Trump will withdraw support in fighting Boko Haram – Soyinka

Forum 7 years ago

Trump will withdraw support in fighting Boko Haram – Soyinka

Nobel Prize winner, Professor Wole Soyinka has said that the victory of Donald Trump in the United State’s November 8 presidential election could lead to the withdrawal of support in Nigeria’s fight against the Boko Haram insurgents.

Soyinka told Newsweek that Trump’s “bunker mentality” could see the American government take back their help for counter-terrorism operations in West Africa.

The Nigerian author and playwright had declared he will destroy his green card and return to Nigeria if the Republican candidate emerges as president elect of the US and later confirmed that he will keep his word and tear his green card, on the day Trump is sworn in as the 45th president of the country.


Trump surprised the world when he defeated Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton in Tuesday’s vote.

Boko Haram, a militant group, which commenced immense operation against the Nigerian government in 2009, have killed thousands and displaced more than 2 million in the northeast.

The administration of Barack Obama, has provided financial support and military training to West African countries fighting the insurgents.

According to the US State Department reports on February, the country has provided $71 million worth of equipment, logistics and training to Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Benin that together formed a joint task force in 2015 to fight the militants.


Soyinka said, “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?’”

“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.”