Dakar (Senegal), March 15, 2024 – Dakar was thrown into celebration on Thursday night as opposition leader, Ousmane Sonko, and Bassirou Diomaye Faye, his anointed candidate, were released from prison.
The citizens poured out on the streets with motorists hocking their car horns following the release of the two policians from prison.
They will participate actively in the 24 March presidential election through a general amnesty granted them by President Macky Sall.
Sonko was former tax inspector before veering into politics.
He was the PASTEF candidate in the 2019 presidential election.
The next election has assumed a controversial dimension due to the reluctance of the incumbent president, Macky Sall, to leave office.
He has postponed the election from its due date to March 24 in an attempt to scuttle the election and run for another term.
The release of Sonko and Faye, has no doubt, heightened political tension in the country.
The country, regarded for its political stability since independence, has experienced some political turmoil in recent years.
The release of the two political leaders has set the stage for an interesting and keenly contested presidential election. (GBN)
