Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka has opened up on why he doesn't regret support Muhammadu Buhari over Goodluck Jonathan in the last election.



Speaking during a programme titled, ‘Channels Book Club’ on Channels Television on Tuesday, Soyinka said, Nigeria would not have survived four more years of Jonathan’s rule. He confessed that he used to have a bad impression of Buhari who he once described as a “devil for whom in my calculation, no spoon existed long enough to justify the risk even of an impromptu snack.”

''We were left with two credible contestants in terms of catchment area for the nation. We had reached, in my view, the bottom. I became convinced that if this country underwent four more years under President Jonathan, the country would run aground completely. I looked at the record and said this cannot go on, this has to stop. Then I looked at this man who had contested elections three times before and said he would not contest anymore and then decided to throw his hat in the ring. I talked to people and I said do you know what you’re doing?

''And after weighing all the options, I said let’s try a new one. And since in electoral terms, he was the one, I guardedly, with reservations, announced that no, not a continuation under Jonathan. And so very reluctantly, I want this on record, because I made it quite clear, I weighed the two of them and I said this nation stands a better chance under Buhari. And what has been coming out now? Look at all that has been coming out? Look at the figures (loot) which virtually hammer one into the ground just the sheer enormity of the robbery of this nation that is getting exposed progressively. It shows that we did not make a bad choice.”