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Buhari,
Ezekwesili, Adichie ... recognized (Image source: The Punch)
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President-elect
Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has made the TIME’s list of 100 most influential
people in the world.
Also
included in the 2015 list are the advocate of the Bring Back Our Girls Group,
Mrs. Obiageli Ezekwesili; award-winning novelist, Chimamanda Adichie, and
leader of the Boko Haram terrorist group, Abubakar Shekau.
The
TIME 100 is an
annual list of 100 most influential people in the world whose works are
changing the world, regardless of the consequences of their actions.
Described
as “a new choice for Nigeria,” TIME’s
Africa Bureau Chief, Aryn Baker, said Buhari made history in March by becoming
the first candidate to oust a sitting Nigerian President through the ballot
box.
“Now
he has to live up to voters’ expectations. From battling the Boko Haram insurgency
to tackling endemic corruption, Buhari has many challenges ahead. The greatest
may be overcoming his past as a military ruler, who seized power in 1983.
“Already
the born-again democrat is demonstrating the inclusivity necessary to lead a
nation driven by ethnic and religious tension. It’s a promising start for a
President-to-be, who wants to leave a legacy to match the historic conditions
of his election,” Baker noted.
Renowned
Ugandan activist, Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe, said of Ezekwesili, “It has
been a year, and the girls(Chibok girls) haven’t been rescued, but she has made
a difference by speaking about it. Not just speaking but shouting. I know some
people will say she is too loudmouthed. The loud mouth is needed. People hear
it.”
Adichie
was also described as “conjurer of character” by the deputy Managing Director
of TIME, Radhika
Jones.
“It’s
the rare novelist, who in the space of a year finds her words sampled by
Beyoncé, optioned by Lupita Nyong’o and honoured with the National Book Critics
Circle Award for fiction,” she said.
The
last Nigerian to make the list is Shekau. Described as the “scourge of Africa”
by General Carter Ham (retd.), a former Commander of US Africa Command
from 2011 to 2013.
Ham
said Shekau was the “most violent killer” Nigeria (and Africa) had ever seen.
Shekau took over the Boko
Haram group in 2009 after the group had been weakened by the Nigerian military.
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