The Tribune

By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

THE Free National Movement is moving ahead with plans to ratify businessman Dionisio D’Aguilar in the Montagu constituency, the seat currently held by Richard Lightbourn, according to several sources within the party.

Fuelling reports that Mr Lightbourn has already been notified of the party’s intent to venture in a new direction with the Montagu seat, a source with knowledge of the party’s selection process said the FNM had “zeroed in” on the Super Wash owner and was “preparing plans to get him in and going in the coming weeks.”

When contacted for comment on the claims, Mr D’Aguilar said there has not been any indication by the party up to this point that it had decided to move ahead with him as a candidate.

He said while it remains “common knowledge” that he has submitted himself for consideration as a candidate, he was still awaiting the party’s decision as to if and where he could stand as a candidate.

“There hasn’t been any indication by the party, to me, that they have finalised any plans for me. Until that happens, I am still just one of many vying for a candidacy,” he told The Tribune.

Asked directly if he had been offered the Montagu constituency, Mr D’Aguilar said: “Wherever the party places me as a candidate I would devote my attention and effort.”

Meanwhile, former Deputy Prime Minister Frank Watson called Mr D’Aguilar a “good addition” to the party when asked about plans to have the businessman ratified in Montagu.

Mr Watson insisted that Mr D’Aguilar, from the strength of his business acumen and civic presence, could be an asset for the FNM in “any constituency you place him in.”

On Friday, The Nassau Guardian reported that Mr Lightbourn would not receive a nomination from his party for the upcoming election, quoting the parliamentarian as stating: “I’m not going to be a candidate for the FNM.”

However, in an interview with The Tribune on Thursday on the sidelines of the FNM’s recent mini rally, Mr Lightbourn indicated that no decision had been made, and that he and the party were still “hashing some things out.”

Mr Lightbourn was one of the six MPs behind a scathing letter that called into question the leadership capabilities of FNM Leader Dr Hubert Minnis.

Many political pundits have speculated that this act could hamper the bids of all six MPs moving forward – and of the six, only Long Island MP Loretta Butler-Turner has been ratified as a part of the party’s 2017 candidate slate.

Two of these MPs – Neko Grant and Theo Neilly – have confirmed that they will not offer themselves for re-election, while another, Dr Andre Rollins said he would consider accepting a nomination if offered one by the party. This comes after Dr Rollins said he would not seek a nomination if Dr Minnis remained leader of the party.

Another source within the FNM has suggested that Mr Lightbourn’s blunder during his speech at the FNM’s national’s convention in late July cost him a nomination.

Mr Lightbourn, on the second night of the convention while attempting to offer a solution for the country’s rising crime trends, proposed state-sponsored sterilisation of unwed women with more than two children as an anti-crime initiative.

The FNM immediately distanced the party from the Montagu MP’s proposal, stating that the party did not believe in restricting the reproductive rights of anyone.

The FNM source claimed the party viewed that blunder as “too big a hole to climb out of.”

“Those comments will never go away and no matter how much the people in Montagu approve of (Mr Lightbourn), those comments will cost us votes in every other constituency as long as he remains a candidate,” the source claimed.

The FNM ratified four more candidates last Thursday - Mrs Butler-Turner, former Deputy Commissioner of Police Marvin Dames for the Mount Moriah constituency, former Democratic National Alliance (DNA) Chairman Mark Humes for the Fort Charlotte constituency and local entrepreneur Walt Saunders for the MICAL constituency.

Party Chairman Sidney Collie last week indicated that to date the party has been busy vetting roughly 140 potential candidates.