Gambiaj.com – (BANJUL, The Gambia) – For years, the United Democratic Party (UDP) attacked President Adama Barrow and the National people’s Party (NPP) over their relationship with the APRC. They spoke as if any engagement with the APRC was a betrayal of victims and a complete abandonment of principle. Their supporters went on radio, social media, and political stages, painting Barrow as a man willing to sacrifice justice for politics.
Today, that same UDP is reportedly reaching out to the APRC “No-To-Alliance” camp, a faction many Gambians still see as being under the influence of former President Yahya Jammeh.
So, what changed?
This is the same UDP that spent years criticizing Barrow for talking to APRC members. The same UDP that tried to convince Gambians that working with the APRC was morally wrong.
Yet now, as elections draw closer and political calculations shift, the party appears comfortable opening the same door it once condemned others for entering.
That is the contradiction people are talking about.
Whatever the reason behind this sudden outreach, Gambians are unlikely to forget it so quickly.
The reality is that President Barrow never hid his position. He argued that APRC supporters are Gambians with voting rights and that national stability requires political inclusion, not endless division.
People may have disagreed with him, but his position was at least clear and consistent.
The UDP chose a different path. It turned the issue into a moral weapon against Barrow and the NPP. It used strong emotional arguments, often invoking victims and the painful memories of the Jammeh era whenever APRC–NPP cooperation was discussed.
Now, many Gambians are asking: “if talks with the ‘APRC No-To-Alliance’ camp are acceptable today, why were they unacceptable yesterday?”
And if the UDP can engage the APRC for political advantage, why was Barrow criticized so heavily for doing the same thing openly?
These are fair questions.
Politics is politics, and alliances are part of democracy. But leaders cannot preach one standard while in opposition and practice another when power is within reach. Gambians notice these things quickly, and they remember.
What makes the situation even more awkward for the UDP is that the faction reportedly being courted is not seen as the softer, anti-Jammeh side of the APRC. It is the “No-To-Alliance” camp, widely believed to remain strongly loyal to Jammeh.
This is the hard-line faction whose supporters often travel long distances to Kanilai just to listen to Jammeh’s WhatsApp audio messages.
That makes the UDP’s past outrage look less like principle and more like political strategy.
In the end, Gambians will decide what they respect more: consistency or convenience.
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