The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

A VIDEO of prospective Nassau Village candidate Nicole Martin, which was spread on social media last week, is not an official FNM campaign clip, the former Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union president said.

Ms Martin told The Tribune she has not been ratified by the party as yet, however, she said the video was taken during a photoshoot for her potential political run.

The 41-second viral video opens with the words “No Retreat, No Surrender” and shows Ms Martin dancing to a song with the same name by dancehall artist Terror Fabulous.

She is dressed in FNM colours and standing in front of a photo backdrop and lighting. Then she speaks directly to the camera with her name and a caption that reads: “Prospective candidate”.

“I am Nicole Martin and I am ready to serve. Nassau Village, are you ready?” she says to the camera.

When contacted, the former union president said the video, while it has attracted attention for her dancing and poses, is not official messaging.

“If you watch the video you can see the flash going off. It was a photoshoot and it was intended, we were preparing a video for if and when I am ratified by the FNM to have a message to put out there... an official video,” she explained yesterday.

“And they were recording as I was dancing to that because that is a song that I used to use a lot in the union and we were just having a good time during the photoshoot. They recorded it and a video was put out. It really wasn’t intended as an official video. It is not an official video. It was more or less supposed to be fun as I understood it because it was out before I knew quite honestly.”

Before the video’s release, it was widely speculated that the former union leader would be a potential FNM candidate after Mr. Halson Moultrie resigned from the governing party earlier this month and is now serving as an Independent member of the House of Assembly.

Rumours swirled that Mr Moultrie resigned because he was told he was not getting the FNM nomination, however he has denied this.

The FNM recently put out a list of 17 ratified candidates, including 11 incumbents, but a Nassau Village candidate has not been named as yet.

Jamahl Strachan will be the Progressive Liberal Party’s candidate in that area.