The APRC chairman in Basse Constituencyhas corroborated the claim by the former National Assembly member for Basse Constituency, Hon. Sellu Bah, that his [Bah’s] defeat at the recent National Assembly election was caused by ‘serious undermining’.

Alhaji Banta Tunkara was speaking to this reporter in a telephone interview as the debate surrounding the loss of the Basse seat to the independent candidate deepens. He said there were ‘wolves in sheep clothing’ that undermined the APRC candidate, which, according to him, started since the selection period.

His words: “There were people who will go with us for campaign during the day and they will destroy everything at night. Those people know themselves. If you could remember at the Basse Area Council, the selection could not be done due to controversies surrounding the right selection committee and just imagine what happened, they informed the independent candidate [Magassy] that following morning that he was selected, which was not done as it should be because it was not done openly and transparently.” He added that they gave Magassy the hope and thereafter, he decided to contest as an independent candidate, but if not for that, he would have withdrawn.

Tunkara recalled that Lamin Waa Juwara, the minister of Local Government and Lands; and Yankuba Colley, the APRC national mobiliser came to Basse to plead with the independent candidate to withdraw. “When he [Muhammed Magassy] later realised that it was Sellu Bah who was selected for the APRC, he then decided to contest as an independent candidate,” he added.

Tunkara opined that the backing of the opposition UDP supporters for the independent candidate also affected Sellu’s fortunes at the polls. He described the loss as a great blow for the party, pointing out that the people of Basse witnessed tremendous developments during Sellu’s tenure.