Ousmane Sonko, Senegal's eternal opposition figure

DAKAR — By turns prisoner, prime minister and now president of the National Assembly, Senegal's charismatic politician and champion of pan-African sovereignty Ousmane Sonko has never lost his incisive way with words.

With his rise Tuesday to the top of parliament, Sonko became the country's second-most important political figure, and a counterweight to his former ally, President Bassirou Diomaye Faye.

The outspoken Sonko now slips back into the familiar role of opposition figure, where he made his career, following his firing as prime minister by the president on Friday.

He could prove a massive thorn in the side of his former right-hand man and strategist, Faye, now that their break-up is complete.

Seen as an anti-elite champion by some and a fiery agitator by others, Sonko, 51, waged a powerful struggle for several years during the presidency of Macky Sall (2012-2024), and gained a following among young Senegalese people.

A civil servant for 15 years, Sonko entered politics in 2014 with the creation of his party, Pastef.

He rose to prominence two years later when he was dismissed from his position as a tax inspector for denouncing the lack of transparency in certain public contracts and the privileges enjoyed by the political class.

In 2019, the anti-establishment firebrand finished third in the presidential election with 15 percent of the vote, far behind Sall's 58 percent.

His sovereigntist and pan-Africanist rhetoric, his diatribes against a "state mafia", a disdain for multinational corporations and his denunciation of the economic and political stranglehold he claims is exerted by France, the former colonial power, have earned him strong support among the country's young.

A father and polygamous husband with two wives, he presents himself as a defender of religion and tradition.

But charges brought against him for rape and death threats against an employee of a Dakar massage parlour in 2021 triggered a three-year political and legal saga.

Claiming a conspiracy against him, Sonko said he was being "persecuted by the Senegalese justice system like no politician ever has been".

His legal proceedings sparked nationwide protests and were brutally repressed by authorities, resulting in dozens of deaths between 2021 and 2024.

He was ultimately sentenced in absentia in the case in June 2023 to two years in prison for "corruption of a youth" under the age of 21.

However, he was acquitted of the rape and death threat charges.

The opposition leader was then arrested a few weeks later for inciting insurrection and other crimes and offences, unrelated to his sex scandal.

Ousmane Sonko (L) hands over to Senegal President Bassirou Diomaye Faye (R) and official report during a ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Dakar, on October last year when he was serving as prime minister. (Credit: AFP)

Ineligibility

But it was another conviction, for defamation of a minister, that led to Sonko's ineligibility to run for president.

The opposition leader spent several months behind bars, went on hunger strike and was only released thanks to an amnesty law, passed in March 2024, covering violence committed in the run-up to the election.

Unable to stand for office, Sonko propelled his second-in-command and behind-the-scenes strategist, Faye, into the presidential running.

The pair campaigned under the slogan "Diomaye moy Sonko", meaning "Diomaye is Sonko" in Wolof.

Ten days after the pair's release from prison, Faye was overwhelmingly elected president of Senegal at the end of March 2024, and promptly appointed his mentor Sonko as prime minister.

Despite his new role as head of government, Sonko never dropped his biting rhetoric, with some criticising him as unable to shed his opposition-figure persona.

Sonko continued to rally crowds of supporters while in office, including at a rally last November in Dakar that drew thousands of supporters and served as an opportunity to remind everyone of his popular legitimacy.

After months of tensions, however, the Diomaye-Sonko dream team ultimately succumbed to the pressures of power.

On Friday evening, Faye finally dismissed his troublesome prime minister, who was elected president of the National Assembly, where his party holds an impressive majority, just four days later.

Sonko Tuesday promised he would not use his new role "to orchestrate institutional chaos", but was quick to clarify that the National Assembly would also not become a "rubber stamp body".