President Bassirou Diomaye Faye has fired Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko, his political godfather on whose popularity he rode to power. 

Senagal’s Secretary general of government, Oumar Samba Ba announced the sacking of Mr Sonko and other officials in a broadcast on Friday.

Mr Ba said the announcement “ended the duties of Ousmane Sonko and consequently those of the ministers and secretaries of state who are members of the government.”

“Praise be to Allah. Tonight I will sleep with a light heart in the Keur Gorgui neighborhood,” Mr Sonko wrote in a post on X after the announcement of his sack. 

The feud between Mr Faye and his godfather comes less than two years after the duo rallied Senegalese youths to wrestle power from the ruling party. 

Before now, Mr Faye had criticised Mr Sonko’s “excessive personalisation” within Pastef, the ruking party. 

Mr Sonko also criticised Mr Faye, accusing him of “failure of leadership” for not defending him against his critics.

Mr Sonko, a firebrand young politician with huge popularity among Senegalese youths, was barred from contesting the election over defamation conviction by a former President Macky Sall’s government. 

His disqualification paved the way for his lieutenant Mr Faye, who he supported to clinch the presidency.