Written by Pa Nderry M’Bai

The leader of the opposition party GANU Sheikh Tijan Hydara has a fallout with the exiled Gambian dictator Yahya Jammeh, as the delusional Kanilai monster, has asked Hydara to step aside as the flag bearer for the newly formed political merger between GANU and Jammeh’s rebellious splinter group APRC group, a leak audio in the possession of the Freedom Newspaper has revealed. Jammeh, who communicated his erratic decision through one Yaya Tamba, has instructed his splinter group APRC faction to rally support behind Mama Kandeh of the opposition Gambia Democratic Congress Party (GDC). The two parties have formed a merger and Kandeh has been selected as flag bearer of the merger.

In the leaked audio,  Yaya Tamba, who is a native of Sinteh, could be heard explaining to one Habib Gibba, about what transpired at a hotel, where Mama Kandeh, and Sheikh Tijan Hydara were present when Jammeh was talking to him on the phone on line from Equatorial Guinea.

According to Tamba, Hydara wasn’t pleased when he heard Jammeh saying that he (Hydara) should rally behind Mama Kandeh together with Jammeh’s splinter APRC group.  Hydara, he went on, became angry and wanted to respond to Jammeh, but Tamba wouldn’t want to take that risk because he said, he feared Hydara disrespecting Jammeh on the phone. Tamba then suddenly hung up the phone on Jammeh. Jammeh later texted Tamba and asked him why he disrespectfully hung up the phone on him. He then told Jammeh that he doesn’t want Hydara to disrespect him because Hydara was flared up with rage upon hearing Jammeh’s statement. Jammeh then told Tamba that he should have allowed Hydara to speak his mind. Jammeh vowed that if Hydara had misbehaved on the phone, he was going to tell him something that he will never forget for the rest of his life.

Tamba says Jammeh wasn’t convinced that Hydara was the right person to lead the two parties in the coming elections. He cited Hydara’s lack of support base. He says Hydara is running a party without a proper executive and structures across the country.

With the GDC, Tamba says the GDC is a well-structured political party, which has MPs in parliament, and councilors across the country. He also said the GDC is heading the Kuntuar Area council and have been sponsoring candidates across the country during elections.

Tamba says it makes more sense for the splinter APRC group to team up with the GDC than allowing the GANU leader, who doesn’t have a strong support base to lead them in the coming polls.

He says during their interactions with Hydara, they have noticed that Hydara doesn’t have followers. He said Hydara is often accompanied by two or three people during their past meetings.

According to Yaya Tamba, Jammeh wasn’t kind with Hydara when he (Tamba) spoke to him via the phone. He said Jammeh wasn’t compromising on his proposal for the APRC splinter group to leave the GANU merger to team up with the GDC.

“Jammeh said whether Hydara wants it or not, Mama Kandeh is going to be the flag bearer. He said Hydara can leave if he doesn’t respect his decision,” Tamba told Habib Gibba.

Hydara then abruptly left the meeting in protest. He refused to comply with Jammeh’s proposal to team up with the GDC.