Ousmane Sonko is no longer at his residence in Keur Gorgui. He was arrested and then placed in police custody at the Sûreté urbaine for having “violently stolen the mobile phone of a female police officer whose vehicle had broken down near her home”. which he disputed. Sonko claimed he was being filmed and the person he accuses allegedly refused to delete the video. The Coalition Yewwi askan wi and the Pastef party are calling for mobilization.
By Malick GAYE –Ousmane Sonko, the leader of the Patriotes, was arrested yesterday. According to the Dakar Public Prosecutor’s Office, “he violently stole the cell phone of a female policeman whose vehicle had broken down near her home, and immediately called the People, by a subversive message leaked on the networks social, to be ready”. A version that the principal concerned does not seem to share. Indeed, in a tweet, Ousmane Sonko said: “Coming back from Friday prayers, the General Intelligence agents posted in front of my home 24 hours a day started filming me. I personally snatched the phone and asked the person to unlock it and delete the images they took, which they refused. “Currently, a strong team of the gendarmerie is keeping watch in front of my home, as you can see, and seems ready to break down the door”, informed the “Patriote” in chief. Before indicating: “I also remind you that these same Fds stole goods from me consisting of 4 cell phones, a MacBook Pro computer, my weapon with the relevant authorization, a suitcase containing clothes and a sum of two million CFA francs, during my kidnapping in Koungheul.”
Placed in police custody
On this, the Public Prosecutor’s Office instructed the Urban Security of the Central Police Station of Dakar “to open without delay an exhaustive investigation for various counts of misdemeanors and crimes against him and all other persons involved”.
According to Me Cheikh Khouressy Ba, one of the lawyers for the leader of the Pastef party who made a post on his Facebook page, Ousmane Sonko is “held in custody for stealing his phone and calling for an insurrection”. Offenses which were brought to (their) knowledge and at (their) insistence by Commissioner Bara Sangaré, head of urban security at the central police station, who came to question Ousmane Sonko, adds Me Ba in his document.
In his press release, the public prosecutor affirmed that “for some time, it has been noted against Mr. Ousmane Sonko, acts, declarations, writings, images and maneuvers on several media and in various circumstances. These elements, in addition to the heavy consequences on public order, the integrity of persons and property, constitute criminally reprehensible acts”.
Call from the Pastef party to the “resistance”
Pastef did not wait to react. “After a 55-day illegal confinement, President Ousmane Sonko, candidate of Pastef-Les Patriotes in the presidential election of February 25, 2024, continues to suffer the relentlessness of Macky Sall,” reads a press release. Which demands the immediate release of their leader. The Pastef-Les Patriotes party calls on “Senegalese to constitutionally resist these abuses and tyrannical excesses, and asks all party structures to mobilize without delay to defend and protect the candidacy of President Ousmane Sonko”.
It is the same speech that the opposition coalition of which Ousmane Sonko is a member, Yewwi askan wi (Yaw), held. She denounced “an umpteenth drift of an authoritarian and violent power”. Before calling “the people to remain mobilized and attentive to their next directives. Respect for the rights of President Ousmane Sonko cannot be the subject of any concession”.
mgaye@lequotidien.sn