Power Belongs to ONLY the People!

Pres. Macky Sall must recognize by now that power indeed belongs to only the people. One can attempt to seize or steal power or delay the handover of power, but no one individual can succeed in seizing power forever. In a republic, it is the people who decide through elections to whom to entrust their power. Abraham Lincoln had observed that,?“Elections belong to the people. It's their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters.”?Therefore, one wonders why African politicians and their intellectual stooges always think that they own power, and it must not be taken away from them.

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This despicable mentality is the only reason why Macky Sall postponed the February 25 election. But again, as Lincoln noted,?“all?authority belongs to the people... In questions of power let no more be heard of confidence in man but bind him down from mischief with chains of the Constitution.”?It is therefore gratifying to note that the Constitutional Council stood their ground to subject Macky Sall to the dictates of the Constitution and force him to hold the election on March 24. And on that glorious day the people of Senegal took their power from him.

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Therefore, when we get to a day like today when Pres. Sall invited the president-elect Bassirou Diomaye Faye to the State House to initiate the handing over process, all African politicians, and their intellectuals must be reminded that indeed power belongs to only the people. For that matter, I do not celebrate Macky Sall at all for those who seek to seize or steal power are villains and must be held accountable.?Far too many Africans have been killed because their leaders had sought to seize or steal power from the people. The time has come for Africans to have zero tolerance for such leaders and intellectuals.

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‘Power belongs to the people’. This is the most bastardized slogan since the emergence of the modern struggles for political freedom and human rights more than 400 years ago in Europe. It is a slogan that both democrats and dictators like to pontificate at every opportunity especially in Africa. Yet when the people decide, it is always these same democrats and dictators who come around to deny, seize or steal people’s power. The examples are far too many to count on our continent. This despicable behaviour must be confronted to be crushed to earth and never to rise again.

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In a republic, power and sovereignty resides with the people. The state and all its elected and appointed officials derive their power, authority, and legitimacy from the people. Thus, it is the height of dishonesty for any elected and appointed public official to attempt to seize or steal power by manipulating or postponing elections or rejecting election results. After illegally postponing elections on February 3 by alleging institutional crisis, the election was still held on March 24 without a crisis or any conflict between the National Assembly and the Constitutional Council. This points clearly to the fact that Macky Sall was merely fabricating cock and bull stories just to seize or steal the people’s power.

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We look forward to April 2 when Bassirou Diomaye Faye will be inaugurated as the fifth president of Senegal. Congratulations to the People of Senegal and their President-elect.

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Long Live Senegal!

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