Prof. Wole Soyinka expressed sadness over events in the United States under President Donald Trump.
Soyinka had previously threatened to shred his green card if Trump won the 2016 election. “It’s one of the saddest developing phenomena that I know of.”
“I just feel very, very sad that what’s happening in the States should be happening in such a potentially progressive country,” the nonagenarian world-acclaimed writer said in a conversation with freelance arts journalist, Laura Collins-Hughes, published in the New York Times.
In a piece titled, “At 90, Wole Soyinka Revisits His Younger, More Optimistic Self,” Collins-Hughes quoted the Nobel laureate as saying he feels distressed by recent events in the United States, where he once lived in self-imposed exile, tagging the country “MAGA land.”
When asked about his safety in the U.S. amidst political tensions, Soyinka responded that he has always lived in a state of “nonsafety.”
“So I’m used to that. If I’m walking through the street and they pick me up, I have no problem whatsoever. You know, my laptop is where it is. It’s up in the clouds,” he said with a smile.
Since his return to office, Trump has aggressively targeted irregular immigrants and imposed tariff hikes on trade partners, including a 14% tariff on Nigerian exports to the U.S. This decision followed Nigeria’s ban on 25 U.S. items.
In a 2016 conversation with The INTERVIEW, Soyinka expressed resentment at Trump’s emergence as US President, saying it spelt trouble for humanity.
He then said he would tear his green card on January 20, 2017, the day Trump was to be inaugurated as the 45th President of the US.
Asked if he still intended to thrash the card, he said, “Come January 20, 2017; watch my WOLEXIT!”
By WOLEXIT,He appeared to be referencing his final ‘exit’ from the U.S., playing on the term Brexit, which refers to Britain’s departure from the European Union.
