Tahirou Sarr took stock of his tense exchanges with Ousmane Sonko during the campaign for the legislative elections of November 2024. The independent candidate mentioned these passes of arms, specifying that they were part of the political game and that, despite their differences , he harbored no ill will towards the leader of PASTEF.
“What happened was between two candidates. I admit that I would not have wanted it to happen like this because Ousmane Sonko has never been my opponent. It remains in the countryside, it's in the past. I hold no resentment towards him. There are no consequences in our relationships, we certainly haven’t seen each other until then but we remain gentlemen,” he explained.
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The exchange dates back to a meeting by Ousmane Sonko in Guédiawaye, where the latter strongly criticized Sarr's nationalist speech, calling it “dangerous and counterproductive”. According to the leader of PASTEF, “Senegal is a country of openness, hospitality and tolerance, not a country of ostracism, of indexing the other as the source of our baseless problems”. Sonko also made a distinction between nationalism and patriotism, insisting that patriotism should not be exclusive, and that certain foreign communities should not be blamed for the country's problems.
The next day, during a press conference, Tahirou Sarr did not mince his words in response to Sonko. He called him a liar and a manipulator, reaffirming his commitment to defending a nationalist discourse in the service of Senegal's interests. “I am only interested in the truth. I won't let anyone tarnish my image. My speech has not changed and will never change,” he declared.
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