Abdourahmane Diouf slams Ousmane Sonko: ‘we have no use for a fake guide’

Reacting to the debate on constitutional revision during the press conference of the Diomaye Président coalition, Minister Abdourahmane Diouf reminded that no one will be able to destabilise Senegal while Bassirou Diomaye Faye is at the helm of the country. He stated that the head of state had, as early as 2024, provided guarantees regarding the preservation of institutional stability and social peace.

The minister also revisited the 2024 electoral sequence, asserting that Ousmane Sonko was at the time favourable to a postponement of the presidential election, before eventually supporting the candidacy of Bassirou Diomaye Faye during the campaign. According to Abdourahmane Diouf, the president of the National Assembly is now distancing himself from that dynamic, going so far as to accuse him of having ‘betrayed’ the head of state and of engaging in ‘political manipulation’ in the context of the institutional reforms under discussion.

Furthermore, the minister stressed that previous presidents, although also having a parliamentary majority, had not used that position of strength to modify the Constitution in the direction now proposed. In his view, if that had been done earlier, current political actors would simply not have been able to defend the reforms they now advocate.

Abdourahmane Diouf was particularly aggressive towards the president of the National Assembly, Ousmane Sonko, reminding him that in the past he had presented himself as the ‘guardian of the revolution’—a posture he considers incompatible with the responsibilities he now holds at the head of the Assembly. ‘We have no use for a fake guide…’ he hurled.