Soyinka Replies Nigerians Over Trump’s Victory Critics

Nigerian author and playwright, Prof Wole Soyinka has fired back at critics, saying that he will not destroy his U.S. residency permit just yet, despite a pre-election pledge to “cut” his green card, which is afforded to immigrants granted permanent residence in the country.

Soyinka had vowed to cut up his green card if Donald Trump was elected U.S. president. but the Republican party candidate, shocked pollsters by defeating Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in Tuesday’s vote.

Following the announcement of Trump’s victory on Wednesday, Nigerians took to social media to question Soyinka about whether he would honor his pledge.

But in an interview with Newsweek shortly after the announcement, Soyinka said he was biding his time until Trump is inaugurated in January before deciding on his next steps.

“Why don’t we wait until Trump actually takes office?” says Soyinka. “I’m just going about my normal commitments, but definitely not getting into any more commitments. Let’s put it that way for now.”

According to the report, under the administration of Barack Obama, the U.S. has provided financial support and military training to West African countries fighting Boko Haram.

The U.S. reportedly provided $71 million worth of equipment, logistics and training to five countries—Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Benin—that together formed a joint task force in 2015 to fight the militants, according to a February fact sheet from the U.S. State Department.

Obama also approved the deployment of up to 300 U.S. military personnel to Cameroon in October 2015 to carry out intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations in the region.

“One should expect that level of collaboration to diminish. Trump’s mentality is one of, ‘What are we doing there? What business do we have over there?’” Soyinka stated.

“I foresee Trump dismissing that kind of expectation offhand and closing in, shrinking, becoming smaller in terms of the U.S.’s presence in other parts of the world,” he added.

The report said Soyinka is based between Nigeria and the U.S., where he is affiliated to several universities.