Nobel laureate Prof Wole Soyinka has said he may reapply for his US residency green card following the conviction of former US President Donald Trump on Thursday.
A New York jury found Trump guilty of all 34 charges of falsifying business records to commit election fraud.
The verdict makes him the first former US president to be criminally convicted.
Soyinka, who destroyed his green card after Trump won the US presidential election in 2016 to protest against the Republican billionaire’s campaign promises to get tough on immigration, said in a statement on Thursday night that although Trump’s conviction does not mean an end to impunity, it calls for celebration.
“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 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. p.s. 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 wrote.
Trump is set to be sentenced on July 11 – days before the start of the Republican National Convention on July 15 where he is expected to be formally nominated for president.
The 77-year-old faces a maximum sentence of four years in prison, though others convicted of the same crime often receive shorter sentences, fines or probation.
