NOBEL laureate Professor Wole Soyinka has stated that he will not destroy his US green card for now despite the fact that he is bitterly disappointed with the election of Donald Trump as president as it could jeopardise Nigeria's fight against Boko Haram.
Last week, professor Soyinka promised to tear up his green card and stop visiting the US if Mr Trump was elected president, given his bigoted, racist and xenophobic utterances on the campaign trail. However, Mr Trump pulled off a surprise victory yesterday, beating the favourite Hillary Clinton of the Democratic Party, sending shock waves around the world.
Gobsmacked like everyone else, Professor Soyinka has warned that the election of Mr Trump threatens US support for Nigeria in her fight against terrorist sect Boko Haram. President Barrack Obama has been a major backer of the Nigerian government in the fight against terrorism but Mr Trump has not only promised to pursue an isolationist foreign policy but has also incensed Muslims by promising to bar them from visiting America.
Following the announcement of Mr Trump’s victory, Nigerians took to social media to question Professor Soyinka about whether he would honour his pledge. Responding, Professor Soyinka said that Mr Trump’s bunker mentality could see the US withdraw support for counter-terrorism operations across West Africa.
Professor Soyinka said: “Why don’t we wait until Trump actually takes office? I am just going about my normal commitments but definitely not getting into any more commitments."
Under the administration of Barack Obama, the US has provided financial support and military training to West African countries fighting Boko Haram. Over recent years, Washington has provided $71m worth of equipment, logistics and training to Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Benin, that together formed a joint task force in 2015 to fight the militants.
According to a February factsheet from the US State Department, President Obama also approved the deployment of up to 300 US military personnel to Cameroon in October 2015 to carry out intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations in the region. Professor Soyinka said this is likely to be threatened by Mr Trump's isolationist foreign policy when he assumes office in January.
Professor Soyinka added: “One should expect that level of collaboration to diminish as Trump’s mentality is one of, ‘What are we doing there?
"What business do we have over there? I foresee Trump dismissing that kind of expectation offhand and closing in, shrinking, becoming smaller in terms of the US presence in other parts of the world."
A globally acclaimed playwright, Professor Soyinka is based in both Nigeria and the US where he is affiliated to several universities. Already, President Muhammadu Buhari has already congratulated Mr Trump on his election victory.
Comments
Post a Comment