I’m just optimistic about Buhari, says Soyinka

Prof. Wole Soyinka,noble scholar 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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