Rape allegations: Senate Opposition leader to appear before judge

By our Reporter

Ousmane Sonko, Head of Senegal’s leading opposition has said he will appear before a judge sitting today to answer questions over rape allegations.

According to media reports in February, Sonko was accused of rape after he visited a saloon where he went to get massage and attempted to rape one of the employees.

Ousmane Sonko-Head of Senegal Opposition party

The leader of the opposition has denied the charges and accused the President of conspiring to remove him ahead of 2024 election.

The 46-year Old challenged the president, Macky Sall in the 2019 vote and later emerged third in a race that returns the incumbent to the position of president after the first term.

Sonko who addressed reporters said today he would obey summons but would not give up the fight.

“We will go to the judge but it is not an abdication”, he said before reiterating his accusations against Sall.

The summons came after’s Senegal parliament on Friday voted to strip him of his  legal immunity, paving way for the police investigation of the case.

It would be recalled that last month, scores of opposition supporters took to the streets to insist on Sonko’s innocence and clashed with Police.

The rape allegation comes as uncertainty grows over whether sall, 59, will seek a third term.

Presidents in the formers French colony of about 16 million are limited to two consecutive terms but Sall launched a constitutional review in 2016, raising in 2016, raising suspicious he intends to run again.

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