APP-Sobeyaa slams Deputy Speaker’s ‘tribal’ audio, arrest of GALA members
In a statement Sunday, APP-Sobeyaa said the office of Deputy Speaker “is not a tribal office. It is a national office” and its occupant must “rise above parochial loyalties.” The party demanded Njie publicly clarify the remarks and apologise. “Silence or dismissal will only deepen public anxiety and reinforce perceptions that tribal considerations are creeping into the governance architecture of our Republic,” the party said. APP-Sobeyaa also took aim at President Barrow, saying the “growing number” of senior officials and advisers using “demeaning, tribal, and bigoted remarks” suggests “a troubling level of tolerance from the highest office.” “When public appointments begin to carry the perception of tribal calculation or partisan patronage, national trust begins to erode,” the statement read. “Nations do not collapse overnight; they fracture gradually when leaders abandon merit, fairness, and national cohesion.” The party invoked the National Anthem’s pledge to “join our diverse people,” calling it “a covenant for nationhood” that no Gambian should be “reduced to tribe before country.” APP-Sobeyaa further criticised the arrest and detention of GALA members at Westfield Youth Monument Friday, describing it as “heavy-handed policing” that evokes “painful memories” of past repression. “The right of citizens to assemble peacefully… is not a favour granted by the state. It is a constitutional right,” the party said. It warned that treating dissent as a threat would “betray the TRRC process and the sacrifices of victims.” The party called for the “immediate and unconditional release” of detained GALA activists and urged the IGP and Interior Ministry to exercise “restraint, professionalism, and strict adherence to constitutional principles.” “Democracy is not tested when government supporters gather freely. Democracy is tested when those critical of the establishment are also allowed to organise, speak, and assemble without fear,” APP-Sobeyaa said. The statement comes as the GALA detainees are due in Kanifing Magistrate Court. The NHRC has already flagged concerns over their arrest and detention conditions. “Our nation stands at an important crossroads,” the party said. “The politics of tribal division, selective justice, and shrinking civic space cannot build the democratic Gambia our people struggled for.”
Black News 
In a statement Sunday, APP-Sobeyaa said the office of Deputy Speaker “is not a tribal office. It is a national office” and its occupant must “rise above parochial loyalties.” The party demanded Njie publicly clarify the remarks and apologise.
“Silence or dismissal will only deepen public anxiety and reinforce perceptions that tribal considerations are creeping into the governance architecture of our Republic,” the party said.
APP-Sobeyaa also took aim at President Barrow, saying the “growing number” of senior officials and advisers using “demeaning, tribal, and bigoted remarks” suggests “a troubling level of tolerance from the highest office.”
“When public appointments begin to carry the perception of tribal calculation or partisan patronage, national trust begins to erode,” the statement read. “Nations do not collapse overnight; they fracture gradually when leaders abandon merit, fairness, and national cohesion.”
The party invoked the National Anthem’s pledge to “join our diverse people,” calling it “a covenant for nationhood” that no Gambian should be “reduced to tribe before country.”
APP-Sobeyaa further criticised the arrest and detention of GALA members at Westfield Youth Monument Friday, describing it as “heavy-handed policing” that evokes “painful memories” of past repression.
“The right of citizens to assemble peacefully… is not a favour granted by the state. It is a constitutional right,” the party said. It warned that treating dissent as a threat would “betray the TRRC process and the sacrifices of victims.”
The party called for the “immediate and unconditional release” of detained GALA activists and urged the IGP and Interior Ministry to exercise “restraint, professionalism, and strict adherence to constitutional principles.”
“Democracy is not tested when government supporters gather freely. Democracy is tested when those critical of the establishment are also allowed to organise, speak, and assemble without fear,” APP-Sobeyaa said.
The statement comes as the GALA detainees are due in Kanifing Magistrate Court. The NHRC has already flagged concerns over their arrest and detention conditions.
“Our nation stands at an important crossroads,” the party said. “The politics of tribal division, selective justice, and shrinking civic space cannot build the democratic Gambia our people struggled for.”
