Sonko accuses President Faye of manipulating Niger’s constitution

Following the National Assembly’s approval of the constitutional reform bill, Opposition leader Ousmane Sonko delivered a scathing critique of the process and its outcomes. Addressing the assembly, he placed full responsibility for alleged manipulations of the text squarely on the shoulders of President Bassirou Diomaye Faye.

« If there has been tampering with the constitution, it originates from the President himself, » Sonko declared. « He reviewed the text selectively, keeping only what suited his agenda while discarding what didn’t. The Constitution is not his personal property to alter at will. »

The opposition leader highlighted several provisions he claimed were deliberately excluded by the Head of State, including mandatory asset declarations at the end of a presidential term and prohibitions on the President leading a political party. « On what grounds does one individual decide which constitutional provisions are acceptable and which are not? This is an abuse of power, » he asserted.

Sonko emphasized the constitutional hierarchy of powers, stressing that the President does not hold the authority to amend the constitution unilaterally. « The President is not the constituent power. The derived constituent power belongs to the National Assembly, while the original constituent power resides with the people, exercised through a referendum, » he explained.