Hon. Seedy Njie, nominated member of the National Assembly, has reacted to comments by Mr. Dullo Bah, Campaign Manager of the opposition National Reconciliation Party (NRP) that his party has already identified a winning candidate to contest in the forthcoming by- election in Nianija constituency.
In an exclusive interview with The Point yesterday, the confident looking Hon. Njie, who himself hailed from Nianija, said such comments that the opposition NRP has a winning candidate are misleading because, as he puts it, the APRC as a party has done all the necessary preparations and are now waiting for the IEC to blow the whistle.
According to Hon. Njie, Nianija has been an APRC stronghold since the coming of the party in 1996. "As we speak now, the strength of the party is getting stronger and stronger. The APRC party is in full control of Nianija and come December 18th, APRC will emerge victorious," he said.
In Hon. Seedy Njie's view, no opposition party can challenge the ruling APRC in Nianija as the people of the constituency are so impressed with the level of development in their region that they will forever rally behind President Jammeh and the APRC party.
"It is going to be very difficult for the opposition to resurface in Nianija. Any opposition that wants to be humiliated or lose its deposit, may challenge the APRC because the people of Nianija like any other patriotic Gambians, are not fools," Hon. Njie noted.
He added that the total number of people that applied to contest under the APRC ticket in the forthcoming by- election is a clear indication of the growing strength of the party.
"The opposition are just shouting but when it comes to reality, they will even be short of candidates because the people of Nianija don't want to be disgraced," Hon. Njie stated.
It will be recalled that the opposition National Reconciliation Party (NRP), through its Campaign Manager, Dullo Bah, revealed that they will be taking part in the by-elections.
The election, slated for Thursday 18th December 2008, follows the expulsion of Mr. Dawda Manneh, the erstwhile National Assembly Member for the said constituency, from the ruling APRC party on whose ticket he was elected to the National Assembly.
According to Mr. Bah, the NRP party has already identified a candidate to contest the seat. He was however quick to add that it is too early to make known who that person is.