“It was inevitable." - Prof Wole Soyinka

President Jonathan's defeat at the poll has been welcomed by leading Nigerian author and political commentator Wole Soyinka. “It was inevitable,” he said. “The groundswell of discontent was bound to overwhelm the Jonathan group sooner or later.

“Unambiguously, it is good that the Jonathan government has been removed. It was impossible. Even a plunge into the unknown was preferable to what was going on. We were drowning.”

Despite his reservations over an ugly election campaign, the Nobel laureate added: “The opposition behaved itself very well and enabled the democratic principle. They fought the good democratic fight and that was very cheering. This business of the right of incumbency, which had been a sickening culture in this country, is finished and that’s a marvellous event. So I’m very upbeat about what happened.”