National Unity Party (NUP) leader Dr Lamin J Darbo, yesterday insisted that his party’s recent agreement with Unite is independent of the CMTC Coalition process that on Saturday selected Talib Bensouda as its presidential flag-bearer.
While confirming the party will keep negotiating to stitch together a single coalition capable of unseating President Adama Barrow in December, Darbo described the NUP–Unite pact as a distinct arrangement with a different decision‑making mechanism and rejected suggestions it was linked to the CMTC endorsement.
“We have a different mechanism. The two are not connected,” Darbo told The Standard, stressing that his party will “continue to negotiate because Talib is also participating in different other mechanisms seeking to build a consensus for a coalition.”
Darbo’s comments come after a flurry of opposition talks and overlapping endorsements that have raised concerns among anti‑Barrow forces about fragmentation ahead of the December election.
On Saturday the CMTC, one of several opposition platforms, formally endorsed Bensouda, a development that prompted questions about how multiple rival alliances might reconcile competing flag-bearers.
Darbo, a celebrated lawyer, acknowledged the proliferation of platforms including APeX, led by PDOIS veterans Halifa Sallah and Sidia Jatta seeking to bring the opposition together.
“Let’s say Talib is also endorsed by APeX. What would you do then? So, when that happens the only thing we can do is try to reconcile,” he said.
Darbo confirmed that he was in touch with Talib moments after his endorsement by the CMTC.
He added that Bensouda “is free to do whatever he wants”, underlining that the NUP intends to preserve negotiating room rather than bind itself to any single opposition process.
Recent months have seen several parallel initiatives aimed at producing a single anti‑Barrow challenger: the CMTC, Team Gambia, APeX and smaller groupings have been engaged in overlapping talks. The NUP’s pact with Unite, announced earlier this month, was presented by both parties as a step toward building a broader front.