BY Ayodele Oluwafemi
Wole Soyinka, the Nobel laureate, says he may reapply for a United States permanent residency, better known as a green card.
Soyinka spoke after the conviction of former US President Donald Trump.
On May 30, Trump, who is eyeing a return to the White House, was found guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records in the hush money trial he was facing.
The ruling makes Trump the first former president in US history to be convicted of a felony.
Juan Merchan, the presiding judge, fixed the sentencing hearing for July 11.
In a statement on Saturday, Soyinka said Trump’s conviction is a “daybreak on a new democratic promise” to Africans.
“For millions in anguished parts of the world, certainly for us in vast swathes of the African continent, this is daybreak on a new democratic promise,” the statement reads.
“The warning is clear; sooner or later, the clamour of equity breaks down the stoutest gates on guard across the citadel of impunity.
“The Trump debacle is a challenge also, a call to preparedness and steadfastness. Installed and putative fascisms – secular, military or theocratic – will extract from this only the wrong lessons, batten down and ‘crack down’ in self-protection.
“It is “Not yet Uhuru”, not anywhere close for humanity in our global village. Nonetheless, a celebration, albeit in a minor key, is justified.
“Seeing that this trite, personal gesture attracted such inordinate attention at the time, let me answer the question before it is asked: Yes, I may choose to apply for restoration of my card of Permanent Residence, known as the Green Card. Possibly.”
Soyinka, a staunch critic of Trump, had kept to his promise of destroying his US green card in 2016 after the former president won the US election.
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