I’m cautiously optimistic about Buhari, says Soyinka

Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka,
says he believes that the
President-elect, Muhammadu
Buhari, cannot be worse than past
presidents because he will be
guided by a sense of history.
He, however, said that he “is
cautiously optimistic” about
Buhari’s performance.
Soyinka said this while delivering a
lecture titled, ‘Predicting Nigeria,
Electoral Ironies’ at the Harvard
University Hutchins Centre for
African and African American
Research in the United States,
according to a gazette by the
institution.
A former US Ambassador to Nigeria,
Walter Carrington, had asked
Soyinka if Buhari could reform
Nigeria like the late Singaporean
leader, Lee Kuan Yew.
In his response, Soyinka said he
was optimistic. He added that
Buhari might deal ruthlessly with
corrupt politicians.
Soyinka said, “I am very, very
cautiously optimistic.”
He predicted that Buhari would be
influenced by those around him to
“keep his nose to the letter of the
law. In his zeal to absolutely
eradicate corruption, he might take
advantage of ambiguous areas in
the law and the constitution to
empower himself to deal very
ruthlessly and quickly with those
who have robbed the nation blind.”
Soyinka reasoned that Buhari was
unlikely to do worse than his
predecessors.
He, however, said it would be naive
for Nigerians to think that Buhari is
the messiah.
He said, “I think that Buhari has a
sense of history. He knows that he
must make a mark, a very positive
mark, on Nigeria to be able to live
with himself, or die with a clean
conscience. We must make sure
that Nigerians are not allowed to
forget his past. They should not
think that the messiah has finally
arrived.
“I think we stay on guard and
continue to do what has needed to
be done for the past 20 years or so.”
Soyinka said he believed that
terrorism would continue for a long
time because those perpetrating
the act were of the belief that they
were doing God’s work.
He said, “We will never get rid of
Boko Haram. They are jihadists who
wish to impose Sharia law and ban
Western learning across Nigeria as
indoctrinated. They are fanatics
who believe that if they die in the
cause, they will go straight to
heaven where they believe
literally in the 77 virgins awaiting
their arrival.”

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