WIN will remain strong even if Azruddin Mohamed is extradited – party General Secretary

Last Updated on Sunday, 2 November 2025, 10:33 by Writer

General Secretary of We Invest in Nationhood (WIN), Odessa Primus on Friday expressed confidence that her political party would remain strong even if its leader, Azruddin Mohamed, is extradited to the United States (U.S.) to face fraud and money laundering charges.

“I have absolutely no concern about if the party will be losing a significant degree of strength going forward,” she said when asked by Demerara Waves Online News.

Ms Primus said WIN has a number of competent persons who had met and engaged supporters. She acknowledged that Mr Mohamed was the candidate whom “the people gravitated to the most”.

WIN contested the elections three months after its formation and won 16 of the 65 seats to emerge as Guyana’s major opposition party, relegating the People’s National Congress Reform-led A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) to the second spot with 12 seats.

Declaring that the U.S. grand jury 11-count indictment against the WIN leader was politically motivated, she said the party would not suffer financially if its leader loses his legal battle and is extradited to the U.S. to face trial. “If he loses all of his court battles here and is extradited, I want to believe that they are going to extradite Azruddin Mohamed, not his money and so I think we’ll be just fine,” she said.

The WIN General Secretary had also ruled out the likelihood of the Opposition Leader being drawn from either the 12-seat A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) or the one-seat Forward Guyana Movement.

Chairman of APNU Aubrey Norton on Friday refused to conclude whether or not WIN would lose its support if the Mohameds are flown to the U.S. to face trial for several financial crimes.

The WIN leader and his father, Nazar “Shell” Mohamed, who were sanctioned by the U.S. last year June, were arrested on Friday on the basis of an arrest warrant stemming from a U.S. extradition request to face trial for alleged wire fraud and money laundering. Those offences are allegedly linked to the shipments of gold and his purchase of a Lamborghini luxury car.

The younger Mohamed said he is a gold miner, not an exporter and he had never smuggled gold.

The Mohameds were granted bail pending a hearing concerning the extradition request. They are to return to court on November 10, 2025.