Wole Soyinka is based in New York. Photo credit: AFP
Popular Nigerian and Nobel-Prize winning author Wole Soyinka has finally confirmed when he will exit the United States following the election of Donald Trump as the 45th US president.
He told The interview website in Nigeria that he will leave the US on the day Mr. Trump is officially inaugurated.
Wole Soyinka had said before the elections that he will tear up his green card if Mr. Trump was elected. The green card gives people a permanent residence permit in the US especially those living outside the country.
Here is the full transcript of the email-interview Mr. Wole Soyinka granted the Nigerian Magazine:
[Nigerian Magazine] Did Donald Trump’s victory surprise you?
[Wole Soyinka] Not altogether. The possibility was looming nearer and nearer, getting scarier and scarier.
[Nigerian Magazine] What do you think Trump’s victory means for the world, especially Nigeria?
[Wole Soyinka] It’s brought an already teetering world closer to the precipice.
Do you think the victory of Trump, who threatened to build a Wall is a coincidence coming exactly 27 years to the day the Berlin Wall came down?
[Wole Soyinka] Trump’s Wall is already under construction. Walls are built in the mind, and Trump has erected walls, not only across the mental landscape of America, but across the global landscape. I am glad you referred to the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall – that was one anniversary in reversal!
[Nigerian Magazine] Will you trash your green card, as you reportedly said you would?
[Wole Soyinka] Come January 20, 2017; watch my WOLEXIT! (Donald Trump will be sworn-in as the 45th President of the United States of America on Friday, January 20, 2017)
[Nigerian Magazine] At what point did it occur to you that Trump’s victory was inevitable?
[Wole Soyinka] As Election Day approached, the spectre became near palpable. I refused to switch on the television this morning until I had stiffened myself with a strong espresso. I felt disaster in my marrow.
Mr. Soyinka was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986 – becoming the first African to win in that category.
Source: Africafeeds.com
