*Tinubu, Other Leaders Witness Inauguration
SENEGAL’S newly elected President, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, on Tuesday, April 2, was inaugurated in Diamniadio, near Dakar, the capital city, making him the youngest leader of the French-speaking country since independence at 44 years old.
The previously little-known opposition figure, who ascended from prison to palace in just weeks, commonly known as Diomaye or ‘the honourable one’ in the local Serer language, won delayed election with 54 per cent of the votes in the March 24 elections, with a pledge to reform the country.
“Before God and the Senegalese nation, I swear to faithfully fulfil the office of President of the Republic of Senegal,” promising to “scrupulously observe the provisions of the constitution and the laws” and defend “the integrity of the territory and national independence and to spare no effort to achieve African unity,” he said at the ceremony.
The formal handover of power with outgoing President Macky Sall would take place at the presidential palace in Dakar.
Faye was released from prison less than two weeks before the election along with popular opposition figure and mentor, Ousmane Sonko, after a political amnesty announced by Sall. But Sonko was disqualified from running as a result of a previous conviction.
The election tested Senegal’s reputation as a stable democracy in West Africa, a region that has experienced coups and attempted coups, following unrest caused by the arrests last year of Sonko and Faye and concerns that Sall would seek a third term in office, despite constitutional term limits.
According to human rights groups,dozens of people were killed in the protests and about 1,000 jailed.
Faye campaigned on promises to clean up corruption and better manage Senegal’s natural resources and his victory was seen as reflecting the will of young people frustrated with widespread unemployment and former colonial ruler France, seen by critics to be using its relationship with Senegal to enrich itself, as in other African former colonies.
In his first speech as president-elect, Faye, a devout Muslim from a small town, has two wives, both of whom were present at the ceremony, promised to fight corruption and reform the economy.
The first contest by the former tax inspector, Faye was arrested and imprisoned for 11 months until his release just before last month’s vote.
At the time of his arrest, Faye was working for Sonko, also a tax inspector, and both were arrowheads of the union of employees of the tax office who were upset with injustice and disparities at the tax department.
In 2014, the firebrand, but soft-spoken Sonko created the African Patriots of Senegal for Work, Ethics and Fraternity (PASTEF), a political party that instantly attracted middle-class and management civil servants also frustrated and powerless as they watched their superiors steal the treasury dry with impunity.
Sonko came to reckoning by denouncing corruption in contracts for the lucrative oil and gas sector after natural gas reserves were discovered in 2014.
He was arrested last year on multiple charges, including provoking insurrection, conspiring with “terrorist groups,” endangering state security and immoral behaviour towards individuals younger than 21.
His political party was later banned by the government. With adequate funds from Senegalese in the Diaspora, especially in Europe and North America, who were also disenchanted with happenings back home, Faye and Sonko ran an American-style campaign, code-named “Diomaye- Sonko.”
Before the poll, the new leader released a declaration of his assets, including a home in Dakar and land outside the capital and in his hometown, and bank accounts totaling about $6,600, to show transparency and called on other candidates to do the same.
In attendance at the swearing-in ceremony was Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu and other regional leaders.
Tinubu, who is the Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Authority of Heads of State and Government, was accompanied on the trip, on the invitation of the Republic of Senegal, by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, and other senior government officials.
