Split!              Written by DO    
   
      Friday, 03 February 2006 
   
      The National Alliance for Democracy and Development (Nadd) reportedly broke up on Wednesday with the pulling out of the United Democratic Party (UDP) - the largest component party in the alliance.
  According to sources, the rupture occurred after Nadd’s high profile meeting on Wednesday when it was expected to finally select a leader. Sources further indicated that after weeks of internal wrangling over the selection of a standard-bearer for the party, the largest opposition party felt belittled and disappointed over the rejection of its leader, Ousainou Darboe in his bid to be Nadd standard-bearer. Insiders at Nadd said UDP had always argued that its leader should be given the chance to contest under the Nadd, given the fact that he heads the largest opposition party in the country. “Wednesday was the final meeting for Nadd over the selection of a standard-bearer. We decided that we will either have our leader, Lawyer Darboe taken as standard-bearer or we say bye to them. Nadd is Nadd because of UDP and without UDP, there is no Nadd. I know they will deny this fact but the prove of the pudding is in the eating. Let them go on their own and we go on our own. Can we accept
 people who do not even have parties per se to lead us? This is ridiculous. We better allow President Jammeh to win the election than allow an election of joke where foolish and greedy politicians will use us to achieve their selfish needs. Let it all end and in fact, we hope to join hands with a party that is stronger and more serious than those other parties that do not even have agendas,” a senior member of the UDP told this paper yesterday.
   
  According to our source,  Nadd’s numerous meetings were nothing but gatherings of hypocrisy, as there was a certain party that wanted its member to lead when it did not even have another party to second his nomination. He said even though that particular party failed in their bid to get their nomination seconded and for that matter, the nominee had to withdraw under the grounds that he was not seconded, they could not still say which other candidate they wanted to support. “They remained neutral and silent. This shows you the type of double standard and hypocrisy they play. It also shows you that they don’t have confidence in any other party or people but themselves. If that is the case then let them be on their own,” he said. Sources have also hinted to the Daily Observer that two camps had emerged in the coalition. The UDP is reported to have been supported by NRP while the PPP goes with Ndam. “But one interesting thing is that there is no only a split in Nadd but there seems to
 be another one in NRP because one of the NRP representatives in the executive committee gave his backing to Ousainou Darboe (of UDP) while the other gave his own to Omar Jallow (of PPP). So the whole thing is mixed up. In fact, the meetings had been marred by bitter quarrels and arguments about who should lead. “One thing that is important to make clear is that UDP did not even make any nomination, but because of our majority, we only presented our leader as the Nadd flag-bearer which the others refused to pay heed to,” the top UDP man added.
   
  Until the time of going to press, the UDP had not officially announced their withdrawal from Nadd, but it has been confirmed that, yesterday, they had had series of meetings with their members country-wide, at their bureau in Banjul with regard to the situation and stance of their party. It has not also been confirmed whether the NRP has pulled away from Nadd with UDP or not. Some UDP supporters who spoke top the Daily Observer yesterday were casting venom on the other members of Nadd describing them as being ungenuine and unserious. Similarly, the other side of Nadd has also described UDP as a power-hungry group that does not have the interest of the country at heart.
   
  Reacting to the development, Fatoumatta Jahumpa-Ceesay, a nominated member of the National Assembly and top member of the APRC, said: “This is not a surprise to me. I have always predicted that Nadd would fall like carded wool because they were just a marriage of convenience comprising of people with different ideologies. How do you think they can succeeded. In fact, the amount of hatred and in-fight they have within themselves is more than the one they have for my party. So they have never been a threat to us and for that matter, we were more than comfortable,” she said adding, “this is the first sign of their merciless defeat in the coming elections. I am hereby emphasising my call for Gambians not to take these people serious and continue their support for President Jammeh in his quest to keep the development momentum rolling.”
   
    Last Updated ( Friday, 03 February 2006 ) 
		
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