Former President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal not only forgave former President Abdou Diouf of Senegal when he won the Presidential Elections but he also absolved him of all other shortcomings during the latter's tenure as President of Senegal for twenty years having been handed the reins of power from late President Leopold Sedar Senghore.
We are all witnesses to the cat and mouse game that punctuated the status quo when Abdou Diouf was President of the PS Party and Abdoulaye Wade was leader of the Opposition PDS Party.
The latter was no stranger to conflicts with State Security Forces leading to arrests and subsequent Detention. He was a tough opposition leader but he had it rough with the authorities.
It would have been beyond reasonable imagination to entertain the notion that Abdoulaye Wade would let Abdou Diouf walk freely in the country if he Wade won the Elections and became President for the simple reason that the Diouf Administration had searched in any every cranny, cleft and nook that might have harboured a pocket of Abdoulaye Wade's PDS Party and then arrested those PDS elements rearing the Abdoulaye Wade political change or Sopi in Senegal.
To the surprise or even astonishment of many, Abdoulaye Wade, rather than sending security forces to arrest Abdou Diouf, brandished the Candidacy of Abdou Diouf for the Post of Secretary General of the Francophonie and single handedly campaigned or lobbied other heads of State within the Francophonie for them to endorse the Candidacy of Abdou Diouf. What a mature Statesman who seeks not revenge or an eye for an eye scenario but seeks how to make Senegal go forward.
President Abdoulaye Wade was not interested in the person of Abdou Diouf. Rather his option was to elevate the status of Senegal in the Global Scene. There is a difference between the Person of the Secretary General of the Francophonie and the Office of the Secretary General of the Francophonie.
The Occupant of the Seat of the Secretary General of the Francophonie would be Abdou Diouf, but the Office is draped in the Senegalese National Flag and each and every Senegalese would be proud of it.
The whole world hailed and praised President Abdoulaye Wade for demonstrating that he was quite capable of surmounting personal differences and upholding the national interest, something that all others should learn from and emulate.
"If I catch him upon the hip, I will feed fat the ancient grudge i bear him". Nowhere else would you find these words than in Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice". Shylock had vented out his anger or inner feelings against Antonio and thus opted for Revenge rather than Forgiveness.
President Abdoulaye Wade's example is not being emulated by President Dionaye Faye as Revenge is no doubt the option that Faye is considering. It is the same scenario though. Just like Abdoulaye Wade was once upon a time in the Opposition and Abdou Diouf occupying the Presidency and life was rough, very rough for the leader of the Opposition when he acted tough, very tough as Opposition leader so is the case with Diomaye or the Sonko Diomaye Duo acting tough, very tough against President Macky Sall and he the latter making life rough, very rough for the Diomaye/Sonko Duo by incarcerating them. When Diomaye won the Elections and was therefore sworn in as President, he did not step into Abdoulaye Wade's shoes: he showed no sign of remorse. He opted for something different and the manifestation of that difference is now in the open.
Like many others, I was vehemently opposed to Macky Sall's bid for a third term. However, when he finally left office and Diomaye Faye assumed the Presidency, it became my honest opinion that he would turn a new page and not personalise past events. Forgive but don't forget rather than not to forgive and not to forget.
Irrespective of whether it is Africa's turn or not to occupy the seat of Secretary General of the United Nations, I believe the current leadership in Senegal should have endorsed Macky's Candidacy and let Providence decide the Outcome. They would then have exonerated themselves from any evil plot to dump Macky into a Oblivion.
Macky Sall had submitted a formal request for an endorsement of his Candidacy to President Diomaye but the latter did not reply to the request nor campaigned other African Heads of State to support the Candidacy.
Succinctly, President Diomaye Faye reacted to the Person of Macky Sall who should be dealt with according to what he did to the Diomaye/ Sonko Duo when he, Macky was President and that was by treating them rough, very rough when the Duo acted tough, very tough. For President Diomaye, there is no Senegalese National Interest in this. For him, the Person occupying the Office of Secretary General of the United Nations is the same as the Person occupying the seat or Chair and that is Macky Sall.
Diomaye is very different from President Abdoulaye Wade who would let bygones be bygones. Does the age difference between Diomaye and Abdoulaye Wade count ? Why would their actions be diametrically opposed to each other? Is Diomaye a leader capable of forgiving or does he want to make sure Macky tastes prison life he did to them ? "Feed Fat the Ancient Grudge and Cut off a Pound of Flesh".
Diomaye was a little boy when Wade was President so he remembers very little of what transpired and that the National Interest should always override the Personal Interest. Only then shall we, in Africa, start to move forward.......
My Take
