For his fellow citizens of Louga, Abdou Diouf is definitely and always "a brilliant student, a serious man, a tireless worker, a serene being, a great listener, a person attentive to the teachings of his elders, a son attached to his family, loyal in friendship and a virtuous citizen." In Njambur, we are also grateful to this local boy for having, while he was Prime Minister, raised Louga, formerly attached to Diourbel, into a region with three departments: Louga, Linguère and Kébémer. Tall in height, tall in attitude, Abdou Samba Tôrô is "a profile steeped in elegance, representative of a bygone era for which we are now nostalgic," according to journalist Hussein Bâ.

So when the precocious and gifted technocrat fell into the political cauldron in 1969, through President Senghor's planned desire to make him his heir, his entire family rallied around him while the young executives of Louga quickly gave him their support. Diouf, a son with a very family-oriented spirit, was surrounded and supported by his parents, his relatives and the people of Louga. His aunts, Mère Fat Dème, Oumou Dème, Toutane Basse, who nurtured him during his high school years in Saint-Louis and for whom he wrote the minutes of socialist political meetings, his uncles Mambaye Dème and Badara Dème accompanied his first political steps. The most decisive contribution was that of Adja Coumba Dème, the discreet mother behind Abdou Diouf's destiny, who played a decisive role in her son's trajectory towards the presidency of the Republic of Senegal on January 1, 1981.

Among the young Louga hussars, we can cite the former mayor of Louga, the elegant and taciturn Moussé Daby Diagne, Amadou Diop Sylla, Tidiane Daly Ndiaye, Dame Sall, his cousins Mansour Bouna Ndiaye and Mame Fama Ndiaye Bouna, Babacar Sarr, and his brother Djiby Diouf. As friends, Moussa Daby Diagne and he perpetuated the strong relationship that united their grandparents before them. Then Minister of Planning and Cooperation, Diouf had as a collaborator Diagne, then Director of Urban Planning. If these young executives were able to participate in Diouf's political rise in his native fiefdom, it is because beforehand the ground had been cleared and marked out by the great politicians and notables of the time. A connoisseur of local and territorial mysteries, having himself traversed the harsh countryside and adversities in the fifties when he entered politics, the poet-president had called upon El Hadj Massar Diop, Birahim Gallo Fall, Lamine Lô and Khaly Mbengue, old hands in the political world of Njambur, to assist him.

Within the four walls of his office, Sédar confidentially shared with them his grandiose plans for the son of Ndiaye Diouf and Coumba Dème, grandson of Yacine Gaye Massar, and charged them with the mission of helping his future Prime Minister establish himself. "I have chosen Diouf to replace me when the time comes. That is why I call on you, his parents and fellow citizens of Louga, to support my choice and facilitate his entry into politics." Ite messa est, the die was cast. Politics means meetings, rallies, election campaigns, trekking over hill and dale, rivalries and leg-pulling, gibes, trends, shielding, plots, barons and rivals of the same coordination who look at each other like dogs in a faience. Abdou Samba Tôrô, naturally more inclined towards courtesy, elegance, diplomacy and sincerity in its essence, towards the organization and method of the Senghorian school in its intellectual approach, had to learn very quickly at his expense to defend himself, to return blows and even to anticipate them.

In the exercise, the technocrat, a graduate of the Enfom (ENA), acquired his political credentials, with a honed art of adversity and combat with foils that lay dormant under the veneer of the ENA. President Senghor had, however, warned of the abilities awaiting the unveiling of his trusted man. If the political barons discovered him, the Senegalese nation and administration already knew his Olympian calm, his remarkable talent as an orator, his model of classical written expression, his erudition, his knowledge of Njambur Njambur, Cayorian, Greek and Latin wisdom.

As my colleague Habib Demba Fall so aptly described, "with his back to the wall, Senegal recognized the mason." Austerity, structural adjustment, economic crisis, peasant unrest, cycles of drought: President Diouf had on his hands, from the start, an economy weighed down by indebtedness. A macroeconomic legacy that he had executed as Prime Minister under President Senghor. In the solitude of power, that of his nascent power, he built the resilience of the Senegalese state and reacted as best he could, with limited room for maneuver, in the geopolitical context of the conquering neoliberalism of the "Washington consensus."

President Diouf deserves credit. He governed during one of the most difficult periods in modern Senegalese political governance.

His presidency was indeed marked by the multiplicity of crises: Casamance rebellion, Gambian crisis, war in Guinea-Bissau, Senegalese-Mauritanian conflict, devaluation of the CFA franc, Gulf War, political unrest, tour of the frontline countries and unauthorized overflight by South Africa, in 1985 then president in office of the OAU. In the continuity of President Senghor, he continued the nation-building and strengthened the State and institutions: multiparty system, media liberalization, consolidation of democracy, Consensual Code of 1992... He was firm on the question of Casamance and the inviolability of the territory. Diouf also showed greatness by quickly recognizing his defeat and congratulating his opponent even before the provisional publication of the results.

Hussein Bâ, who wishes to do justice to Diouf's presidency, says that "he knows how to build, he knows how to hold the helm, as an excellent captain in impetuous times, preventing the Senegalese ship of state from sinking into the abyss." These convulsions, he adds, "were so many personal trials for the statesman, tests of resilience for the Republic and qualitative achievements for the Nation."

We cannot talk about Diouf's political career in Njambur without mentioning the presence, at his side, of the traditional communicator Arame Thiané Seck and that of Aminata Mbengue Ndiaye, successor to Moussé Daby Diagne at the head of the socialist coordination and the town hall. Every time he went up to the podium, says Arame Thiané, Diouf looked for me, knowing that I was going to go up to warm up the room before his speech. Arame Thiané is a complete and versatile artist, who does not just sing the Saint-Louisian and Lougatois lineages of Diouf, which she masters well. She is also a themed slam poet who recites meaningful kebetu, during public awareness campaigns. Thus, while the President of the Republic was present at the gala evening closing a Women's Fortnight, she challenged him, in verse, on the high cost of the housewife's gas cylinder and the arduousness of women's work, while at the same time the law prohibited the cutting of cooking wood. This also corresponded to the period of promotion of the baan ak suuf and sakanaal stoves, and the reforestation campaign. "President Abdou, wagnil gnu gaz bi ndax gnëp mën si joot si bëpp gox", and the ban and the rear ban of the socialist women's movement, present this Saturday in the aisles of the Sorano theater, bounced back to the artist's challenge with loud applause: Adja Arame Diène, Mantoulaye Guène, Fatoumata Kâ, Maïmouna Kane, Fambaye Fall Diop, Fatou Maïga Kâ…. Diouf smiled and said this, according to Arame Thiané: "man daal artistes diaaxal ngen ma, lëpp lu jafee wax da na leer ay yeen." She added that the following Monday, the price of household gas cylinders dropped considerably.

His relationship with Aminata Mbengue Ndiaye is special. It is friendly, familial, political, administrative, Lougatoise and hierarchical. Diouf has always protected her and holds her in high esteem. He particularly appreciates the willpower, determination, bravery, physical and political courage, fidelity and loyalty of this former athlete devoted to her service and her missions. A man of fidelity and loyalty, he also does not forget that the father of his former mission officer in the presidential office and Minister of Women, Family and Children, was a crucial support in 1969, when he entered politics. Although she is the daughter of a politician, Abdou Diouf nonetheless remains her master.

Today, on the cusp of his 90th birthday, Senegal can salute Diouf's integrity and stature as a statesman, who has inscribed himself in Senegal's long democratic tradition. Twenty-five years since he left power in the 2000 election, our country, our continent, and our globalized world can now benefit fully from his wisdom, his experience, and his voice, which has never ceased to matter.

If he now reigns only over the TV remote control, to watch "Numbers and Letters" or the Tour de France cycling race, the "guardian of the Constitution," according to the socialist El Hadj Mansour Mbaye, remains exquisitely courteous, unusually urbane, "a loving and very humble father," says his eldest son Mactar Pierre, also called Pedro. At 90, President Diouf watches over his wife tenderly, reads his library, and has been living quietly in wisdom and grandeur in Dakar for several months. His grandchildren, already in the working world or still at university, no longer fight with him for the remote control and continue to play board games with him. Sometimes he wins, other times he is beaten by his descendants, in a joyous melee.

Happy birthday Abdou Samba Tôrô, may Allah grant you longevity and health in divine blessing and mercy alongside your precious Elisabeth, somewhere in our beautiful capital!

DMF