Ruling party deputy chief propagandist Momodou Sabally has contended that though Falang Sonko, Talib Bensouda and Aji Yam Secka claimed they were at the UDP leader’s residence in Kotu to seek his prayers for their weekend Niani political outing, the real reason behind their visit to “the great lawyer’s” residence was to convince him to join their Niani delegation.
Sabally said “the old gentle political sage declined their invitation”.
For Sabally, anyone thinking that the storm generated by the recent exposure of a fissure in the UDP has died down must think twice.
“No, it’s not over yet,” Sabally wrote.
The Brikama Area Council chair Yankuba Darboe recently denounced KM mayor Bensouda for allegedly hatching an elaborate scheme to have his picture on the ballot box come 2026 by supplanting the UDP leader. Yank’s denunciation of Talib followed an intense social media debate about whether the KM mayor or Lawyer Darboe is the right candidate for the UDP in the impending presidential election.
But the UDP leader issued a public statement hours later, announcing his intention to run for President in 2026.
Many had thought this must have restored calm to the UDP base and effectively put the flagbearer issue to bed, but Sabally said “the war” will break again in the UDP and it will grow in scale and intensity.
The NPP deputy campaign manager hinted that Bensouda’s presidential ambition will grow unbridled and he will move heaven and earth to get to the top of the UDP.
“This is why I say that the war in the UDP is not over and any statements claiming otherwise are just made to mask the ugly truth,” Sabally wrote. He further wrote:”Perhaps this will be one of the last statements I will make on this matter, but keep it in mind and thank me later.
“This war will be reignited by the end of this year and it will be nastier and uglier because the teddybear[Talib] will never relent in his grand betrayal scheme. It is what it is: the teddybear is messy!”
Sabally described the past weekend as interesting; “full of drama and subterfuge as the Iran-Israel war wages on here on the home front of our political theatre”.
“True to his colour, the teddybear pulled off another stunning smokescreen deceiving the unsuspecting members of his party and the clueless busybody bunch claiming expertise in a matter they got no clue about,” said Sabally, adding: “Talib went to Lawyer Darboe’s home at Niani, with a cast of artists to pull together an unsuspecting crowd for entertainment and movie shooting.
“He knows that his schemes have now been exposed and therefore he created another spectacle before leaving for that concert.”
According to Sabally, though Darboe declined the invite to join the Niani delegation, Talib has accomplished his objective.
“Darboe did not go, but the teddybear got what he wanted: images of Darboe purportedly endorsing his rally at Niani,” he argued. “The cameras were set and the shots on point.”
He further argued that at the Niani rally, “the cameras and spin-masters were ready again”.
“A thousand pictures and short videos shared to impress his target (including leading businessmen in Gambia and some politicians across the border).They even showed a bull that was donated to him; but what they did not narrate is that they were supposed to receive 3 bulls. How did they miss the other two? That is the real story and the evidence that the trip to Niani was actually a failure.”
“With their selected paid hand at Standard newspaper ready to give them the right headline, Talib stood at the podium and made that most hollow and deceptive statement that he would “never abandon Darboe”; and he made it straight to the front page where even President Barrow who launched our Republic’s first science and technology campus could not get the right space.”
For Sabally, despite the UDP supporters’ expression of gratitude to Talib during the Niani meeting for “re-assuring” them, what was evident at the meeting is that the young mayor is on war footing.
“The base rallied to thank Talib for ‘reassuring them’ and the followers claimed that unity had returned to the UDP. But the real knowers of the reality kept mute, knowing that Talib has asked them to bury the hatchet in this particular battle while he builds up his arsenal for the real war coming up soon,” he contended.
“And that is why I must borrow my sister’s slogan. She is not happy with me for a barrage of criticism I recently sent her way but am sure she won’t mind if I use this deep statement she keeps repeating of late: “atehbaila” (it cannot be averted). The slogan reminds me about the lyrics of the kora legend, Lalo Kebba, in his epic narration of the story of Ngansu Machine “hanee si minning minning nying kello teh baayi la” (no matter how long you go around in circles, this war cannot be averted).”
According to the NPP deputy chief strategist, Talib and “his patrons in his Talib Grand Betrayal Coalition (TGBC) know that there is only one solution to the ongoing internal feud in the UDP and that is to say exactly what chairman Yanks Darboe said”.
“Yanks has declared that his choice for the flag bearer of UDP in the 2026 election is Lawyer Dabroe. Any sincere person who knows the UDP will say exactly the same thing that Yanks said: Darboe is their best and nothing less. But Talib did not say that and neither would he do so. Even the deputy party leader and mother of the TGBC who used to say the same thing before, has now distanced herself from such statements for obvious reasons. This is why I say that the war in UDP is not over and any statements claiming otherwise are just made to mask the ugly truth,” stated Sabally.
