“Wait, What?! Senegal’s Opposition Leader Ousmane Sonko Refuses to Collaborate With the Court?!”

The Senegalese opposition honcho, Ousmane Sonko, has put his foot down and proclaimed that he shall no longer comply with court summons without the assurance of his personal safety, creating a hair-raising atmosphere with two legal cases that could put his candidacy at risk. In March, he was palmed off with a suspended sentence and an astronomical fine for smearing the tourism minister, and his appeal against the sentence is due in court on Monday. Furthermore, he will stand trial later this month, over allegations of “rape and death threats” made by an employee of a beauty parlor that gave him massages. “We have never before in humanity witnessed such derision whereby a civilian is summoned to court, hazed, and subjected to unspeakable brutality and near decimation,” Sonko sounded off on social media on Sunday. It appears that Sonko spoke about the appalled assassination plot orchestrated by the police in March when they transferred him to the Dakar court for the initial defamation proceedings. “It is no longer justice, but lawlessness, which is why I am taking this decision, still within the context of my civil disobedience campaign, not to cooperate with this justice system” without security guarantees, Sonko said belligerently on Sunday. Sonko continues to maintain his innocence against the rape allegations and claims that President Macky Sall is embroiled in a conspiratorial plot to torpedo his 2024 candidacy. On the other hand, the government has denied the allegations, blaming Sonko for drumming up demonstrations to avoid justice. The Sonko-judiciary tête-à-tête triggers incessant traffic jams and intensified tension in Dakar, as he proceeds to court with a throng of supporters. To add gasoline to the fire, the rape allegations leveled against Sonko in 2021 sparked riots, which resulted in no less than 12 people dead.