Sylla was born in
Pikine, in the outskirts of
Dakar. Sylla joined the
African Independence Party at the age of 14. He later entered the
Cheikh Anta Diop University to study
sociology. In October 1987 he was elected president of the
Dakar Students Coordination (CED). The following year he led a students strike. In 1990, after another students strike, Sylla was expelled from UCAD. He then shifted to
France, to continue his studies there. At the
University of Grenoble he founded the
Youth for Change (JPA) in 1991. When Sylla returned to Senegal in 1995, JPA was transformed into a political party, Jëf-Jël. In the
April 2001 parliamentary election, Sylla was the sole Jëf-Jël candidate elected to the
National Assembly. He later resigned from the National Assembly and was replaced by Moussa Tine. Sylla was attacked and severely injured outside a restaurant in Dakar on October 5, 2003, and was hospitalized as a result. He was subsequently taken to
Paris for further treatment and eventually returned to Senegal on November 9, 2003. He was again the only Jëf-Jël candidate to be elected to the National Assembly in the
parliamentary election held on June 3, 2007, winning the seat through national list proportional representation. On June 5, 2007, he announced that he was leaving politics for health reasons; he attributed his health problems to the 2003 attack, which was allegedly done by people close to President
Abdoulaye Wade. He served as mayor of
Thiès from 2014 to 2022. ==References==