Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, on Wednesday, noted that he has forgiven Americans for election former President of the United States of America, Donald Trump, whom he described as a “racist” and a “xenophobe”.
Soyinka said this during an interview with Arise Television on Wednesday.
The playwright who tore his American immigrant visa in 2016 for voting Trump, said he would be renewing the green card since he usually visits the United States even without it.
He further stated that America has redeemed itself with the removal of Trump
Soyinka said, “I feel honoured to be associated with the democratic forces of the United States for correcting the unbelievable error that they committed four years ago.”
On the green card issue, he said, “I consider myself back in that community from which I dissociated myself four years ago and I am very glad to be back but I am not renewing my green card, it is not necessary. I go in and out as a visiting alien and that is good enough for me.”
The Nobel Laureate said he was very much concerned with the US elections in 2016 because the country has a huge Nigerian population, adding that America’s history would not be complete without blacks.
He added that he tried to warn Americans about the danger of voting Trump as President but they failed to adhere to his advice.
Soyinka added, “The complacency was very painful and I said if you people are so careless as to let this racist, this monster, this xenophobic aberrant, this disrespect of the female gender, this serial bankrupt, this man who called your own society a shithole country, if you are so careless as to let him become the next President, I am moving out.”
He said in a way, he was happy about the attack on the Capitol building by pro-Trump rioters. The playwright said he wanted Americans to understand how fragile democracy is.
“So, you can imagine what I have felt over the last few weeks, the siege on the Capitol. In a way, it was rather heart-warming for the Americans themselves to feel that what they have been fighting for is not really a given in their society and they had to confront it in a brutal unbelievable way and they came out of it in flying colours.
“It is not over not by any means, I don’t say that for a single moment but it has been a lesson for us in this continent and we should be grateful that it did happen. I am sorry of course about the loss of life, I regret the disruption of normal life but now we are placed on the same playing level, that we are all fighting for the same virtue in human conduct, the same system we all believe in that you cannot take it for granted, not anymore and for us here in Nigeria, it has been, I hope, it was been a heart-warming occasion.”
