President Bola Tinubu will depart Abuja on Tuesday for Dakar, Senegal, to attend the inauguration of Senegal’s President-elect, Bassirou Diomaye Faye. A press statement by the Special Adviser to the President (Media & Publicity), Chief Ajuri Ngelale on Monday, said the president’s trip is at the invitation of the Republic of Senegal.
President Tinubu, who is the Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Authority of Heads of State and Government, will join other regional leaders to witness the inauguration at the Diamniadio Exhibition Centre. He will be accompanied on the trip by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, and other senior government officials.
The President is expected to return to Nigeria after the conclusion of the inauguration.
From prison to President of Senegal
Propelled to power from humble roots despite never holding national elected office, Senegal’s president-elect Bassirou Diomaye Faye defied the odds by promising radical change and being guided by a charismatic mentor. Commonly known as Diomaye, which means “the honourable one” in the local Serer language, he won the March 24 presidential election with 54.3 percent of the vote just 10 days after leaving prison.
His anti-establishment message, the backing of opposition figurehead Ousmane Sonko and his modest personality helped him to a crushing first-round victory over the governing coalition’s candidate. When 44-year-old Faye is sworn in on Tuesday, he will become Senegal’s fifth and youngest president since independence from France in 1960.
