Boko Haram’s Shekau makes TIME 100 list along with Buhari, Ezekwesili, Chimamanda Adichie

Nigeria’s President-elect Gen. Muhammadu Buhari has made the TIME magazine’s list of 100 most influential people in the world.Other Nigerians 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, 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.TIME’s Africa Bureau Chief, Aryn Baker, described Buhari as “a new choice for Nigeria,” adding that he 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 said.

Renowned Ugandan activist, Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe, while speaking of Ezekwesili, said, “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.”The deputy Managing Director of TIME, Radhika Jones, described Adichie as “conjurer of character”“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.Boko Haram’s Shekau was the last Nigerian to make the list.Described as the “scourge of Africa” by a former Commander of US Africa Command from 2011 to 2013, General Carter Ham (retd.).Ham said Shekau was the “most violent killer” Nigeria (and Africa) had ever seen.