Georgetown, Guyana – August 30, 2025 – At Burnham Court on Saturday night, Nigel London, Prime Ministerial Candidate of the Forward Guyana Movement, used his final rally speech to directly challenge Aubrey Norton, the presidential candidate of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU).
London told supporters that while he never planned a career in politics, he was drawn into national life out of a sense of duty to ordinary Guyanese who felt abandoned. “Five years ago, when I stood by the Mackenzie market for the rights of my fellow Guyanese brothers and sisters, nothing called politics was in my head. What was in my mind was freedom for all Guyanese, justice for all Guyanese, the rights of all Guyanese being respected and us having value as a people,” he recalled.
But his tone sharpened when he addressed Norton by name. “I don’t throw shade. I call you by name. Aubrey had the nerve to come and say to Guyanese, ‘I’m qualified to lead you.’ Leadership is not seasonal. It’s intentional. Leadership isn’t by seasons. It’s by intent. Are you courageous enough to stand?”
London contrasted his own record of activism during the COVID-19 pandemic with what he described as Norton’s absence. He told the crowd how he would travel from Linden to Georgetown on his own, without security, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with citizens even when police began making arrests. “I drove my car, bought my own gas, no bodyguard. When I shop, I’m greeted by policemen all around. And when the police start arresting people, I stood with them,” he said.
The Forward Guyana Movement candidate insisted that leadership could not be measured by speeches or appearances but by sacrifice and consistency. “I watched over the years as one woman (Amanza Walton-Desir) kept standing and speaking. One person, one consistent voice. And I said, what in the world? How could you have this young lady talking so hard? And so many men are scared to talk? What’s the problem? Why we can’t get it right?”
For London, that example symbolized the type of courage and resilience he believes is missing from the country’s politics. “When you live in it for more than one year, there’s a courage that’s in you. There’s a grace, there’s a strength, and there’s purpose. ’Cause we never scared.”
He told supporters that the Forward Guyana Movement represented a different kind of politics, built on “strength, dignity, courage, passion and patriotism.” Unlike others, he said, his allies did not need to be begged to join struggles. “I didn’t have to call this young lady and ask her to please come and stand in line when they were shooting at people. I didn’t have to please her to join the teachers standing in the sun. She stood when her leaders ran.”
London closed his address by rejecting any notion that his party was too small to matter. “On this final briefing, it’s about Guyana’s understanding and us understanding. Forward Guyana Movement. We are not small,” he declared.
