President Bola Tinubu is set to attend the inauguration of 44-year-old Senegal’s president-elect, Mr Bassirou Faye as substantive president in Dakar on Tuesday at the invitation of the West African country.
His spokesman, Mr Ajuri Ngelale, stated on Monday in Abuja that the president would leave Abuja for Dakar on Tuesday.
Tinubu, Chairman of ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Governments, will join other regional leaders at the event.
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He would be accompanied on the trip by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar and other senior government officials.
The president is expected to return to Nigeria after the conclusion of the inauguration, Ngelale stated.
Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar Faye, commonly known as Diomaye, is a Senegalese politician and former tax inspector.
Faye was born on 25 March 1980 in Ndiaganiao, in the western department of M’Bour, Senegal.
He is the general secretary of the banned party PASTEF and won the 2024 Senegalese presidential election in place of disqualified candidate Ousmane Sonko
He went to primary school in his village and then undertook middle and high school in Mbour. In 2000, Faye earned his baccalaureate. He successfully attained a master’s degree in law in Dakar Cheikh Anta Diop University and subsequently cleared both competitive exams, enrolling at the National School of Administration of Senegal (ENA) and the magistracy in 2004. After graduation, Faye opted to become a tax inspector in the Tax and Estates department, where he befriended Sonko, a fellow alum from the same school. In 2014, Faye and Sonko’s relationship grew closer in the Taxes and Estates Union, created by Sonko, the leader of newly founded PASTEF. During his time at the head of the union, Faye campaigned to facilitate homeownership for tax and property agents.
After uncertainty over the possibility of Sonko being a candidate in the presidential election, PASTEF endorsed Faye in November 2023 as its candidate for the 2024 presidential election, despite him being detained. However, PASTEF had been banned several months earlier, meaning he was running as an independent. On 20 January 2024, the Senegalese Constitutional Council published the final list of candidates for the presidential election and Sonko did not appear there after several legal battles. Faye’s candidacy was validated because he was never convicted although remaining detained. Sonko quickly announced his support to Faye for the election.
On 15 March 2024, a day after Faye’s release from jail, he gathered hundreds of supporters at his first public appearance as a presidential contender. Former president Abdoulaye Wade and his Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) endorsed Faye on the same day, in a boost to his chances of winning election. The move came after PDS candidate Karim Wade was disqualified from contesting the race because he was a dual citizen at the time he submitted his candidacy. Cheikh Tidiane Dieye, another candidate in the presidential election, withdrew in favor of Faye.
During the presidential campaign, he has promised to create jobs, campaigned strongly against corruption, and vowed to reexamine energy contracts. He ran under the slogan “Diomaye mooy Ousmane”, which means “Diomaye is Ousmane” in Wolof, and expressed hope that Sonko’s charisma and popular appeal amongst Senegal’s youth would boost his campaign. Faye’s program is similar with Sonko’s for 2019. During the campaign, Faye released a declaration of his assets and called on other candidates to follow suit.
