The Tribune

By SANCHESKA DORSETT

Tribune Staff Reporter

sdorsett@tribunemedia.net

FREE National Movement (FNM) Leader Dr Hubert Minnis said yesterday that - as far he knew - “no one” in his party offered Official Opposition Leader Loretta Butler-Turner any “seat” in the upcoming election, other than the Long Island one fore which she was ratified before the nomination was revoked.

Dr Minnis also defended his recent absences from the House of Assembly, saying “I am working hard to get the prime minister’s job”.

“I am out campaigning trying to get Prime Minister Christie’s job, you have a leader of the (Official) Opposition and she is in the House,” Dr Minnis told The Tribune.

His comments regarding Mrs Butler-Turner came a day after she revealed that she had an informal “conversation” with someone in the FNM but the talks fell apart when she was offered a seat other than Long Island.

In an interview on “The Real Deal” with host Ortland Bodie, Mrs Butler-Turner said she is still a member of the “FNM at heart” and she is only running as an independent in the next general election because she is “not able to run under” the FNM’s banner.

“Oh, I don’t know anything about that,” Dr Minnis said when contacted by The Tribune.

“As far as I know she was offered Long Island and ratified for Long Island but beyond that I am unaware. As far as I know, no one spoke to her,” Dr Minnis said.

When asked by the talk show host on Tuesday why she didn’t “put her pride to the side” and attempt to get back into the FNM’s fold, Mrs Butler-Turner said: “To be very honest we did have that conversation and the sad thing is, though it was not a formal conversation, they did not want to give me a seat that I have, the one that I am protecting.”

The Long Island MP did not say with whom the conversation was or what seat she was offered. She also said when it comes to retuning to the FNM “there is always hope”.

In January, Mrs Butler-Turner confirmed that her bid for re-election in Long Island would be as an independent candidate.

Shortly thereafter, FNM Chairman Sidney Collie said the minute Mrs Butler-Turner nominates herself as an independent candidate she will no longer be a member of the FNM.

Mr Collie had earlier said, according to the party’s constitution, any FNM member that runs against a nominated FNM candidate “automatically disqualifies” him or her from being a part of the party.

In December, the FNM appointed a three-person tribunal to decide the fate of Mrs Butler-Turner and the six other members of Parliament who ousted Dr Minnis as leader of the Official Opposition in the House of Assembly earlier that month.

The party accused the group of MPs of bringing the party into “disrepute, division, rancour and dishonour” through their actions.

The FNM’s council also withdrew Mrs Butler-Turner’s candidacy for Long Island and ratified Adrian Gibson, 32, an attorney and former Tribune columnist, for the seat.