Wade minister quits to join opposition leader
A file photo taken on February 12, 2007 shows Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade (Left) speaking with his campaign director Macky Sall during a campaign meeting in the northern city of Saint-Louis ahead of the February 2007 presidential poll. Mr Macky Sall got a boost after a key minister in President Wade’s government resigned and joined him in his campaign ahead of the March 25 run-off poll. Photo/AFP
What you need to know:
- Politician, who was responsible for presidential affairs, to help Sall in hunt for votes ahead of run-off election
DAKAR, Monday
Senegal opposition candidate Macky Sall got a boost after a key minister in President Wade’s government resigned and joined him in his campaign ahead of the March 25 run-off poll.
“We have decided to team up for the simple reason that Macky Sall, with whom I worked during his tenure as premier between 2005 and 2007, is an excellent successor to complete the wonderful works started by President Wade,” Adama Sall told reporters on Monday.
Adama Sall, who was senior minister responsible for presidential affairs and the spokesman for the presidential coalition, said his move comes after Macky Sall called him on Saturday, inviting him to join the presidential hopeful’s campaign.
The former minister said although President Wade created by decree the Matam region in the north of the country, where he (Adama Sall) and Macky Sall originate from, “the time has come for Wade to go and I am joining Macky Sall”.
He further said that he had decided to join Macky Sall as he was the only one among the opposition candidates capable of pursuing huge development projects — including the construction of schools and health centres, and opening up Matam.
Adama Sall on Monday led a delegation comprising Mohamed Thierno Ndjim and Thierno Belly Touré, who are dignitaries of the region, to officially rally the Alliance Pour la Republique of Macky Sall at his residence in Dakar.
So far, almost all of the opposition presidential candidates have pledged support for Macky Sall in the run-off.
In a related development, Senegal’s longest serving minister Djibo Leity Ka and the only one to break away from the opposition to back Abdou Diouf in second round elections in 2000 has again declared support for Wade this month. Ka has successively been a minister in the regimes of President Leopold Sedar Senghor, Diouf and the incumbent Wade.
Addressing the media on Friday night in Dakar, the leader of the Renouveau Socialist urged his party supporters to vote massively for President Wade in the second round poll “in a bid to give him his last mandate”.
“This is going to be President Wade’s last mandate and so he should be given the opportunity to lead us and complete his grand projects,” he said.
