By turns prisoner, prime minister and now president of the National Assembly, Senegal's charismatic politician and champion of pan-African sovereignty, Ousmane Sonko, has never lost his incisive way with words.
With his rise to the top of parliament on Tuesday, Sonko became the country's second-most important political figure and a counterweight to his former ally, President Bassirou Diomaye Faye.
The outspoken Sonko now slips back into the familiar role of opposition figure, where he made his career, following his firing as prime minister by the president on Friday.
He could prove a massive thorn in the side of his former right-hand man and strategist, Faye, now that their break-up is complete.
Seen as an anti-elite champion by some and a fiery agitator by others, Sonko, 51, waged a powerful struggle for several years during the presidency of Macky Sall (2012-2024), and gained a following among young Senegalese people.
A civil servant for 15 years, Sonko entered politics in 2014 with the creation of his party, Pastef.
He rose to prominence two years later when he was dismissed from his position as a tax inspector for denouncing the lack of transparency in certain public contracts and the privileges enjoyed by the political class.
In 2019, the anti-establishment firebrand finished third in the presidential election with 15 percent of the vote, far behind Sall's 58 percent.
His sovereigntist and pan-Africanist rhetoric, his diatribes against a "state mafia", a disdain for multinational corporations and his denunciation of the economic and political stranglehold he claims is exerted by France, the former colonial power, have earned him strong support among the country's young.
A father and polygamous husband with two wives, he presents himself as a defender of religion and tradition.
But charges brought against him for rape and death threats against an employee of a Dakar massage parlour in 2021 triggered a three-year political and legal saga.
Claiming a conspiracy against him, Sonko said he was being "persecuted by the Senegalese justice system like no politician ever has been".
His legal proceedings sparked nationwide protests and were brutally repressed by authorities, resulting in dozens of deaths between 2021 and 2024.
He was ultimately sentenced in absentia in the case in June 2023 to two years in prison for "corruption of a youth" under the age of 21.
However, he was acquitted of the rape and death threat charges.
The opposition leader was then arrested a few weeks later for inciting insurrection and other crimes and offences, unrelated to his sex scandal.
