Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been named the Time Magazine’s 2022 Person of the Year
The choice of Zelensky is in recognition of his courage and ability to inspire his country in the face of armed Russian invasion.
The Time magazine’s annual award is given to someone with the most influence in global affairs, whether negatively or positively.
The magazine described Zelensky as a wartime leader, whose professional instincts derived from a lifetime as an actor who knows how to read a crowd and react to its moods and expectations.
Notable world leaders who have been recognized by the Time Magazine in recent years include former U.S. Presidents Barack Obama in 2012 and Donald Trump in 2016. Former German chancellor Angela Merkel was recognized in 2015, while Pope Francis was named Person of the Year in 2013.
Some of the awards are given as a collective and not to individuals. This was the case in 2014 when the influential magazine recognized Ebola Fighters for their efforts in combating the raging Ebola virus epidemic. Nigeria’s Stella Adadevoh, a medical doctor fell into that category after she contracted the virus while treating a case in Lagos. She died weeks afterwards and was immortalized with posthumous national awards.
The magazine has also in the past named controversial figures and dictators as Person of the Year. They include Adolf Hitler in 1938 and Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987.
Editor : Ena Agbanoma
