reconciliation or teaming together for the upcoming chairmanship and Mayoral elections. We know we are an opposition party and we know we can stand by ourselves based on the strength and abilities that we have and we are struggling to the best of our abilities to ensure the APRC Babili Mansa survives.”
Mr. Tamba added that under his leadership, he will not allow his group to be blindfolded by the NPP;
“I cannot lead the APRC to be blindfolded by the NPP as they did to Fabakary. My leadership is not the type of leadership that I would go into oral verbal discussions or agreement. I shall never on Earth mortgage this party for any interest. If there is going to be any agreement, I want to assure you all that it has to be documented, Signed by the head of the party, and witnessed by the court of law. In the event that there is a default, we will sue anybody in court,” he said.
Kerr Fatou reached out to the spokesman for No-To-Alliance to ask who and what Mr. Tamba was reacting to, he told us it is not a response to anyone in particular, but a reassurance against the rumors making the rounds that they have a silent alliance with the NPP.
It is pertinent to point out that Kerr Fatou, has in possession an audio message from Hon. Amie Colley of Foni Berefet, in which she could be heard alluding to some kind of understanding between No-To-Alliance and the NPP.
“NPP is behind us and we are behind NPP, there is a secret and we working together and we crawl together. If you are the opposition, be a wise opposition and that’s why I brought a lot of projects in Foni Berefet and I still have more to come. Even yesterday i got a project to bring solar lights and roads in Foni Berefet. Even yesterday an NPP minister called us, I don’t want to leak the secret but is a discussion to benefit you, people. We had a lot of discussions for Ceesay (Seedy Ceesay) to win” she stated in the audio.
She went on to say that the NPP contingent in parliament works with them (No-To-Alliance), hand and glove to get things done
“NPP is not close to anybody more than the Foni MPs. They discuss with us, they tell us their secrets, There is no issue between us and NPP. The five National Assembly Members of Foni went to visit President Barrow, do you know what we discussed? Then sit down and let us work,” Hon. Amie Colley said.
Hon. Colley’s statement was widely criticized by the supporters of the APRC “No-To-Alliance” within and outside of the Gambia.
APRC “No-To-Alliance” is a breakaway group from the Alliance for Patriotic Re-orientation and Construction (APRC) which refused to form a coalition with the president’s National People’s Party (NPP). They regard President Yahya Jammeh as the Supreme Leader of the party.