I am not surprised Nigerians have stopped supporting Buhari- Wole Soyinka

Literary icon Wole Soyinka on Thursday said he
was not surprised that President Muhammadu
Buhari has lost popularity just 18 months into
office, given the high expectations that weighed on
his government.
The former military ruler won the 2015 election on
an agenda of “change”, vowing to tackle the Boko
Haram insurgency, fight graft, fix broken
infrastructure and heal the economy.
But since his election, the economy has officially
gone into recession and global energy prices have
plummeted.
A relentless rebel campaign to sabotage the
production of oil, the country’s main export, has
added to the woes.
“There’s nothing surprising to me about his losing
popularity, it should be expected,” said Soyinka,
who was a fierce critic of Buhari’s earlier term as
head of state after taking power in a coup in 1983.
“People wanted change, that word was not just a
slogan, it was a promise,” Soyinka said in
Johannesburg.
But when he took over power, “Nigeria was
sinking”.
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“Fulfilling political promises when you take over
the reins of power and you have to clean up a lot
of mess, it’s not easy,” said the Nobel prize-
winning author.
The ex-military ruler has seen his approval ratings
decline in recent months from 80 percent last year
to 41 percent this September, according to
analysis firm BMI Research.
Soyinka said while Buhari was the better choice of
the two candidates in last year’s vote where he
squared off against ex-president Goodluck
Jonathan, it was high time the country weaned
itself off leaders with military backgrounds.
“I was not particularly enamoured of the idea of a
military person continuing — for heaven’s sake,
it’s been too long,” he said.
“I feel very passionate that it’s about time that we
eliminated the last vestiges of military control, of
military representation. It’s as if there are no
brains outside the military.”
Nigeria abandoned military rule in 1999 in favour of
multi-party democracy following six military coups
after independence from Britain in 1960.