By Buba Gagigo
Seedy Ceesay, the Administrative Secretary of the National People’s Party (NPP), has refuted claims made by The Voice Newspaper, which reported that President Adama Barrow might step aside for the 2026 presidential election in favor of Muhammed Jah, CEO of QGroup. Ceesay firmly denied the report, labeling it false.
Speaking to Kerr Fatou on Monday, Ceesay addressed the rumors about President Barrow allegedly grooming Muhammed Jah as his successor.
“It is completely false,” Ceesay remarked when asked about the published reports.
He reiterated that President Barrow remains the NPP’s candidate for the upcoming 2026 election, stating: “As far as the NPP is concerned, President Barrow is our candidate for 2026. Any leader must have a succession plan, and President Barrow often said that he wants to hand it over to an NPP government. As far as I am aware, Mr. Jah has never applied for NPP membership, and he is not an NPP member. Muhammed Jah is not affiliated with the NPP. He is a Gambian, like any other Gambian. He is a businessman like any other businessman. We know business people have an interest in supporting any government to implement their development plan, and Muhammed Jah is supporting the development plan of this government and, in fact, even the previous government. He is supporting the Government and is part of those Gambians who are creating jobs for Gambians,” Mr. Ceesay said.
Ceesay also expressed confidence that President Barrow will be the NPP candidate in 2026, dismissing reports from The Voice Newspaper suggesting otherwise.
“I can confidently tell you that we are not going to have a Muhammed Jah candidate but a President Adama Barrow candidate. That was declared a fourth night ago when he said he was going to have a rematch with his Godfather, lawyer Ousainu Darboe. As we speak right now, the NPP is working tirelessly to come up with the biggest campaign material and the biggest campaign slogan for the Gambian people,” Ceesay told Kerr Fatou.