Abdourahmane Diouf lashes out at 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 made it clear that no one will be allowed to destabilise Senegal as long as Bassirou Diomaye Faye remains at the head of the country. He stated that the head of state had, since 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 in favour of postponing the presidential election, before finally supporting Bassirou Diomaye Faye’s candidacy 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 the minister of having ‘betrayed’ the head of state and of engaging in ‘political manipulation’ as part of the institutional reforms under discussion.

The minister further stressed that previous presidents, although they also had a parliamentary majority, did not use that position of strength to modify the constitution in the way now proposed. In his view, if such changes had been made 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 he had previously presented himself as the ‘guardian of the revolution’, a posture he considers incompatible with the responsibilities he now holds at the head of the National Assembly. ‘We have no use for a fake guide…’, he declared.