Gambiaj.com – (DAKAR, Senegal) – Former Senegalese gendarmerie captain and leader of the Union pour un Sénégal Juste (USJ), Seydina Oumar Touré, has publicly blamed former Prime Minister and current National Assembly Speaker, Ousmane Sonko, for the growing rift with President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, arguing that it was the PASTEF leader who distanced himself from the head of state.
Speaking in an interview with Seneweb, Touré rejected suggestions that President Faye had departed from the ideals that brought the ruling coalition to power. Instead, he maintained that responsibility for the fallout rests with Sonko.
Faye Embodies the Change, Says Touré
Touré challenged the widely held view among some supporters that Sonko alone represents Senegal’s political “revolution,” insisting that President Faye has become the true symbol of the country’s political transformation.
“We changed a regime. If that is what a revolution means, then President Bassirou Diomaye Faye fully embodies it,” he said.
He recalled that during the 2024 presidential campaign, the coalition’s message consistently focused on electing Bassirou Diomaye Faye, arguing that it was contradictory to question his leadership after securing victory.
Touré also dismissed claims that Sonko single-handedly chose Faye as the coalition’s presidential candidate. While acknowledging Sonko’s influence, he said the victory was the result of the collective efforts of coalition members and what he described as “the hand of God.”
“The Guide Is President Faye”
The USJ leader further argued that if Senegal should recognize a political guide today, it should be President Faye.
“If there is a guide in this country, it is Bassirou Diomaye Faye,” he said, while praising Sonko’s decision to support Faye’s candidacy in 2024 as “an act of greatness.”
However, Touré warned against undermining that decision through the current political dispute.
He said he had no personal relationship with either Faye or Sonko before they assumed office but recalled that Sonko himself had spent considerable time publicly praising Faye’s qualities during the presidential campaign.
“They worked together for more than ten years. How can someone suddenly discover in just two years all the faults now being attributed to him?” Touré asked.
Criticism of Sonko’s Conduct
Touré also rejected allegations that President Faye is being manipulated by advisers.
“If Bassirou Diomaye Faye were as easily manipulated as some claim, then the first person capable of manipulating him would have been Ousmane Sonko,” he said.
According to Touré, Sonko bears primary responsibility for the deterioration of relations within the country’s top leadership.
He argued that, as the then Prime Minister, Sonko should have exercised greater restraint in his public comments about the president, even while serving as leader of the ruling PASTEF party.
Touré further accused Sonko of even exposing officials within the government instead of protecting them.
As an example, he referred to a visit by the prime minister to the holy city of Touba, where Sonko publicly mentioned several government officials by name before some of them were later summoned to the presidential palace.
According to Touré, this created the impression that the prime minister was seeking to demonstrate that he still exercised authority over key figures within the administration.
A polarizing intervention
Touré’s remarks have generated sharp reactions among supporters of both political leaders.
Some supporters of Sonko accused the former gendarmerie officer of betraying the prime minister, noting that many Senegalese, including PASTEF supporters, raised about CFA40 million to support him after he was dismissed from the gendarmerie.
Supporters of Touré have strongly rejected that criticism. They argue that it was Sonko’s conduct during the politically sensitive Adji Sarr case that led to the captain’s dismissal in the first place and credit Touré with having personally protected Sonko during the height of the Adji Sarr affair by urging him to revise his public statements on the matter.
Touré who was investigating the case, privately advised Sonko to change his initial public denial of knowing Adji Sarr after warning that evidence could contradict that position, a move they believe helped the PASTEF leader avoid greater political damage.
Touré’s intervention at the time came at direct cost to his own military career, and his backers argue that PASTEF loyalists who see all debts of gratitude as owed to Sonko alone are overlooking the captain’s role.
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