Also 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 terrorist group, 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.
Described as “a new choice for Nigeria,” TIME’s Africa Bureau Chief, Aryn Baker, said Buhari 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 noted.
Renowned Ugandan activist, Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe, said of Ezekwesili, “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.”
Adichie was also described as “conjurer of character” by the deputy Managing Director of TIME, Radhika Jones.
“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.
The last Nigerian to make the list is Shekau. Described as the “scourge of Africa” by General Carter Ham(retd.), a former Commander of US Africa Command from 2011 to 2013.
Ham said Shekau was the “most violent killer” Nigeria (and Africa) had ever seen.
Shekau took over the Boko Haram group in 2009 after the group had been weakened by the Nigerian military.
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