NOBEL laureate Wole Soyinka has welcomed a New York jury conviction of Donald Trump on all charges in his hush-money case in a seismic development barely five months ahead of the election.
The first criminal trial of a former US president ended with the 77-year-old Trump found guilty on each of the 34 counts of falsifying business records to hide a payment meant to silence porn star Stormy Daniels.
Trump — who was released without bail and is all but certain to appeal — initially sat still in the drab Manhattan courtroom, shoulders dipping.
In a terse statement, Soyinka said: “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.”
Recall that Soyinka destroyed his green card when Trump was elected President in 2016.
