Would Obasanjo understand peace if he saw it? – Dakar update, Monday 26 March 2012

Opposition candidate Macky Sall defeats Abdoulaye Wade, Sénégal’s president, in the country’s second round presidential election run-off. Once again, the Sénégalese electorate, arguably Africa’s most sophisticated and resilient, has shown that it can be done! A salute to this beacon! This electorate has not only stopped Wade from his attempt to unconstitutionally extend his maximum 2-term duration in office, implicitly supported by Nigeria’s Olusegun Obasanjo (the AU and ECOWAS so-called mediating envoy to Sénégal), it has, also, resoundingly voted against the president despite that much bandied, seeming armour of certitude so beloved by Africa’s dictators – “incumbency”.